Class Book. L32"* J • l^y COPYKIGIIT BY J. BALDWIN 1881. ^ " TO THE GEEAT BEOTHEEHOOD OF TEACHEES THIS HUMBLE CONTRIBUTION TO OUR EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE IS RESPECTFULLY Elementary Psychology and Science of Human Culture. Volume I. {In Prepara- tion.) I. II. in.—: IV.— v.— VI. VII. VIII. IX, X. The Mind and the Body, and Com- parative Psychology. Psychology and Culture of the Pre- sentative Faculties. Psychology and Culture of the Repre- sentative Faculties. Psychology and Culture of the Think- ing Faculties. Psychology and Culture of the Feel- ings. Psychology and Culture of the Will Powers. Philosophy of Education. History of Education. Theories and Methods of Great Edu- cators. Habits of Eminent Thinkers. The Art of School Management. Volume II. I. — Educational Instrumentalities. II. — School Organization. III. — School Government. IV. — Courses of Study and Programmes. V. — Study and Teaching. VI. — Class Management. VII. — Examinations, Eecords, and Gradua- tion. VIII. — Professional Education. IX. — System and Progress in Education. X. — Graded Schools. TnE Art of Teaching. Volume III. {In Prepara- tion.) I, II, III, IV, V. VI. VII.— VIII. IX, X, I Educational Principles. Educational Periods, Processes, and Methods. Class Methods. Art of Questioning. Kindergarten Methods. Methods of Teaching Elementary Branches. Methods of Teaching the Higher Branches. Teaching Power. Practices of Eminent Educators. History of Educational Movements and Methods. PBEFAOE. The supreme object of this work is to aid the noble men and women who are bravely struggling to become educational artists. Principles, illustrations, and results are freely given. With these aids, each teacher is left to work out the problem of school management for himself in his own way. It is proposed to discuss the educational work as outlined on the preceding page, in three convenient volumes. In "Elementary Psychology and Science of Human Culture " the body and the mind are studied from the educational standpoint. Practical psychology is made the basis of the philosophy of education. The laws of culture are evolved inductively. The time, the means, the laws, and the methods of cultivating each faculty of the soul are carefully considered. The aim is to lay a solid foundation for artistic teaching and effective school management. In "The Art of Teaching," teaching is considered as an art, based on the science of human culture. The results worked out by the masters are made to illuminate yi PREFACE. every page. To produce a work intensely practical, and at the same time strictly philosophical, has been the author's great aim. In "The Aet of School Management" the aim has been to develop a system of control in harmony with the new education. The whole subject of organizing, governing, and conducting schools is carefully considered from the standpoint of the child. No effort has been spared to prepare a work worthy of a permanent place on the teacher's desk, and in the library of every school offi- cer. The aim has been to produce a work abounding in plain, practical, suggestive lessons, rather than elabo- rate theories. This volume has literally grown during a quarter of a century spent in teaching teachers. The plans and methods here presented have been worked out in the school-room, and thoroughly tested in hundreds of schools. They will, it is hoped, be found eminently prac- tical. The subject-matter has been presented and dis- cussed year after year in normal classes and teachers' institutes, and in educational journals. The author has earnestly labored to produce a professional work fit for— 1. A text-book in normal schools ; 2. A text-book in normal institutes ; 3. A teacher's hand-book ; 4. A reference-book for school officers and parents. Each chapter has been written with these objects dis- tinctly in view. The plan of the work is believed to be original. In the development of various topics, I have PREFACE. yii been assisted by many educators. I acknowledge my deep indebtedness to my fellow teachers, to educational journals, and to our rapidly developing educational liter- ature. The matter has been used so often as to seem my own ; in many cases in which credit doubtless should be given to others, I have found it impossible to recall the original sources of information. This general ac- knowledgment is due to the reader, as well as to the many authors whose thoughts have thus been used. Sincere thanks are returned to all who have aided directly or indirectly in the production of " The Art of School Management." It is but just to say that I am indebted to President B. S. Potter, now of the Shippens- burg Normal School, Pennsylvania, and to Mrs. M. M. (Thomas) Raymond, now of Paterson, New Jersey, for valuable and extended assistance. President G-. L. Os- borne, of the State Normal School, Warrensburg, Mis- souri, furnishes Part VII., on Graded Schools ; and President 0. H. Butcher, of the State Normal School, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, contributes the chapter on School Hygiene. I am also indebted to them for valuable suggestions and aid throughout the work. Due credit is given to others in the proper place. Teaching is the Art of Human Development. This art of arts is based on the thought and experience of the race. Eternal principles underlie all educational processes. To elevate teaching from the position of a vacillating em- piricism to that of the chief of arts is the world's supreme viii PREFACE. work. School management is essentially an art based on the science of education. " Every step in this art, if it is a right step, is only the application of a general princi- ple to a particular case." Principles developed elsewhere are here restated, illustrated, and applied. Thus, it is hoped, as much definiteness and certainty may be secured in the art of school management as in any other art. As an humble contribution to this end, this volume is sub- mitted to the great brotherhood of teachers. J. Baldwin. State Normal School, Kirksville, Missouri, July, 1880. CONTENTS. Introduction ....... 1. School Management defined. 2. Based on the Science of Education. 8. Good Management conditions Good Teaching. 4. Self-Government the Central Idea. 5. Ability and Skill demanded. 6. Originality and Independence. 7. Divisions. 8. Plan. 15 PART FIRST. EDUCATIONAL INSTRUMENTALITIES. I. School Grounds .... 1. Location. 2. Plan. 8. Improving and Preserving. 4. Advantages 5. Glad Memory. II. School Buildings ... 1. History of School Architecture. 2. School Architects. 8. Beauty as well as Utility. 4. Size and Proportions. 5. Ground Plan. 6. Eleva- tions. 7. Heating and Ventilation. 8. Light. 9. Out-Buildings. 10. Library and Cloak Rooms. 11. Desks. 12. Pictures. 18. Cost. 14, Valuable Hints. III. School Apparatus ..... 1. The Blackboard. 2. Beading Apparatus. 8. Mathematical Appara tus. 4. Geographical Apparatus. 5. Cabinet. 6. Chemical and Philo Bophical Apparatus. 7. Cost. 8. Use. 9. How to Procure. IV. Kindergarten Gifts ..... 1. Definition. 2. Kindergarten in Towns. 8. Kindergarten in Ele mentary Schools. 4. How to Use the Gifts. 5. Kindergarten in Nor- mal Institutes. 6. Caution. V. District School Libraries . 1. Choice of Books. 2. Value of Library. 8. How to Use the Library, 4. How to Sustain the Library. 5. Management. VI. School Text-Books .... 1. Characteristics. 2. Use and Abuse. 8. Uniformity. 5. Will any Book do? 6. Plan. 7. Valuable Thoughts. VII. School Hygiene .... 1. Definition. 2. Position. 8. Ventilation. 4. Light 4. Adoption 6. Play. 7. Habits. 8. Punishments. 9. How to keep well". gevity. Health 11. Laws of Health. 12. Tobacco. 14. Earnest Words to Teachers. Exercise 10. Lon 18. Methods of Promoting 21 27 42 49 53 57 63 II. PART SECOND. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. Preparatory Work . 1. Teachers 1 Qualifications. 2. Securing Positions. 8. Contract. 4. Plan of Campaign. School Tactics— Principles — A System 1. Calling School. 2. Dismissing School. 3. Calling Classes. 4. Dis- missing Classes. 5. Board Tactics. 6. Hand Tactics. 7. Concert Tac- tics. 8. Results. 82 90 CONTENTS. III. School Classification . 1. Principles. 2. Divisions In Ungraded Schools. 3. Temporary Classi- fication. 4. Permanent Classification. 5. Plan. 6. Illustration. 7. Sec- ond Illustration. 8. The Teacher classifies. IV. Opening Exercises — Seating and Recesses 1. Opening Exercises. 2. Seating. 8. Recesses. 4. True Dignity. V. First Day of School . 1. Be Early. 2. Welcome. 8. Follow Plan. 4. Be Self-possessed. 5. Special Directions. VI. Practical Suggestions by Practical Teachers 1. Thorough Organization. 2. Definition. 3. Preparation for First Day. 4. Too much Machinery. 5. What I Saw. (j. Valuable Hints. 7. Remarks. PAGE 1UU 110 114 118 PART THIRD. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. I. Elements of Governing Power .... 124 1. System. 2. Energy. 3. Vigilance. 4. Will Power. 5. Self-Con- trol. 6. Confidence. 7. Power to Punish judiciously. 8. Culture. 9. Heart Power. 10. Teaching Power. 11. Managing Power. II. School Regulations . . . . .138 1. Principles. 2. General Regulations. 8. Special Regulations. 4. -Adoption of Regulations. 5. Enforcement. III. Enforcement of Regulations .... 144 1. Regularity. 2. Promptitude. 8. Deeorum. 4. Quiet. 5. Communi- cation. 6. Morality. IV. Principles Pertaining to School Punishments . 154 1. Discipline Defined. 2. Punishment a Test. 8. Principles Stated. 4. Bentham's Principles. 5. Governing Forces. V. Judicious and Injudicious Punishments . . 160 1. Reproof. 2. Privation. 3. Deportment Marks. 4. Suspension. 5. Expulsion. 6. Injudicious Punishments. VI. Corporal Punishment . . . .174 1. Conclusions Reached. 2. Infliction. 8. Treatment, after the Punish- ment. 4. Advocates. 5. Opponents. 6. Ground of Opposition. VII. Management of Individual Pupils . . . 182 1. Detailed Reports. 2. Concrete Cases. 3. Suggestions. 4. Disor- derly Pupils. 5. Disorderly Schools. 6. Governing through the Class. 7. Dull Pupils. 8. Hard Cases. 9. Successful Management. VIII. Conditions of Order — School Duties and Rights . 192 1. Conditions of Order. 2. School Duties. 3. School Rights. PART FOURTH. COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. I. The Circle of Science ..... 205 1. Mental Unit. 2. Matter and Spirit. 8. Inorganic World. 4. Organic World. 5. World of Man. 6. World of God. II. General Course of Study ..... 213 1. Principles. 2. Psychological Basis. 8. Value of each Branch. 4. The School, the College, and tho University. 5. Classified Scheme CONTENTS. x i PAGE III. Coarse of Study for Elementary Schools . . 228 1. Psychological Basis. 2. School Period. 3. School Studies —Outline and Explanations. 4. Advantages of Country Schools. 5. Disadvan- tages of Country Schools. 6. Possibilities of Country Schools. 7. Group- ing Country Schools. 8. Diplomas. 9. Elevation of Country Schools. IV. How to Use the Course of Study . . . 238 1. D Division. 2. C Division. 3. B Division. 4. A Division. — Studies, Management, Remarks and Practical Suggestions. V. The Programme in Ungraded Schools . . . 255 1. Principles. 2. Ideal Programme. 3. Oral Work. 4. The Gilchrist I deal Programme. 5. Michigan Programme. 6. The Phelps Ideal Pro- gramme. 7. New York Programme. 8. Programme in Graded Schools. 9. Value of a Good Programme. VI. Position and Work of the High School . . 274 1. Connecting Link. 2. Educational Work. 3. Circle of Science. 4. Village and Central High Schools. 5. Establishment. 6. Two Plans. 7. Missing Link. PART FIFTH. STUDY AND TEACHING. I. Rules for Study ...... 287 1. Interest. 2. Attention. 8. System. 4. Mastery. 5. Thought. 6. Knowledge. 7. Usage. 8. Mix. II. Conditions of Study ..... 291 1. Physical. 2. Surroundings. 3. Struggle Alone. 4. Programme for Study. III. How to Study — Office of the Teacher . . . 293 1. Clear Ideas. 2. Eead Carefullv. 3. Leading Features. 4. Details. 5. Help in Studies. C. Outlines. '7. Hard Work. IV. Art of Securing Attention and Study . . 299 1. Importance. 2. Unfavorable Conditions. 3. How not to Secure At- tention. 4. Rules for Securing and Cultivating Attention. 5. Unwise Incentives. V. Work for the Little Ones . . . . .308 1. Pleasant Work. 2. Play. 8. Hand and Eye Culture. 4. Voice Cul- ture. 5. Body Culture. 6. Action and Culture. VI. Objective Points in Education . . . .313 1. Well-directed Effort. 2. Mental Food. 8. Development and Culture. 4. Moral Culture. 5. Ruinous Errors. 6. The Future. VII. Principles Pertaining to Education and Teaching . 316 1. Fundamental Principles. 2. General Principles. 8. Psychological Principles. 4. Relating to the Order. 5. Relating to the Processes. 6. Relating to Methods. PART SIXTH. CLASS MANAGEMENT. I. Principles Relating to Class Management . . 324 1. Attention. 2. Individual Work. 8. Own Language. 4. Self-Help. 5. Assistance, fi. Honesty. 7. The Pupil does the Work. 8. Reach each Pupil. 9. Oral and Written. 10. System. 11. Heart in the Work. II. Lessons and Class Work . . . . 326 1. Objects. 2. Length. 3. Lessens. 4. The Unprepared. 6. Forced Work. x ii CONTENTS. PAGE III. General Class Methods . . . . .331 1. Socratic. 2. Topic and Question. 8. Discussion. 4. Conversation. 5. Lecture. IV. Auxiliary Class Methods . ... 341 1. Writing-. 2. Outline. 3. Reporting. 4. Reciprocal. 6. Concert. V. Questionable, Erroneous, and Antiquated Methods 344 1 . Questionable Class Methods. 2. Erroneous Class Methods. 8. Anti- quated Class Methods.— Conditions of Progress. VI. Art of Questioning ...... 347 1. Principles. 2. Statements. 8. Objects. 4. Class Questions. 5. Ex- amination Questions. 6. Objectionable Questions. 7. Questions to bo avoided. 8. Answers. VII. Golden Hints to Teachers . . . .351 1. The Seven Laws of Teaching. 2. Preparation. 8. Rules for Pupils. 4. Conditions of Success. 5. Secrets of Buccess. 6. Model School. 7. Effects of Method. PART SEVENTH. EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. I. School Examinations ..... 359 1. Objects. 2. Plan. 3. When? 4. How? 5. Length. 6. For Pro- motion. II. Marking Grades . . . . . .363 1. Objects. 2. Criteria. 8. Frequency. 4. Scale. III. School Records and Reports .... 367 1. Form. 2. Value. 3. School Register. 4. Teachers' Reports. 5. Su- perintendents' Reports. IV. Graduation in Elementary Schools . . . 371 1. Advantages. 2. Examinations. 8. Committee. 4. By Townships. 5. Graduation Day. 8. Diploma. 7. Alumni. 8. Catalogue. 9. High School. PART EIGHTH. PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. I. Professional Education of Teachers . . . 379 1. Teaching and other Professions. 2. Necessity. 8. Child Mind. 4. Science of Education. 5. Artist. 6. Skill in School Management. 7. Incompetent Teachers. 8. Demand for Trained Teachers. II. Normal Schools . . . . .383 1. Tho Scholastic Course. 2. Professional Course. 8. Three Classes of Teachers. 4. State Schools. 5. So-called Normal Schools. III. Management and Work of Normal Institutes . . 393 1. Definition. 2. Revolution. 8. Prominent Factor. 4. Work. 5. Or- ganization. 6. Course of Study and Programme. 7. Instruction. 8. Work of Superintendent. 9. Institute Conductors. 10. The Plan Suit- able for all States. IV. Management of Township Institutes . . 405 1. General Plan. 2. Conductors. 8. Programme. 4. Entertainments. 5 Superintendent. 6. Pioneer Work. 7. Graded Schools. V. The Coming Teacher ..... 408 1. His Position. 2. What he will Do. 8. How to Secure. 4. A Man among Men. 5. Mission. CONTENTS. xiii PART NINTH. SYSTEMATIC PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. I. Vital Educational Principles .... 419 1. Truth Cosmic. 2. Education an Investment. 3. Educators direct. 4. Meddling. 5. Adjustment. II. Perfection of School Systems .... 421 1. State Board of Education. 2. Duties. 8. Plan of the Future. 4. The Commission Plan. III. Conditions of Educational Progress . . . 424 1. Physical. 2. Higher Ideals. 8. Agitation. 4. Educational Platform. IV. Educational Supervision, Links County . . 430 1. The County the Unit. 2. Name. 8. Status. 4. Employment. 5. Term. 6. Salaries. T. Qualifications. 8. Duties. V. Educational Waste ..... 441 1. Inefficient Teachers. 2. Violations of Economic Law. 8. Self-Neglect by Teachers. 4. Abuse of Text-Books. 5. Cumbersome Machinery. 6. Neglect of Moral Culture. VI. Educational Reforms ..... 447 1. The Basis. 2. Conditions. 3. Teachers instead of Task -masters. 4. The Metric SyBtem. 5. The Spelling Reform. 6. Technical Education. PART TENTH. GRADED SCHOOLS. I. Educational Evolution ..... 463 1. The Highest Good. 2. Division of Labor. 8. The School. 4. Group- ing. 5. Graded Schools. II. Graded School Systems ..... 467 1. Officers. 2. Superintendent. 3. Teachers. 4. Organization in Largo Cities. 5. Organization in Small Cities and Villages. III. Duties of School Boards in Graded Schools . . 471 1. Grounds and Buildings. 2. Furniture. 8. Apparatus and Works of Reference. 4. Regulations for Graded Schools. 5. Selection of Princi- pal and Assistants. IV. Course of Study and Programme . . . 475 1. Courses defined. 2. Preparation of Courses for Graded Schools. 3. General Principles ; (1) Subjective Limits ; (2) Objective Limits. 4. Analysis of Course. 5. Exercises. 6. Programmes. V. Grades and Grading ..... 480 1. Grades; (1) Number Arbitrary; (2) Methods of Determining. 2. Grading; (1) Organization ; (2) During Term. 8. Duties of School Board. 4. Duties of Principal. 5. Duties of Assistants. VI. Examinations, Records, and Reports . . 484 1. Examinations. 2. Records. 3. Reports. 4. General Discussion of the Subject. TO TEAOHEES I submit a few suggestions with reference to the use of this work. I. Ik Noemal Institutes. — These institutes usually continue four weeks, giving time to carefully discuss three parts : thus the work will be completed in three years. The superintendent and conductor can select the parts most needed in the county for the first year ; the parts for succeeding years should be designated a year in advance. The instructor should supplement the book with his own views and illustrations. The text is de- signedly brief. II. In Noemal Schools. — About twenty weeks will be found necessary to complete the subject. The instruc- tor may pursue his own line of thought, and assign for study chapters corresponding. This method will be found much more effective than lectures alone. The work in professional classes may be made as systematic and as thorough as the work in arithmetic. In some way, the^ pupil-teacher should also be trained to apply these lessons in practice. III. Foe Study and Reference. — Many of our best teachers work up to art. They study hard, observe close- ly, use their common sense, and become their own critics. This worthy class of teachers will, I trust, find the pres- ent work largely helpful. TEE ART OF SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. INTRODUCTION. I. School Management is the Art of so direct- ing School Affairs as to produce System, Order, and Efficiency. — It embraces school instrumentalities, and the entire control and direction of the school work. This art is sometimes called school economy, sometimes school discipline, and sometimes school government. These titles are evidently too narrow. The art of school management comprehends the entire subject, and is at the same time specific. II. The Art of School Management is based on the Science of Education. — Sound principles under- lie correct practice. Rational management is adapted to child-nature. The art of school management is the wise adjustment of educational forces and instrumentalities. III. Efficient Teaching is conditioned by Good Management. — Order, economy, system, well-directed effort, are results of wise management. "Without atten- tion, interest, and wisely-directed effort, education is impossible. IV. Self-Government is the Central Idea in School Management. — This art is developed from the 16 INTRODUCTION. standpoint of the self-determining child. School-grounds are planned, buildings constructed, furniture and appara- tus invented, books created, and the best teachers sus- tained, in order to stimulate the young to self-exertion, and to train them to the habit of self-control. All edu- cation is self -education. True government is from within. V. Ability and Skill aee demanded in School Management. — To organize and manage educational forces and instrumentalities require as much generalship and executive ability as to command armies or govern states. Ten teachers fail from lack of management where one fails from any other cause. We need for our teach- ers persons of ability, thorough culture, and wide expe- rience. The weak and inexperienced may keep school, but the art of school management is possible only in the hands of able and mature men and women. VI. Originality and Independence character- ize the Artist. — All right methods necessarily conform to principles ; but, in details, infinite variety is possible. A true teacher is an artist, not an artisan. He forms his own plans. He invents. He adapts. To him, concrete cases and the plans and practices of others are merely suggestive. He matures his own ideals, and in his own way executes his own plans. The mere imitator and plod- der is decidedly out of place in the school-room. VII. Divisions. — The art of school management seems naturally to embrace ten leading topics : school in- strumentalities, school organization, school government, courses of study and programmes, study, class manage- ment, graded-school management, examinations and re- ports, professional education of teachers, and school sys- tems. This division of the subject is deemed logical, and it will be found convenient both for study and for refer- INTRODUCTION. If ence. Under tliese heads are grouped such minor topics as are thought to be of most practical value. VIII. The Countey School. — The elevation of the schools of the rural districts is undoubtedly the most im- portant field of activity now open to the statesman and philanthropist. Cities are moving forward grandly in the educational work ; but the progress in the rural dis- tricts is far from satisfactory. To place ungraded and small graded schools in line of march with city schools, and thus keep the educational work abreast throughout the country, is deemed to be preeminently important. To this mission the art of school management is largely devoted. IX. The Plan". — The style is intended to be simple and concise. Avoiding untried theories and elaborate dis- cussions, the author has labored to present briefly and in convenient form the great results of the educational thought and experience of the race. Each paragraph, it is hoped, will be found to breathe the spirit of the fresh- est thought and best practice of the living present. The production of this volume has required a quarter of a cen- tury of hard work. The author fondly hopes to devote another quarter of a century to rendering it more and more worthy ; a fit work to aid in leading the great for- ward movements of the new education. PART I. ED UCA TIONAL INSTR JIMENTALITIES. CHAPTER I.— School-Gkounds. II. — School-Buildings. III. — School Appakatus. IV. — KlNDEEGAETEN GlFTS. V. — DlSTEIOT-SOHOOL LlBEAET. VI. — School Text-Books. VII. — School Hygiene. PART FIRST. EDUCATIONAL INSTRUMENTALITIES. Educational instrumentalities are the appliances used in human development. The boundless stores of na- ture, the varied achievements of man, and the manifold influences of society are all educational instrumentalities. The apt teacher commands these varied resources, and uses them for educational purposes. Suitable educational appliances double the efficiency of the teacher. Only such instrumentalities as pertain to the school and its ap- pointments need be here considered. To provide the most favorable surroundings and the most approved edu- cational instrumentalities is the highest privilege as well as the sacred duty of parents, school officers, and teachers. OHAPTEE I. SCHOOL-GEOUNDS. The school-building with its surroundings represents the average culture of the community. Intelligent com- munities embody in their school-grounds and school- 22 EDUCATIONAL INSTRUMENTALITIES. houses the conviction that nothing is too good for chil- dren. I. Location" of Grounds. — The grounds should be : 1. Central and Accessible. The site must be acces- sible, and should be as nearly as possible central. The center of population, as well as the geographical center, needs to be considered. 2. Commodious and Suitable. Commodious school- grounds, adapted* to educational ends, pay large divi- dends. Cities expend vast sums to secure large school- yards. Towns and villages set apart from two to ten acres for school-purposes. In the rural districts, not less than from two to five acres should be consecrated to child-cul- ture. To restrict a country school to half an acre is a mistake and a misfortune. 3. Healthful and Beautiful. Science has shed a flood of light on sanitary measures. Inexcusable stupidity or obstinacy alone can explain the selection of an unhealthy site for a school-building. Healthfulness depends (1), on the nature of the soil ; (2), on the elevation ; (3), on the drainage ; (4), on remoteness from marshy ground and stagnant water. A sandy soil and a southern slope are every way desirable. Healthfulness and beauty are ex- ceedingly important considerations. II. Plan of Grounds. 1. Each District should have its oiun Plan. Given plans are suggestive, but are never to be copied. Indi- viduality and originality should characterize the educa- tional nurseries of the race. Here is an excellent field for invention and taste. The school-building and grounds should represent the highest culture of the neighborhood. It is safe to judge communities by their school-houses and churches, and the surroundings. SCHOOL-GKOUNDS. 23 mi m fefk C L I L / L XI JsH ^ #t %y 3, 4 — count. TJie school will march to music. Calling classes. 1. Ready. 2. Rise. 3. Pass. Dismissing classes. 1. Ready. 2. Rise, or turn. 3. Pass, or seats. Board tactics. 1. Board. 2. Erase. 3. Write, etc. 4. Attention. Hand tactics. I. Hands up. 1. To answer. 2. To criticise. 3. To ask question. 4- To concur or oppose. II. Hands down. 1. When one is recognized. 2. When one is called. Concert tactics. 1. Class, or school. 2. Division one, etc. 3. Boys, girls ; ladies, gentlemen. 4- Class devices. 100 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. CHAPTEE III. SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION". School Classification is the grouping of the pupils for school work according to age, ability, and scholarship. Wise classification puts each child in its proper place. Two distinct plans are pursued — close classification and loose classification. On the first plan the pupil makes equal advancement in the several branches of the course ; on the second plan the pupil is permitted to advance in certain branches without reference to his attainments in the other branches. In all elementary schools the classi- fication should be close, never loose. As a basis, attention is invited to the following : I. Principles relating to School Classification. 1. Uniformity. — The Several Branches should he kept Abreast. The phase of the several branches pursued must be the same. It is not uncommon to find pupils well ad- vanced in arithmetic, but extremely backward in other branches, or well advanced in geography, but deficient in arithmetic. These unfortunates should be so classed as to give the greater part of their time to subjects in which they are deficient. The application of this princi- ple will work a much-needed revolution in our ungraded schools. 2. Adaptation. — The Pupil should be placed in Classes adapted to his Ability and Advancement. If classed too low, the pupil is not stimulated to effort ; if classed too high, he is apt to become confused and discouraged. Nothing succeeds like success. Each pupil should be so classed as to become a success in his classes. The appli- cation of this principle requires sound judgment and a SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION. 101 profound study of child-nature. Classification can never be done by machinery. 3. Criteria. — Age, Ability, and Scholarship deter- mine the Classification. Other things being equal, older pupils are classed higher than younger, and strong bright pupils higher than delicate or dull ones. The reasons are apparent. To consider scholarship alone is a grave, though common error. Examinations, oral and written, give some of the conditions ; but to ignore ability is to fail to reach the correct solution. Study the child. 4. Standard. — Reading and Arithmetic are made the Standard of Classification. All the pupils in the elemen- tary school are in these branches. Ignorance of thesej bars progress in other studies. The judicious teacher will give due weight to the pupil's advancement in other branches ; some may be worked up, others merely re- viewed. Complete adjustment may be secured by firm- ness and a few months of hard work. 5. Number of Classes. — As few Classes should be Organized as is Consistent with good Grading. Upon this principle depends largely the efficiency of the un- graded school. Numerous classes fritter away the time of the teacher without producing satisfactory results. Uniformity of text-books, wise combinations, and practi- cal devices enable the competent teacher to reach a high standard of efficiency even in a large ungraded school. 6. Size of Classes. — Medium-sized Classes are Best. Each Pujnl must be reached Individually during the Reci- tation. In very large classes this can not well be done. In very small classes it is difficult to maintain sufficient interest on the part of teacher and pupils. A class num- bering from ten to thirty is most desirable. Avoid, if possible, organizing classes for three or four pupils. As 102 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. a rule, from five to ten should be the minimum number in any class, where the school is large. 7. Adjustment. — The Work must be Adjusted to the Abilities and Tastes of Different Pupils. Some excel in language, but have no taste for arithmetic. The mini- mum amount of work in arithmetic and the maximum amount in language should be required of such. So in other branches. Study tour Pupils. — "You go into your school-room, and, after a superficial observation, you conclude, 'These scholars are just like the ones I had last term — are of the same grade and age ' ; and you will commence running in the old groove. This is a great mistake. Of the myriads of beautiful flowers that adorn the earth, there are no two alike ; so it is as regards children : there are no duplicates in God's creation. Every child that comes into this world is a new combination of elements. Your first and most important duty is to study the nature of each scholar ; study the characteristics that are peculiar to each, that you may know how to awaken their nobler emotions, and adjust the work to each one's wants." Your classification will thus become truly artistic. The school is for the children, and not the children for the school. II. Divisions in Ungraded Schools. — The elemen- tary-school course extends through eight years, and each year is considered a grade. The ungraded school is ar- ranged in four divisions, each division including two years. With reference to these divisions and grades the course of study is arranged, the programme constructed, and the school classified. D Division. — This division includes all the pupils in the first and second years of the course. As a rule, the pupils are from six to eight years of age. In some branches it may be necessary to teach the first and second grades separately. In reading, the first grade will have the SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION. 103 First Eeader ; the second grade, the Second Reader. In other subjects these grades may recite together. Even in reading, whenever possible, these grades should be com- bined. (See "Course of Study" and "Programme.") C Division. — All pupils in the third and fourth years, usually from eight to ten years old, are placed in this di- vision. The Third Eeader, Primary Arithmetic, and Pri- mary Geography sufficiently indicate the work. The third and fourth grades may be kept in the same classes in all their studies. B Division. — This division includes those in the fifth and sixth years, usually from ten to twelve years of age. Fourth Reader, Advanced Arithmetic, and Advanced Geography indicate the work. A Division. — Those in the seventh and eighth years, as a rule from twelve to fourteen years old, are embraced in this division. In some subjects the A and B divisions will recite together. As each division embraces two grades, it may become important to keep the grades dis- tinct by dividing each class into two sections, designated seventh grade and eighth grade. (See how to use " Course of Study" and "Programme.") III. Temporary Classification. — Permanent clas- sification is not possible at the first. The teacher goes to work vigorously and approximates a proper classification. The young teacher may profit by the following sugges- tions : 1. Follow the Classification of your Predecessor. If this has been reasonably good, it will give you a good basis on which to build. The pupils will readily fall into line, and further classification will not be difficult. 2. Carefully Plan the Organization of a New School. Where the school has not been classified, you will need to 104 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. be well prepared for the work. A week spent in the dis- trict before the term begins will enable you to secure the necessary data and form the necessary plans. 3. Have it Understood that the Classification is Tem- porary. This will prevent dissatisfaction. Very soon you expect to reach a proper classification. Endeavor to so classify the pupils that few changes will be necessary, and that changes will be promotions rather than demo- tions. IV. Permanent Classification. — From day to day, as you learn the true places of pupils, you promote or demote until all are properly classified. This work should approach completion during the first week. As new pu- pils come in, you will take time and care to place them in the right classes. Pupils who show themselves worthy will be promoted whenever you deem it best. V. Classification of an Ungraded School. — You have studied the principles pertaining to classifica- tion, and are familiar with the condition of your school. You have your plans well matured. After the opening exercises you at once proceed to classify your forty pupils. 1. You first Classify in the Leading Branches. These are reading, arithmetic, geography, and language. Each of these branches embraces the entire school. You at once put all to work. 2. Beginning ivith the A Division, you proceed to D. While organizing the A's the other divisions will be inter- ested observers. You remind the other divisions that, when called, they will be expected to observe the direc- tions given to the A division. The A's when sent to seats will study the lesson assigned, and the B's will be called ; then the C's, then the D's. The entire school will thus be put to work within an hour. SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION. 105 3. Give each Glass a Short Drill, and assign a Lesson. You wish to know more about each pupil. A short drill will enable you to gain the desired information. Make these drills lively. Avoid embarrassing or wearying the pupils. Assign a short lesson for study, and give neces- sary directions for preparing the lesson. 4. Promote or Demote as you find it Best. Pupils clearly in the wrong class should be changed at once. The first day is by far the best time to make changes. Say to the pupils that other changes will be made as you find it necessary. 5. During the first Half Day all the Glasses may he Organized. During the first week each pupil may be per- manently classed. A teacher who requires two or three weeks for the organization of a school evidently has mis- taken his calling. VI. Classification of Ungraded Schools illus- trated. — Only the inexperienced need details. One or two examples may aid some earnest workers. Teacher. — "All who are prepared to read in the Fourth or Fifth Header may raise your hands." Pupils. — Fifteen pupils raise their hands. Teacher. — " Take your Readers. At signals take places as directed. Ready ; Rise ; Pass." (Such directions are given as will insure order.) Pupils. — The pupils pass to places at the board. Teacher. — "You may write your names on the board. Board; Erase; Write; Attention." Pupils. — Each pupil writes his name, and at the signal Attention turns, facing the teacher. Teacher. — " Turn to page 120 ; read as called." Pupils. — Each one reads a short portion. The teacher during the reading makes out a roll of the class from 106 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. the names on the board, and at the same time notices the reading. Such as evidently belong to a lower class are told to take places in the class to which they belong. Teacher. — " Turn to page 30 for the next lesson. You may prepare the first and second paragraphs. Notice the spelling and meaning of each word. At signals, take seats. Board; Erase; Attention; Turn; Pass." Pupils. — The class pass to seats, and prepare the lesson assigned. Teacher. — "Those who are prepared to read in the Third Eeader may raise their hands." The same course is pursued with this class as with the class in the Fourth Eeader. In the same way the classes in the Second and First Headers are organized. Now each pupil is at work. It is Unnecessary to give Further Details. In a similar manner the pupils are classified in other branches, and put to work. During the afternoon each class will have a short, lively recitation. On the second day you may enter upon the regular work with a well-arranged programme. "Wise and prudent man- agement will overcome all obstacles. VII. Another Practical Illustration.* — Take arithmetic as the basis. 1. Call the A Division. All take places, and write names on the board. The class solve and explain a few easy examples. Place on the board ten carefully prepared test examples, testing the class up to percentage. The class will be seated, and will solve the ten examples. 2. Gall the B Division. Drill in the same way. "Write ten examples on the board, testing the class up to fractions. The class will take seats, and solve the examples. 3. Call the C Division. Give a short drill on the board. "Write five easy examples to be solved on slates. * This is in substance Mr. Holbrook's method, but quite a number of changes are inserted. SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION. 107 4. Call the D Division. Interest them. Give them some work to copy on slates. The entire school is now at work, and is interested and or- derly. On no account organize more than four classes in arith- metic or in any other branch. 5. Give a recess of ten minutes. 6. Call the A and B Divisions. Have a few paragraphs writ- ten on the hoard. Call on different pupils to read. Decide which you will use, the Fourth or Fifth Reader. Assign lesson. These divisions when sent to seats will continue to work on problems, and will also prepare their reading lesson. 7. Call the C Division. Give a short drill on some lesson in the Third Eeader. Assign lesson. Send to seats, to prepare read- ing lesson and finish examples. 8. Call the D Division. If possible, place all in either the First or Second Reader. If this can not be done, organize classes in each, and assign work. Show the pupils how to study. 9. Give a recess of ten minutes. 10. Call the A and B Divisions. Give a short drill in geog- raphy. Assign a common lesson. Usually you will assign ad- vanced work for the A Division, but have them review with the B's. 11. Call the C Division. Give a short drill in primary geogra- phy. Assign a suitable lesson. 12. Call the D Division. Give a lesson on the cardinal points. 13. Dismiss for noon. 14. Call the A and B Divisions. Give a drill in composition and grammar. Assign a lesson. 15. Call the C and D Divisions. Give a language lesson. Assign some slate-work. 16. Give ten minutes' recess. 17. Arrange all the divisions for writing. 18. Arrange all the divisions for drawing. 19. Arrange all the divisions for vocal music. 20. Give ten minutes' 1 recess. 21. Explain and adopt regulations. 108 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 22. Dismiss school. 23. Make out your roll. 24. Adjust your programme, and place it on the board. VIII. The Teacher Classifies. 1. The Right of the Teacher to Classify is Unques- tioned. The pupil is not prepared to choose his stud- ies. The dictation of parents would render classification impossible. School-boards prescribe courses of study, but have no power to direct the classification. This is strictly professional work. All rulings or decisions to the contrary are discouraging and anti-educational. 2. The Teacher should conscientiously Classify his School, regardless of Fear or Favor. You have but one question to consider, "Where does the pupil belong?" Your duty to the child, to the parents, to yourself, and to the profession requires of you a correct classification. 3. Manage to avoid Conflicts ivith Pupils or Parents. Wise management will usually prevent such conflicts. Make no effort to force pupils into branches not generally recognized as elementary studies. Drawing, much of the oral work, music, etc., in most States, belong to this class of studies. Show the advantages of these studies. Interest the pupils. Eemove objections. Introduce new things gradually. Manage. 4. Avoid all Demagogic Pedagogy. Classing pupils too high, rushing them through books, showy surface work, and promoting pupils when not prepared, are base unprofessional tricks, and are characteristics of the dema- gogue. Popularity gained by thus swindling pupils and patrons will not last. Only by conscientiously doing thorough and good work can you win a reputation that will endure. SCHOOL CLASSIFICATION. 109 Topical Review. — School Classification. Introduction. 1. Definition. 2. Importance. 3. Close, never loose. Principles relating to school classification. 1. Uniformity. — T/ie several branches must be kept abreast. 2. Adaptation. — Adapt the work to the ability of each child. 3. Criteria. — Age, ability, and scholarship determine the classification. If.. Basis. — Reading and arithmetic are made the basis of classification. 5. Number of classes. — Organize the smcdlest possible number of classes. 6. Size of classes. — A medium-sized class is best. 7. Adjustment. — The work must be adjusted to (he taste and capacity of the pupils. Divisions in ungraded schools. 1. D division. 2. V division. 3. B division. 4- ■& division. Temporary classification. 1. Follow the classification of your predecessor. 2. Carefully plan the classification of a new school. 3. Have it understood that the classification is temporary. Permanent classification. 1. Promote and demote as you find it necessary. 2. Complete the permanent classification during first week. Classification of an ungraded school. 1. Classify in the leading branches. 2. Begin with the A division and proceed to the D. 3. Give each class a short drill, and assign a short lesson. 4- Promote or demote as you find it best. 5. During the first half day all classes may be organized. Classification of an ungraded school illustrated. 1. Illustration : Reading. 2. Illustration : Arithmetic. The teacher classifies. 1. The right of the teacher to classify is unquestioned. 2. The teacher should conscientiously classify the school. 3. Manage to avoid conflicts with pupils or parents. 4- Avoid all demagogic pedagogy. HO SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. CHAPTER IV. OPENING EXERCISES, SEATING, AND RE- CESSES. Things apparently of little importance often exert much influence. Such are the topics discussed in this chapter. I. Opening Exercises. — These exercises should be short, appropriate, and interesting. While made especially attractive, they should be systematically directed to moral culture. 1. Roll-Call. This, in any school, should occupy less than one minute. In schools of from forty to fifty, it works well to have each pupil give his number. In large schools the pupils are divided into sections, and the section-lead- ers report the absentees. In small schools it is well to call all the names once each day. A suitable plot of the pupils as seated will enable the teacher to detect absen- tees at a glance. 2. Singing. In the near future, vocal music will be taught in all our schools. Its ethical and aesthetical value is universally felt, and its place as a part of the opening exercises is unquestioned. The unfortunate teacher who can not sing must manage to have a pupil lead. 3. Bible-Reading. The Bible is now read without ob- jection in a vast proportion of all the schools in the United States. By having the exercises at the close of school in districts where there are objections, the Bible might be advantageously read in most of the remaining schools. Pupils whose parents request it could be dismissed before the devotional exercises. OPENING EXERCISES, SEATING, AND RECESSES, m Right Plan. — Our schools must be kept for ever free from all trammels of party or sect. The conscientious scruples of pagan and Christian, of Catholic and Protestant, of Rationalist and Jew, must he respected. But all this, it is believed, may be secured on the plan proposed, and still the devotional exercises may be con- tinued. In case of opposition to religious exercises, it is best to have them at the close of the day's work. By this plan the conflicts between the friends and opponents of devotional exercises in public schools may, to a great extent, be obviated. Religious exercises should never be forced upon an unwilling school or community. Moral Substratum (Huxley). — In all our educational systems and work, there must be an all-pervading moral substratum. Incomparably the best means to this end is the Bible, to be read without note or com- ment in all schools. (Substance, not verbatim.) 4. Prayer. A short, earnest, extemporaneous prayer is best. The Lord's Prayer, repeated by the pupils and the teacher, is very impressive. Prayer is admissible only when the teacher's life accords with his prayers. Secularization - of our Schools. — It can not be denied that the tendency in this country, as well as in Europe, is to make the schools wholly secular. All religious teaching, it is claimed, should be remanded to the family, the Sunday-school, and the church. This movement seems to me to be an extreme. Society, in its protest against bigoted ecclesiasticism and clerical control in education, rushes to the other extreme — non-religion. All agree that sound morality must be made the very sub-basis of an educa- tional system. But how shall we build up moral character if we exclude from our schools God, the Bible, responsibility, future life ? Utilitarian and philosophic morality in all ages has utterly failed to elevate our race. When we teach that the moral universe is as real as the physical universe ; that law is simply the Infinite Will impressed upon matter and expressed to intelligence ; that the very essence of morality is obedience to law ; and that present and future happiness result from obedience to law, we reach a practical basis for moral elevation as enduring as space and time. 112 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. II. Methods of Seating. — The seating of the school is the embodiment of the teacher's ideal of symmetry and fitness. 1. Seat with Reference to Size. Because of convenience and symmetry, this plan is in general use. Accepting this as the basis, the thoughtful teacher will make many ex- ceptions. 2. Seat with Reference to Grade. In an ungraded school the observance of this direction must, at best, be partial. 3. Seat with Reference to Sex. The orthodox way is safest for the young teacher. The boys and girls are seated on opposite sides of the room, with a wide aisle between them. Having alternate tiers of boys and girls is found to work well in the hands of a teacher of culture and power. Some teachers secure the best results by having the boys and girls occupy alternate seats. 4. Reserve the Right to Change. It should be well understood that the teacher may have a pupil change his seat at any time, and without question. The change may be made for convenience, or to lessen temptation, or to place unruly pupils in the best position to be trained to correct habits. 5. Make the Seating an Educational Means. Let the teacher study profoundly the problem of social and moral culture. It is within his power to render the seating an important educational means. Government by Seating. — Control your school by seating it properly. As long as your room will admit of it, put but one pupil on a seat. When a pupil becomes troublesome to his neighbors, remove him to another seat. Place weak pupils with strong ones. Place troublesome pupils in seats where they can not give trouble. OPENING EXEKCISES, SEATING, AND RECESSES. 113 III. Eecesses. — Eecreation is not less important than study. To properly manage recesses is one of the teacher's most delicate duties. 1. Ttvo Recesses, of ten minutes each, during each half day, give the best results. Thorough ventilation is secured each hour. The pupils are kept fresh, and in a condition for vigorous study. Time is gained, not lost. 2. All should have Recess at the Same Time. The grounds and outbuildings should be arranged with this in view. Giving the boys and girls separate recesses is an educational mistake. 3. The Teacher Mingles pleasantly with the Pupils, and watches over them, during recess. Invigorating plays are encouraged, rudeness and improper conduct are reproved. The teacher may sometimes join in the amusements, but must always maintain the dignity and authority of the teacher. Nowhere is the presence of the cultured teacher more needed than on the play-grounds. True Dignity. — The teacher must not forget that he is at all times the teacher. No false idea of friendliness should lead him to lay aside the dignity becoming his position. He has a right to make as many friends as he chooses among his pupils ; hut he should make no confidants among them, nor should he ever so far forget himself as to speak slightingly of one pupil to another. Personalities on the part of a teacher are always out of place. "The teacher should be the friend of the scholar, his com- panion, his guide. Did you ever stop to reflect that the child is an imitative being, that he is all the time imitating you, and that, therefore, you should be constantly upon the very best conduct and behavior # Let your example be, in every respect, worthy of imitation. It is your duty to make education agreeable. It is no use talking all the time about duty. I do not know any duty more important for teachers than that of making the school pleas- ant." (Ex-Governor Thomas A. Hendricks.) 114 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. CHAPTER V. first day of school. The First Day of the School is the most Impor- tant Day of the Term. — A good beginning, giving favorable first impressions, is a leading element of success. The judicious teacher will leave undone nothing within his power. I. Be Early. — The good teacher will always he early, but especially on the first morning : 1. To See that all is in Readiness. The house should be clean and warm, and the furniture and apparatus should be arranged for use. 2. To Welcome the Pupils. A few kind words spoken to each one as he comes into the school-room will do much good . First impressions are lasting. 3. To Preserve Order. While cheerful conversation and laughter are encouraged, no rude or boisterous con- duct must at any time be permitted in the school- room. II. Welcome Address. — Order is promptly called. When all are quiet, you give a short talk, containing ideas something like the following : You are glad to meet the pupils. You will do all you can to help them. Do they wish to learn ? Will each one help to make this the best school in the country ? The address should be simply an earnest talk with the pupils, and of not more than five minutes' length. Short and appropriate opening exer- cises should follow the address. III. Follow your Plan. — By following a well-di- gested plan, the young teacher may avoid a world of em- barrassment. There is no hesitancy ; not a moment is FIRST DAT OF SCHOOL. 115 lost. Vigorous work forestalls mischief. The following outline must be so changed as to be made specific : 1. After the opening exercises, seat the pupils. 2. Classify the school, and assign lessons. As each class is called, give a short drill. This will recmire all of the forenoon. 3. Have short recitations of all the classes during the afternoon. Follow a special programme. 4. Make school tactics a specialty during the first week. 5. During the last half hour adopt regulations. 6. Leave nothing foreseeable to the impulse of the moment. " What to do ? " " When to do it ? " and " How to do it ? " must be thought out before entering the school- room. Observe and study the }3lans of others, but mature and follow your own. IV. Be Self-possessed and Detekmined. (Phelps.) — " To the young teacher, the first day is an eventful one. Much de- pends on the impressions he makes when he appears for the first time before his charge. Every precaution should therefore he taken to secure pleasant and favorable impressions. The plans for the day should be carefully considered and deliberately exe- cuted. Nothing should be left to the impulse of the moment. In calling the school to order, let a quiet and self-possessed demeanor be practiced. If possible, the presence of one or more of the school officers should be secured, through whom an introduction to the children, accompanied by such remarks as occasions of the kind sanction, would be eminently proper. Let these proceedings be followed by a few simple and fitting words by the teacher, ex- planatory of the mutual duties and relations of instructor and pupils. This may be followed by some appropriate general exer- cise, as singing, led by the teacher. By this means embarrassment may be dispelled, and a bond of sympathy established between the parties who are to be so intimately associated in the future. If 116 SCHOOL OEGANIZATION. the first effort be not entirely satisfactory, try again, and again, until sufficient confidence is gained to render further intercourse pleasant and free. If singing be not practicable, select some other exercise, in which the teacher himself is efficient. Nothing should be undertaken in which the instructor is not competent to lead and inspire confidence. A hesitating and uncertain manner will be quickly detected by the children, and will be fatal to that en- tire confidence which a teacher should ever be able to command.'" V. Unofficial Intercourse. (Abbot.) — " It is desirable that the young teacher should meet his scholars first in an unofficial ca- pacity. For this purpose repair to the school-room on the first day at an early hour, so as to see and become acquainted with the scholars as they come in one by one. The intercourse between teacher and pupils should be like that between parents and chil- dren, where the utmost freedom is united with the most perfect respect. All the children will be pleased with the gentleness and affability of the teacher. Even a rough and ill-natured boy, who has perhaps come to the school with the express determination of attempting to make mischief, will be completely disarmed by be- ing asked politely to help the teacher to arrange the fire or alter the position of his desk. Thus, by means of the half hour during which the scholars are coming together, the teacher will find, when he calls upon the children to take their seats, that he has made a very large number of them his personal friends. Many of these will have communicated their first impressions to the others, so that he will find himself possessed, at the outset, of that which is of vital consequence in the opening of any administration — a strong party in his favor." VI. Special Directions to Teachers. (Bell.) 1. Upon no other day of the school year does so much depend. The impressions made the first day, especially the first morning, will be lasting, and will have a powerful influence for good or for bad upon all future work. 2. Know definitely the organization of the preceding school, especially the classification, and the page to which each class had advanced. This information can be obtained from the records of FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. 117 the former teacher, or from the pupils. In some way, get the in- formation. 3. See to it that your school-house is in good condition before the school assembles. 4. Prepare carefully your opening exercises, and make them brief. The opening " talk " should not exceed five minutes in length, and should be of such a character as to gain the confidence of the pupils and put them at their ease. 5. Announce no rules of order, but say, "I expect each pupil to do just what he thinks is right. This afternoon we may see about regulations." 6. Begin as you expect to continue. Allow no liberty the first day that you do not expect to grant next week and next month. 7. After very brief preliminaries, in the quickest way possible, give each pupil something to DO. One of the quickest ways to do this is to assign work in arithmetic. , 8. Hear classes rapidly, and assign suitable work. A skillful teacher will never allow any of his pupils to become idle. 9. The secret of success in organizing a school lies in the abil- ity of a teacher to assign work promptly, and to keep the pupils busy. 10. Follow as closely as possible the classification and pro- gramme of the former teacher, and make changes as experience dictates. 11. Never waste time by taking the names of the pupils the first thing. Any other time is better. 12. Study your work carefully, and have clearly in mind just what you are going to do, and how you are going to do it, before beginning. In this way you will gain and retain the respect and confidence of your pupils. Eemaeks. — School organization includes, in addition to the subjects here discussed, the regulations and the programme ; but I deem it best to discuss the former in connection with school gov- ernment, and the latter in connection with the course of study. 118 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. CHAPTER VI. PEACTICAL SUGGESTIONS BY PRACTICAL TEACHERS. I. Thorough Organization and Classification. (Orcutt.) — I have seen the school in operation, so perfectly systematized, all its arrangements so complete, and its departments so perfectly ad- justed, that the working of its machinery not only produced no friction, hut created order, interest, and zeal, such as secured the desired object. I have seen these arrangements so perfect as not only to prevent disorder, but to punish wrong, without the agency of the teacher. And, on the other hand, I have often witnessed the utter failure of apparently competent teachers, for the want of system in the" arrangement and classification of their schools. Organization is the first business of the school-room, and nothing else should be attempted until this is complete. II. School Organization is a System of Arrangement de- signed to secure Constant Employment, Efficient Instruc- tion, and Moral Control. — It aims at providing the means of instructing and educating the greatest number in the most efficient manner, and by the most economical expenditure of time and money. Organization puts each child in its proper place, and allots to each class its proper work — proper in kind and amount ; secures to each subject the time that is justly its due ; arranges the work, both as to place and kind, so as to preserve a quiet room ; and properly distributes the work, so that no interest of the school in any of its parts shall suffer. III. Preparation for Eirst Day's Wore. (De Graff.) — This is all-important. The seeds of failure are frequently sown the first hour. The teacher should have a plan in his mind— just what he will do, how he will do it, and when he will do it. He should not try to accomplish too much the first day ; must not be too anxious about courting the favor of pupils — good discipline can not be established in a day ; should use words expressive of friendly feelings and good intentions ; should not let frowns cloud PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 119 the brow, even though all may not be at the outset just as one might wish ; should leave nothing to the impulse of the moment; should be firm, watchful, and uniform ; and should endeavor to make the Jlrst impression pleasant. IV. Too much Unnecessary and Cumbersome Machinery. (Kellogg.) — How many of the forms and modes of procedure adopted in the school-room will bear strict examination? "We say nothing here of the language of the teacher, the dictatorial tone, the biting censure, the menace, and the sneer. These there is no argument over ; there is no place for them in the school- rooms of a civilized and Christian community. "We limit our inquiry to those performances that have crept into the school- room, and have no relation whatever to education. They have been passed along from one generation to another, or adopted for a specific end by some teacher, and imitated and copied by every one else. Some insist on certain physical or mechanical artifices, without which they can not accomplish the ends of education. "We visited one of these schools. Here the bell and piano were in constant requisition to signal the pupils to everything but think- ing. The principal said he employed over two hundred signals, and that he was obliged to practice with the pupils to familiarize them with the code. V. "What I saw in a Country School. (Visitor.) The floor was clean, and the desks smooth ; pictures were on the walls ; maps and charts were ready for use. The signals were promptly obeyed, and the classes passed quietly to and fro ; no tiptoeing nor shuffling. The pupils did not communicate with each other openly or stealthily. The pupils did not ask the teacher a question without first raising the hand and obtaining permission. After the pupils criticised the solutions, readings, etc., they were required to make the corrections needed. Tlie exercises were of a varied kind, which prevented the pu- pils from becoming tired. Every pupil seemed to have plenty of work to do. The pupils did not laugh at each other's mistakes. 120 SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. The teacher used good language, and taught the pupils to do the same. The pupils were always spoken to in a pleasant but firm man- ner ; it was the manner of a cultivated person holding authority. No interruptions occurred during recitations. The teacher gave all her energies to the lesson. VI. Valuable Hints. (A Teaohee.) — Have a clear, well-de- fined idea of the kind of school you want. Have in mind an im- aginary model school, but do not be discouraged if you fail many times before you attain this ; each day's determined work will bring it nearer. Teach pupils how to study. Teach them how to get from a book the thoughts which it contains. Much time is wasted in getting ready for work. Teach pupils to attend to business, to do the work assigned them at the proper time, and to do one thing at a time. In hearing recitations, be interested yourself ; be enthusiastic ; have a soul in the work. If you are obliged to punish, do it out of school. If anything unpleasant has occurred during the day between the teacher and any of the pupils, never allow the school to close without dropping some pleasant word, which will cause all to leave the room with good feeling. Cultivate in pupils, as far as possible, self-respect and self-government. In governing your school, do not lower your- self to the level of your pupils, but always be dignified in your deportment, thus silently lifting them up to a higher standard. VII. Concluding Eemarks on School Organiza- tion. — I have visited more than a thousand ungraded schools, and have not found one in twenty well organized. Many of the worst organized schools I have found in the hands of teachers claiming from five to forty years' expe- rience. Most of these proved to be the " self-sufficient, all-sufficient, insufficient" kind who can learn nothing from others. In view of the vast importance of thorough organization, and of the fact that few ungraded schools are properly organized, I have given "line upon line," hoping to stimulate teachers to earnest effort. PART III. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER I. — Elements of Governing Power. II. — School Regulations. III. — Enforcement of School Regulations. IV. — Principles pertaining to School Punishments. Y. — Judicious and Injudicious School Punishments. VI. — Corporal Punishment. VII. — Management of Special Cases. VIII. — Conditions of Order, and Duties and Rights of Teachers, Pupils, Parents, and Sohool- Boards. PART THIRD. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. " Goveenmekt is the power of control which produces and sustains order. Order is fitness of condition in things. " The end of school government is to facilitate growth ; but growth results from voluntary and well-directed effort. The child is to be developed into the self-reliant and self- determining man. Vicious habits are to be broken up, and right habits formed. These results are not reached by force, nor by mere authority, nor by iron rules, nor by cruel punishments. The child must be led to love and choose the good, and to hate and reject the bad. By ju- dicious training, principles, precepts, and examples must be converted into habits. As the best instructor is the one who renders his pupils independent of himself, so the best disciplinarian is the one who trains his pupils to gov- ern themselves. Hence the definition : School govern- ment is the poiver of control ivhich trains pupils to the habit of self-government. Order is the result of good gov- ernment. But, says Mayo : " There are two styles of order in the school-house — the military and the natural. It is possible to drill a class of children up to a more than clock-work precision of uniform behavior ; but, valuable as some of these lessons of military obedience, promptness, and 124 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. precision are, I am confident we should aim at a style of disci- pline deeper and more vital. Your school will not be well or beautifully governed till the majority of your scholars are so enthusiastically engaged in the work in hand that they form a public opinion which compels respectful and orderly behavior as the law of the little community. Your high vocation is to teach these children how to live with each other in American society, each attending faithfully to his own business, and all working together to build up the world's republic — the model country of mankind." School government is here considered from the stand- point of the child. The teacher does not ask, " How may I keep order ? " but rather, " How may I so manage as to develop my pupils into noble, self-governing youth ? " CHAPTER I. ELEMENTS OF GOVEENIIG POWER. Governing power, in its educational sense, is ability to train to the habit of self-control. It is the capacity to marshal and render effective all educational resources. By careful analysis we discover the elements of governing power. The teacher spares no effort to master and em- body these. Thus armed, he assumes the fearful respon- sibility of child-culture. I. System is the First Element of Governing Powee. — System characterizes all good government, hu- man and divine. System is a condition of success in all fields of human achievement. The three factors in sys- tem are Time, Place, and Method. 1. System means a Time for Everything. Order, reg- ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 125 ularity, and promptitude are the pillars of government. How admirably ordered is the well-regulated household ! The rising, the retiring, and the meals, occurring each at its appointed time, prevent confusion and produce com- fort. A network of railroads is a grand exhibition of the power of system. The time-table has revolutionized so- ciety, and the nations have learned to move to the rhythm of the rail. Napoleon once said to his officers, "Give your men plenty to eat and plenty to do, and you will find little difficulty in governing them." " Steady and congenial employment for the people " is the profoundest maxim of human government. " Keep the pupils inter- ested and busy " is the best rule ever given for the man- agement of schools. The school programme, by providing congenial employment for each pupil during each portion of the school day, lays the foundation for good government. 2. System means a Place for Everything. " A place for everything, and everything in its place," is as impor- tant to the teacher as to the housekeeper or the mechanic. Having places for play, for wrappings, for books, for study, and for recitation, enables the teacher to secure good order with much greater readiness. Oedeely Habits. — Training pupils to orderly habits in the school-room prepares them for orderly habits through life. The teacher's desk, the pupil's desk, the school-room, and the school- grounds should be models of order and neatness. 3. System means Method in doing Everything. Mili- tary precision should characterize all school movements. In calling and dismissing school, in class tactics, and in all school exercises, exactness is desirable. Children thus acquire the habit of prompt obedience, and learn to move to the rhythm of society. 126 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. Eestxlts of System. — System is the key to success. Each one's experience will verify this statement. John and James started with equal chances. John worked according to a plan, and made systematic efforts to become a scholar and a man. James drifted, and was content to while away the precious years. When forty, John was a distinguished member of Congress, but James was merely a nice little man without money, without influence, with- out brains. Systematic effort made the one a man among men, and drifting made the other a ninny. System builds railroads, carries on the world's commerce, and enables rulers to manage empires. Education is in the highest sense the world's work, and in all its processes the perfection of system is demanded. The school should prepare the pupil for life. The habit of systematic work is worth vastly more than all the knowledge derived from books. In school government, thorough system, vigorously en- forced, is simply invincible. II. Energy is the Second Element of Govern- ing Power. — Labor is genius. Energy is the magic wand to which, all obstacles yield. System is the school completely planned and thoroughly organized ; energy is the power that inspires its movements. The Engine. — With the miracle of steam throbbing its ma- chinery within like a living soul, the engine becomes almost human in its wonderful power and adaptation to the wants of men. Now, the teacher personifies the steam-power in his mighty work. He is the one that inspires — that moves; and if this ele- ment be lacking, the school is a failure on his hands, and he is a pauper supported by the public funds. 1. The Teacher should possess Boundless Energy. Energy keeps the grounds, the house, the furniture, and the apparatus in the best possible condition. Energy prepares all available means of illustration, infuses the utmost life and vigor into the recita- tion, and meets and overcomes difficulties. Energy studies the disposition and capacity of each pupil, and adapts the manage- ment and work to each. Energy evokes and directs every power ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 127 of every pupil. Indomitable energy compensates for many faults, and almost compels success. 2. A Lazy Teacher is an Intolerable Nuisance. He keeps his seat through the livelong day. He prepares no lessons and gives no illustrations. In sleep-producing monotones he drawls through the weary hours. Under his administration dullness or disorder reigns, mischief and meanness flourish. He may keep school, hut he can never educate. III. Vigilance is the Third Element of Govern- ing Power. — "Eternal vigilance is the price of victory." However perfect the engine, and however great the en- ergy of steam, the constant vigilance of the engineer is indispensable. However systematic the organization, and however intense the energy of the teacher, no school can be successfully managed without untiring vigilance. 1. The Teacher must Know his School, and hence must use his eyes and ears. To govern well, he must know the feelings and purposes of the pupils. He must be able to see and hear m detail, to know just what hap- pens. He will thus be able at once and effectually to correct disorder. 2. Vigilance Prevents as well as Corrects Faults. He governs best who anticipates and prevents offenses. Care- less government fosters crime and renders its punishment barbarous. The eye of the wide-awake teacher incites to diligence, and dissuades from wrong. 3. The worthy Teacher watches to Encourage and Train. The eye of the loving Father never slumbers. The tender parent watches over all the goings of a dar- ling child. Marshal Key, when about to make one of his invincible charges^ weuld say, " Soldiers, the eye of your beloved commander is upon you. Napoleon expects each one to do his duty." So the kindly eye of the faithful < 128 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. teacher is ever upon his school, not to detect and punish, but to cheer, to assist, to prevent. Fault-Finding. — "Seldom reprove" is a safe rule. The vigi- lant teacher does not seem to notice a thousand trivial faults ; hut if attention has once heen called to a fault, the teacher should never allow the same thing to occur a second time without a re- proof; nor should a violation of principle ever be allowed to pass. But the attempt to correct every little fault must result in igno- minious failure. Few things so utterly demoralize a school as the shrill, croaking voice of the continual fault-finder. Such nuisances should he abated at any cost, whether found in the state, the church, or the school. IV. WlLL-PoWER IS THE FOUETH ELEMENT OF GOV- ERNING Power. — Will-power is the mightiest of all forces. Law is but the expression of will. In all ages it has been the iron will that has mastered the world. To succeed well in any- thing, there must be iron in the soul — resolution, force, manhood. Will may be termed decision of character — persistency of purpose. The law of the school — its rule of action — should be stamped on the personality of all connected with it. Law pervades the uni- verse. The child should be made to know law — to love law — to sustain law. 1. School Management must be Uniform and Certain. System must he strictly enforced. A vacillating, tempo- rizing policy is as fatal to good scholarship as it is to good government. A good easy teacher is generally good for nothing. The determined teacher will hold the reins firmly, and will train to orderly habits and efficient work. 2. The Teacher needs a Powerful Will. This trait characterizes the great men and women of all ages. To resist importunities, to counteract fickleness, and to train to form and follow plans, requires the utmost firmness. ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 129 To develop decision of character, to infuse iron into child- nature, and to fit youth for achievement, is possible only to the teacher with great will-power. 3. The Firm Hand is best for the Pupil. The teacher kindly but firmly holds the pupil to systematic work. The soldier obeys without question. The pugilist submits absolutely to his trainer. How much more should the pupil yield implicitly to the requirements of a loving teacher ! Caution. — Obstinacy is not firmness. The unreasoning mule is obstinate; the loving parent is firm. Benevolent firmness is noble ; blind obstinacy is brutal. Obstinacy hastens certain fail- ure ; firmness promotes success. V. Self-Control is the Fifth Element of Gov- erning Power. — The great general remains calm in the midst of the battle. The statesman is not excited by the tumult of partyism. Still more does the teacher of youth need to be calm amid all storms. He molds as well as governs. Before we can manage and control others, we must first be able to manage and control ourselves. "We can not teach others the way unless we ourselves know the path and the difficulties by actual experience. A writer has well said, " We can learn of those who have proved by their lives that they are worthy to teach. Only those who are made of stancher material than ordinary mor- tals should presume to advise or dare to control. To teach, to guide, is a holy task, demanding an exemplary life." 1. Self -Possession greatly aids Self -Control. The teacher needs to keep all his powers well in hand, ready for every work and prepared for every emergency. 2. Anger must be Crushed. Exhibitions of temper do incalculable injury. The violent teacher loses the respect 130 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. of his pupils, loses all moral power over them. If he suc- ceeds at all, his must be a government of force. The im- portance of avoiding all exhibitions of anger can hardly be too earnestly urged. 3. Impatience must be Repressed. A hundred things occur hourly to render the teacher irritable and impatient. To yield is ruin. The teacher needs a world of patience. Child-nature is full of perversity, and child-mind develops slowly. "Wesley's mother would tell him the same thing twenty times; and many "children of the present day re- quire equal patience. 4. Antagonisms must be Suppressed. To suffer an- tagonism to spring up between yourself and a pupil or a patron is a fatal mistake. Control yourself, and thus control others. Never antagonize. 5. Cheerfulness helps Self- Control. Cheerfulness is an electric power. There is no one thing that will do more to make a well-qualified teacher successful than cheerful- ness. As the cheerful mother will do much to make sun- shine and happiness in the home circle, so the teacher who can be habitually cheerful will be very sure to have a pleasant, happy, and successful school. The subject of self-control demands the earnest study and con- stant care of the teacher. Without a good degree of this power no one need expect success. VI. Confidence is the Sixth Element of Gov- erning Poweb. — This is a noble trait, and its influence is unbounded. 1. Confidence in the Loving Father. He orders all things well. An abiding trust in the Supreme Euler gives the teacher a dignity and a power that nothing else can give. In the dark hours of trial confidence in God.sus- ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 131 tains and nerves for victory. The Father takes note of the earnest work of the humble teacher. 2. Confidence in the Pupils. He who would so govern as to elevate, must trust. Children and men generally do about as they are expected to do. Trust your pupils, and they will seldom betray the trust. Suspicion is only worthy of fiends, and it breeds offenses, treachery, and crime. 3. Self- Confidence. This does not mean an over- weening egotism. Inordinate self-esteem is a barrier to success. "He thinks he knows it all," "He is stuck up," etc., etc., are expressions frequently applied to teachers, and unfortunately with too much foundation. ]STo class of workers is more exposed to the malady in question. The teacher needs to guard against egotism in every possible way. Remember that modesty is the vir- tue that society most esteems. Self-confidence means a well-grounded assurance that you can do what you undertake. It must be based — (1), on good scholar- ship ; (2), on a profound study of cbild-nature ; (3), on a practical knowledge of school management. "Without confidence, failure is almost certain ; with it, the teacher is commander of the situation. Let there oe a general confidence everywhere. Confidence by the teacher. Confidence between teacher and pupil. Confidence between parent and teacher. Confidence on the part of the community. VII. Power to Punish judiciously is the Seventh Element of Governing Power. — Punishment, as an educational means, is essentially corrective. Its object is to lead the pupil to see and feel his fault, and correct his wrong-doing. 1. In the proportion that the teacher possesses the other elements of governing power, the necessity for punish- 132 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. ment becomes less and less ; but no teacher need expect to be able to succeed without at times inflicting punish- ment. 2. TJie Art of Punishment is a rare accomplishment. It means the ability so to punish as to increase the pupil's respect and lore for you, and at the same time to awaken in him a resolve to forsake the wrong and do the right. VIII. CULTUKE IS THE EIGHTH ELEMENT OF GOVERN- ING Power. — Culture of mind, culture of manners, and culture of yoice vastly augment one's power to govern. 1. Culture of Mind. Thorough scholarship commands respect. We honor men and women with well-developed arioTwell-stored minds. The ignoramus is despised, and soon comes to grief. 2. Culture of Manners. The teacher is a model. Pupils tend to become like their teachers. Hence, our teachers should be refined ladies and gentlemen. The coarse, ill-mannered, dowdyish teacher not only fails to govern, but also becomes a positive influence for evil. 3. Culture of Voice. The human voice is the great instrument both for instruction and government ; yet the elocution of the school-room is often most abominable. No wonder we have so few good readers and speakers ! The following directions may be safely- followed : V 1. Don't talk much. Eternal talkers are a fearful nuisance, and, as teachers, are usually great failures. 2. Use the right word and right tone. Loud, harsh, monotonous talking incites to disorder. Kemember that " words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 3. Never scold. Nothing else so tends to sour you and render you hateful to your pupils. 4. Practice what you Teach. Good manners and a pleasing elocution are very important parts of an edu- ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 133 cation, and their possession wonderfully increases the teacher's power to govern. The best governed schools are often found in charge of girls under twenty years of age. Gentle manners, with a low, earnest voice, largely explain the mystery. Rough, double-fisted men are no longer selected to master the bad boys. IX. Heart-Power is the Ninth Element of Gov- erning Power. — This means the ability to win the re- spect, the confidence, and the love of pupils and patrons. It means power to govern through the highest and most ennobling motives. 1. The Teacher must he Worthy. True worth wins its way ; pretense comes to grief. 2. The Teacher must do all in his Power for his Pupils. His days and his nights must be consecrated to their interests. To the daily feast he must bring his richest treasures. Make your Pupils Happy. — Add all the innocent pleasures you can to your school-room ; ir^Sssible, adorn the walls with pictures. Add vases of beautiful flowers as often as possible. Don't forget the chaste, holy power there is in music. Be cheerful and pleasant in every relation you sustain to your sacred trust. 3. The Teacher must Love his Pupils. "We love God because He first loved us." The loving teacher, ever affable, kind, and considerate, is certain to win respect, confidence, and love. Love wins love. Kindness, com- bined with judicious executive ability, will govern a school better than all arbitrary law possible. 4. Despotism is a Mistake. The cold, repulsive tyrant may have forced quiet, and may compel good lessons ; but he creates an atmosphere in which all hateful passions and habits are fostered. 134 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 5. Obedience should be Cheerful and Glad. In the sunshine of confidence and love, all that is lovely in child- nature buds and blossoms and bears fruit. Order is the harmony of glad music. Lessons are a feast and an end- less delight. The .teacher is a kind, loving friend, leading pupils up to all that is beautiful and desirable. Personal Influence is a Wonderful Powee. — The great rulers and commanders of the world were almost worshiped. The great teachers, Socrates, Aristotle, Pestalozzi, Thomas Arnold, and Horace Mann, were loved and venerated. Personal influence is demanded to enforce systems, carry measures, meet emergencies, and overcome difficulties. Heart-power renders school govern- ment easy. Caution. — Do not depend upon heart-power alone to govern your school. Use all the elements of governing power. X. Teaching Power is the Tenth Element of Governing Power. 1. Teaching Power is the Ability to enlist and direct the whole Energies of the Learner. Good scholarship is essential ; but of good scholars scarcely five in a hundred can teach : the ninety-five go through the motions, but do not teach. Teaching is arousing, interesting, direct- ing, causing to know. Teaching power is the ability to secure such effort as will result in culture and in scholar- ship. Genuine teaching results in a powerful and noble manhood ; machine teaching produces learned dunces and ninnies. " In good teaching every faculty of the mind is brought into thorough, systematic, and judicious daily use. By making each study bright and attractive through the fancy, by allowing a few minutes daily for active motion in a room properly ventilated, we save not only time, but the wear and tear of our own bodies and minds. A child can learn infinitely faster when interested than ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 135 when indifferent. If scope be given for each faculty, and recrea- tion he conscientiously provided for the hody, he will come to it as to something he enjoys, and will find little time for giggling, pinching, pulling, and the numberless other things that are so an- noying to the teacher. Many a teacher is far more anxious to govern well than to teach, forgetting that the great secret of good discipline is good teaching. Often the pupil who is most trouble- some when uninterested becomes a most earnest student when rightly directed and inspired by the true teacher. The teacher should lead rather than drive, teach rather than hear recitations, encourage originality of thought and method rather than require the exact language and methods of the books. He should be the earnest friend, not the unyielding monarch." 2. Persons with good Teaching Power generally Gov- ern well. They exert a power which magnetizes the pupils. To teach well means power to secure attention and study. The pupils catch the enthusiasm of the teacher. Cheerful, earnest work makes it easy to main- tain order. V Caution. — Enthusiastic teachers sometimes become absorbed in teaching, and neglect the other conditions of success. I again remind you that it is necessary to utilize all the elements of gov- erning power. XI. Managing Power is the Eleventh Element of Governing Power. — Tact, gumption, common sense, skill, wisdom, are some of the terms by which this ele- ment of power is designated. It has a world of meaning. 1. The Teacher should oe a Man among Men. He not only manages the children, but also directs the educational work of the district. He is the natural leader in all movements that tend to improve and elevate. 2. .Cooperation must he ^ecured^ One can not do much.- It is cooperation that builds railroads, manages 136 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. school systems, and establishes states. To make a school successful demands the hearty cooperation of the entire district. To secure this requires tact, management. While guiding, the teacher must often seem to follow. 3. Every tiling must be Turned to Advantage. Defeat must be changed to victory. The angry patron who comes to give trouble must be sent away a warm friend of the teacher. Misconduct must be made the occasion for deepening the love of right. Evils must be attacked and conquered in detail. 4. Even Opposing Forces must be made Helpful. Con- trary winds are made to waft the vessel across the sea ; and so in education, opposing forces must be made to antagonize each other, or promote the welfare of the school. Skillful management makes the difference be- tween success and failure. The results of good manage- ment are manifold. ~J Bemeaks. — Armed with these potent elements of governing power, let the teacher be content only with the highest results. Discipline the pupil to self-control. Train him to the habit of right acting. " Develop in him mental power. Lead him up to a noble manhood. Inspire him for achievement. Teaching is incomparably the greatest work on this earth. Minds only are immortal. The noblest creations of art fade and crumble. Cities and nations and worlds grow old and pass away. The teacher's work alone endures. Minds grandly de- veloped ; hearts attuned to the true, the beautiful, and the good ; lives devoted to every ennobling work ; spirits occupying a lofty position among the eternal tenantry of God's boundless universe — these are to be the everlasting monuments of the teacher's la- bors. ELEMENTS OF GOVERNING POWER. 137 Topical Review. — Elements of Governing Power. Introduction. 1. Government and order defined. 2. School government and governing power defined. System. 1. System means a time for everything. 2. System means a place for everything. 8. System means method in doing everything. Energy, 1. The teacher needs boundless energy. 2. The lazy teacher. Vigilance. 1. The teacher must know in order to govern. 2. Vigilance prevents as well as corrects. Will-power. _—-«== — \ 1. The teacher needs a powerful will. 2. Firm hand. Self-control. 1. Self -control prepares for school control. 2. Cheerfulness insures self-control. Confidence. 1. Confidence in the loving Father. 2. Confidence in the pupils. 3. Self-confidence. Power to punish judiciously. 1. Punishment a necessary educational means. 2. Kindness with firmness. Culture. 1. Thorough scholarship and large information. 2. Culture of manners and morals. 3. Culture of voice. Heart-power. 1. The teacher must be worthy. 2. He must live for his pupils. 3. Love wins love. 4.. Kindness better than law. Teaching power. 1. Teaching is arousing, directing, causing to know. 2. Good teaching is the secret of good discipline. Managing power. 1. The best ability is needed for the educational work. 2. Cooperation must be secured. 3. Opposition. 138 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTEE II. SCHOOL REGULATIONS. System is the first condition of good government, as well as the first element of governing power. Wise regu- lations establish and foster system. The old schoolmas- ter, with all his rules and all his rods, belongs to the past. Though often a blundering despot, he did what he could. Peace to his ashes. The goodish modern teacher, with no rules and no rods, is the opposite extreme. The efficient teacher will equally avoid these dangerous ex- tremes. The coming teacher, with necessary regulations, wisely enforced, is the true mean. I. Principles relating to School Eegulations. — Great principles underlie all educational processes. Principles, and not whim or caprice, determine plans and test methods. 1. Few. — School Regulations should he Few, hut Ex- haustive. Simplicity is of primary importance in school management. Many rules occasion much friction, and cause a vast amount of waste labor in education. 2. General. — School Regulations should he General rather than Special. They should be such as apply to all pupils and all schools. Special regulations with spe- cific penalties should be exceptional. 3. Popular. — School Regulations should merit the Approval of All. They should be so evidently just and • proper as to command the approval and support of all teachers, patrons, and pupils. The influence of public sentiment is immense. 4. Practicable. — School Regulations should he such SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 139 as the Teacher can and will Enforce. Eules or laws not enforced tend to bring all rules and laws into contempt. 5. Education" al. — All Regulations should tend to form Right Habits. The school trains the pupil for citizenship and achievement. The object of school life is to prepare for real life. Wise regulations educate morally. 6. Positive. — School Regulations should be Positive, not Negative. Prohibitions should be sequences of posi- tive regulations. " The popular notion of government in school," says Mayo, " is summed up in, ' You must not do this or that ' ; being altogether specific, repressive, and generally a mere matter of negations. Teachers, falling into this view by a sort of inheritance of notions, look upon school government as being the mere keeping of order, a prevention of misdemeanors; and this is supposed to be the work of the teacher, and all his efforts are solely directed to keep- ing order. Hence, the perpetual watchfulness of the teacher, the constant promulgation of rules, and the ever-recurring adminis- tration of reproof and discipline. " Now, the true objective point of the work of the educator, if rightly seen, would correct all this. The direction, the restraint, the reproof, the punishment, are not for themselves, nor, indeed, for the mere end of immediate order ; they are, beyond and above all that, means to the moral training of the pupil. The true ob- jective point is the developing and disciplining of the pupil's reason, conscience, and will; it is training him to a sharp apprehension of right, a quick, strong sense of duty, and upright and immovable purposes. It is the making of him a high-minded and thoroughly self-controlled person, one who is truly ' a law unto himself.' " • II. General Begulations. — The following regula- tions are the outgrowth of educational thought and ex- perience. They accord with the above principles, and, though few, cover all the ground. They are now in general use, and tend to become universal. 140 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 1. Kegularity. — Teachers and Pupils must he Regu- lar in their Attendance. When at all possible, each one must be present each day and each half day. 2 . Promptitude. — Teachers and Pupils must be Prompt in the Discharge of every Duty. Kegularity and promptitude are the pillars of good school discipline. 3. Decorum. — Teachers and Pupils must observe Strict Decorum. Decorum means proper conduct, good manners, and becoming behavior. It means to do the proper thing at the right time, and in the right way. 4. Quiet. — Teachers and Pupils must study to be Quiet. In every working school there will be the hum of business, but teachers and pupils study to avoid unneces- sary noise, and to produce a pleasant stillness. While the boisterous school is both unpleasant and injurious, the death-like stillness of inactivity is equally to be avoided. 5. Communication. — All Communications duriiig School Hours must be made through the Teacher. The observance of this rule prevents a large proportion of the disorder often noticed in schools. Pupils must not com- municate by talking, by writing, or by voluntary signs. 6. Morality. — Teachers and Pupils must sustain good Moral Characters. School government should be positive. It is not enough that pupils avoid all immoral- ity. The positive virtues must be developed into habits. Truthfulness, honesty, benevolence, and fidelity must be systematically cultivated. III. Special Eegulations. — The above general regu- lations are exhaustive. I have never met a case that did not legitimately fall under these rules. But the peculiar circumstances, the special application, the necessary de- tails, and the proper enforcement of the general regula- tions may on occasion require special regulations. The SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 141 general regulations should be adopted at the close of the first day ; special regulations should be adopted from time to time as they become necessary. 1. Special Regulations are intended to specify and en- force General Regulations. It will save much trouble to have it understood that they are not new rules, but simply corollaries or special applications of the general regulations. 2. Special Regulations sliould he adopted only when Necessary, and the necessity should be apparent to the school. There is always danger of an accumulation of such regulations. 3. Special Regulations sliould be like Angels' Visits. Many a school is weighted down and almost ruined by thirty, forty, fifty, or more special regulations. IV. Adoption of Kegulations. — In this country the school is a republic, in which the young are trained to the habit of making, obeying, and sustaining their own laws. School life prepares for real life. Pupils are treated as in- telligent, self-determining, and law-abiding persons. 1. Presentation. — The Teacher proposes and explains the Regulations. While he acts with the pupils, he leads them to adopt suitable regulations. 2. Adoption". — The Teacher and Pupils adopt the Regulations. Laws imposed without the consent of the governed are repulsive. The obligation to obey a self- imposed rule is doubly strong. The very best results are secured by this method. 3. Pledge. — The Teacher and Pupils pledge themselves to make an Earnest Effort to obey and sustain the Regula- tions. This pledge is eminently proper, and is a powerful means of promoting good conduct. Efforts to do right are stimulated and directed until they become fixed habits. 4. Approval. — The School-Board approves the Regit- 142 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. lations. It may be well in all cases to submit the regula- tions to the school-board for official endorsement. The President signs bills passed by both houses of Congress ; so the school-board should give authority to the regula- tions adopted by the school. Thus regulations become laws. 5. Enforcement. — The Teacher enforces the Regu- lations. The fitness of this arrangement is apparent to every pupil. In the discharge of this duty, each pupil stands pledged to assist the teacher. All work together to secure the same end. 6. Method of Adopting. — The attention of the school is called to the necessity for some regulations. As the state must have laws, so the school must have regulations. Teacher. How many think that the teacher and pu- pils should be prompt ? Pupils all raise their hands. Teacher. How many are in favor of making prompti- tude one of our regulations ? Pupils all raise their hands. Teacher. All that will join with me in a pledge to make an earnest effort to be prompt while connected with the school, please rise. Pupils all rise. In a few minutes, at the close of the first day, the six regulations may be unanimously adopted. In rare cases a pupil may refuse to rise. After dismissing the school, talk the matter over with him, and secure his pledge. As new pupils enter, they may be pledged privately or before the school. The pupils will regard the regulations as their own laws, and hence will feel under peculiar obligations to obey and sustain them. The true idea of school government is thus realized. The govern- ing force is from within, and not from without. SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 143 Topical Eeview. — School Eegulatioks. Extremes and mean. 1. The old schoolmaster, with his rules and rods. 2. The goodish teacher, with no rules and no rods. 3. The coming teacher, with necessary regulations wisely en- forced. Principles pertaining to school regulations. 1. Few. — School regulations should be few, but exhaustive. 2. General. — School regulations should be general, not special. 3. Popular. — School regulations should merit general approval. 4. Practicable. — School regulations should be enforceable. 5. Educational. — School regulations should tend to form right habits. 6. Positive. — School regulations should be positive, not negative. General regulations. 1. Regularity. — Teachers and pupils must be regular. 2. Promptitude. — Teachers and pupils must be prompt. 3. Decorum. — Teachers and pupils must be decorous. If. Quiet. — Teachers and pupils must study to be quiet. 5. Communication. — All communications must be made through the teacher. 6. Morality. — Teachers and pupils must sustain good characters. Special regulations. 1. Object. — To enforce general regulations. 2. Adopted. — Only when absolutely necessary. 3. Few. — Like angels' visits. Adoption of regulations. 1. Presentation. — The teacher proposes and explains regulations. 2. Adoption. — Teacher and pupils adopt regulations. 3. Pledge. — Teacher and pupils pledge themselves to sustain regu- lations. 4- Approval. — The school-board approves the regulations. 5. Enforcement. — The teacher enforces tlie regulations. 6. Method of adopting. — Plan illustrated. 7. Pupils will consider the regulations as their own laws. 144 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER III. ENFORCEMENT OP SCHOOL REGULATIONS. School Management is a great art. Principles guide the teacher at every step. But, as in all arts, great wis- dom is needed in the application and adaptation of the principles. Hotv shall I enforce the regulations ? How am I to induce the pupils to cheerfully observe the rules ? Few questions are more important, or more difficult to answer. Each one must take into consideration all the conditions, and then do the best he can. The hints here given are the fruits of experience. I. Regularity. — Irregularity, in country schools es- pecially, is a serious evil, and no effort should be spared to reduce it to the minimum. To secure regularity — 1. Intensely Interest the Pupils. Make the school in the highest degree attractive. Have each one feel that each day is of great value. Point out how closely regu- larity is connected with success. Infuse a deep interest into every lesson. Teach well. Deeply interested pupils will generally manage to be regular. Superintendent Parker, of Quincy, Mass., in his annual report, says that his method of teaching and good treatment have nearly, if not quite, settled the question of attendance there. " As a rule, children attend school when they possibly can. There is notice- able a growing love for school and all that pertains to it. Means of stimulating attendance, behavior, and study, outside of real teaching, are becoming less and less necessary.' Tardiness has been greatly reduced during the past year, and the truancies are confined to a few trivial cases." 2. Interest the Parents. Show how it is that an irregular pupil falls behind his classes and becomes dis- ENFORCEMENT OF SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 145 couraged. The intelligent parent will not willingly de- tain a child from a single recitation. Teachers must do much missionary work of this kind. 3. Urge Regularity as a Duty. The pupil should make the most of himself. He should so act as not to injure himself or others. Irregularity injures the pupil and also the school. 4. Inflict necessary Punishments. To say the least, irregularity is a misfortune for which the pupil must suf- fer the consequences. If the habit becomes chronic, it may work a forfeiture of seat, of position in class, or even of position in school, as events decide. II. Promptitude. — Schools wisely vie with each other in the effort to secure the utmost promptitude. To en- force promptitude — 1. Let the Teacher he Prompt. Usually, the teacher should be at the school-room at least a half hour before the time of opening. The teacher's example greatly in- fluences the pupils. 2. Train to the Habit of Promptitude. A determined teacher will soon revolutionize an entire school and the community. Promptitude is easy when it grows into a habit. 3. Impress the Importance of Promptitude. Point out the advantages of promptitude and the evils of tardi- ness. Show the effects of tardiness by examples. "Washington once said to a tardy officer, " Sir, you may waste your own time, but you have no right to waste ours." A healthy sentiment is thus created. Tardiness comes to be considered a misfortune and a disgrace. 4. Inflict appropriate Punishments. The tardy list works well in some schools. As the tardy pupils enter, they write on the board or slate their names and the min- 7 146 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. utes tardy. At recess, when the others pass out, these take the tardy seat. If the explanation shows a case of necessary detention, the pupil is excused ; otherwise he remains seated. After the recess, the pupil is permitted to take a short recess by himself. In dealing with tardiness the teacher needs to exercise much discretion. Some theorists would have you discard all punish- ment, and depend upon the interest created to secure prompti- tude. You will find in practice that gentle coercion is some- times necessary. 5. Arrange for Exceptional Cases. Promptitude must be secured at any cost ; but simple justice requires pro- visions for exceptional cases. Pupils peculiarly situated should not be considered tardy up to a fixed time. Abso- lute necessity must characterize all such cases. "With a few wise provisions of this nature, real tardiness may become almost unknown. Adapt the Treatment to the Community. The course pur- sued in country schools may not he best in city schools. Even in different localities in the country different means must be used. Public sentiment will not sustain extreme measures. Prompti- tude must be secured by skillful management. Any community, however, may be educated to sustain teachers in enforcing strict promptitude. III. Decorum. — This should characterize every vol- untary act. Positions, movements, dress, manners, and conduct, in school and out, are some of the points to be considered. 1. The Teacher should he a Model. Pupils tend to become like the teacher ; hence good manners is an essen- tial qualification of the teacher. An uncouth, ill-man- nered, slovenly teacher should never be permitted to dis- grace the school-room. ENFORCEMENT OF SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 147 2. Decorum is one of the Conditions of Success. The well-behaved are everywhere preferred to the ill-behaved. " He is a gentleman," is the best of all passports. When pupils are made to realize that the teacher is a lady, it is not difficult to persuade them to try to be decorous . 3. Teach Decorum Systematically. A short, practical lesson bi-weekly will prove of great value. The subject will thus be kept before the teacher and the pupils. These lessons should be full of interest and point. 4. Teach Decorum Incidentally. Children must have concrete cases. As these occur, briefly call attention to them, and commend the decorous. 5. Train to Habits of Decorum. Precept is good; example is better ; training is best. Training converts precepts and examples into habits. Manage to have the pupils act decorously until decorum becomes a habit. Train them to conduct themselves properly everywhere and at all times. 6. Right Punishments may he Used. Some pupils can not be reached in any other way. Whatever will work in the pupil an appreciation of good manners and proper conduct is legitimate. The earnest and continu- ous effort to be decorous will soon grow into a life habit. IV. Quiet. — "Study to be quiet" is imperative. All pledge themselves to sustain this regulation. ■ It should be boldly written over every teacher's desk. To enforce quiet — * 1. Be Quiet Yourself. A fussy, noisy, boisterous teacher demoralizes the school. Talk in a low tone, move quietly, and avoid all clapping, pounding, and stamping. Energy and vigor should be manifested in better ways. It is the lightning that kills. 2. Secure Quiet from Principle rather than from Fear. 148 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. One pupil has no right to disturb others. The effort to be quiet tends to the general good, and hence is a duty. 3. Boisterousness in the School-Room must never be Permitted. During rests, talking and laughing are proper and should be encouraged ; but all romping, scuffling, and boisterousness must be tabooed. 4. Train Pupils to do Everything quietly. If a pupil does anything noisily, have him repeat the act quietly. Soon your pupils will become toned down, and will speak and move quietly. Your school will become a quiet, cheerful home. 5. Use necessary Punishments. Some vicious and careless pupils can not otherwise be cured of noisy habits. Don't mistake. Don't tell the children to sit still. The school- room is a workshop, and is dedicated, not to silence, but to arous- ing and directing mental forces. Activity necessitates noise. But the noise of moving classes, of work on board and slate, of live, earnest recitation, is music. Only unnecessary noise is discord. V. Communication". — Necessity has forced all good schools to require all communications to be made through the teacher, or at specified times. Order can not other- wise be maintained. Though exceedingly difficult, this regulation can and must be enforced. 1. Appeal to Principle. All admit the injurious effects of communication, and each agrees to make an earnest effort to avoid it. Conscience is the inner force impelling to the right. If wisely directed, it does more than all other means combined to enforce regulations and sustain order. 2. Never grant Permission to Speak. Say to pupils firmly, " No." Necessary communications can be made through the teacher, or at times set apart for that pur- pose. ENFORCEMENT OF SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 149 3. Anticipate and Prevent. By word, or sign, or look you may prevent the offense, and prevention is infinitely better than correction. Herein lies one of the secrets of the success of the best school managers. 4. Throw around Pupils the most favorable Influences. It is wise to remove the weak from temptation. Place them with the strong and brave. In chronic cases, the pupil may for a time be seated apart from the other pupils. 5. Train your Pupils to the Habit of Non-communi- cation. This has been done in thousands of schools, and what others have done you may do. "When the habit of non-communication is once fully established, very little of the teacher's time is required for the preservation of order. The social intercourse of pupils is the prolific source of all those disturbing influences which require so much of the teacher's time to counteract." 6. Inflict appropriate Punishments. The habit must be broken up. When other means fail, effective punish- ment must be used. It is impossible to indicate what the punishment should be. In each case the teacher must do whatever promises the best results. General or private reproof, or changing seats, will usually prove effective. 7. Cultivate a determined Purpose. "You must not communicate " should be felt in every nerve and fiber of the school. No quarter must be shown to whispering. Where there is a will, there is a way. "Finally, the teacher must be persistent, and, like nature, while teach- ing the child obedience to her laws, must allow no trans- gression to be committed without the pupil's suffering the legitimate penalty." VI. Morality. — Moral culture is by far the most im- portant part of an education. It is not more difficult to 150 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. produce good men and women than to produce good scholars. Systematic and persistent effort on the part of the family, the school, and the community will as cer- tainly produce good character as good scholarship. 1. All the Impulses of the Teacher must be Pure and Elevating. The earnest desire, the pure example, and the timely word will flow from the pure heart. It is im- possible to over-estimate the influence for good of the truly worthy teacher. Character tells. 2. Teach Morality Systematically. A lesson bi-weekly will do great good. Make these lessons remarkably inter- esting and practical. 3. Incidentally Teach Moral Lessons. This can be done in connection with reading-lessons, cases of disci- pline, or when incidents occur involving morality. If timely and persistent, this method will accomplish far more than lectures or set lessons. Abstractions and moral sermons repel the young. Morals, like science, must be taught concretely. 4. Worh in the Pupil a Love of the Right and a Hatred of the Wrong. In reading or telling anecdotes, avoid the details of crime, but show the nobleness of right-doing and the meanness of wrong-doing ; show the tendencies and the outcome of the two courses of con- duct. This field is unlimited, and full of inspiration. 5. Attach one Vice at a Time. The skillful general manages to conquer the enemy in detail. So must vices be conquered. Take profanity, then untruthfulness, then dishonesty, etc., and mass all your forces on each in turn. When the first is conquered, attack the second. This is the only successful plan for a campaign against vice, either for the individual, the school, or the community. 6. Train the Pupil to the Habit of Right-doing. No ENFORCEMENT OF SCHOOL REGULATIONS. 151 amount of moral teaching will answer. Doing good is the only way to become good. By managing to have pupils do right from right motives, you make them strong. The good man is the one who habitually does what he believes to be right. Training converts precept, example, and impulse into habit. " Train up a child in the way he should go," is the injunction of Infinite Wisdom, and it is the only successful method in moral education. 7. Administer Punishments in Love. - See that the wrong-doer suffers the natural consequences of his acts. Kindly but firmly manage to have the pupils get right and keep right. See that the punishment works in the pupil a hatred of the wrong and a love of the right. Ponder before you act. Injudicious punishment is crim- inal. It breaks down manhood, and is a prolific source of human woe. 8. Avoid all Shams. From the primary school to the university, our schools are weighted down with disgrace- ful shams. The method of study and recitation in which the book is re- peated verbatim is a sham. All teaching not founded in intelli- gence is a sham. Capricious, harsh, unjust, partial, and unloving government is a sham. Cramming for examinations is a sham. Bible-reading and prayer, when the heart is not in it, is a most shocking sham. The pupils know that they are surrounded by these transparent frauds; hence the moral influence of the teacher is destroyed. The teacher must be terribly in earnest. Sincerity and truth must shine in every act. As he hates sin, so must he abominate shams. 9. Appeal to Conscience. Morality is positive, and is based upon the intuition, "I ought." All efforts at moral culture not rooted in conscience are shadowy as the visions of the night. 152 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. Conscience is a rational emotion ; it impels us to do what we believe to be right. Conscience is a feeling of satisfaction in view of right-doing, or a feeling of remorse in view of wrong-doing. "An approving conscience is the smile of God; remorse, His frown." Veneration, honor to parents, truthfulness, honesty, cour- age, fidelity, virtue, benevolence, self-control — everything that ele- vates and ennobles — must be cultivated from the standpoint of conscience. This becomes, as it ought, the master impulse of the soul. Appetite, passion, selfishness, weakness, yield to the man- dates of conscience. An intelligent, conscientious man is the no- blest work of God — tl His mind clear as the mountain air, His heart pure as the driven snow." To produce such men is the grand end of education. The paramount work of every teacher is the culture of conscience ; and this is involved in all that is taught and all that is done in the school-room. Moral Instruction. (Pickard.) — " Any system of instruction which stops short of the development of a virtuous character makes a most signal failure. Power of brain and skill of hand will certainly add to the power for evil of a corrupt heart. All the requirements of a well- regulated school do indirectly minister to the formation of character. But direct and positive influences are needed. It is not safe to leave the child to the instruction of school routine. His style of life must be molded by the life of his teacher. He must feel the influence of a virtu- ous example. He must hear the voice of warning and of guidance. He must be taught the nature of law, its sanctions and its penalties. He must be made to see and comprehend the nature of liberty, its condi- tions and its limitations. He must be made to see the extent of his per- sonal rights, and their relation to the rights of other persons. All these should be enforced by motives springing from self-love — personal inter- est ; from benevolence — personal obligation to his fellows ; and from conscience — personal responsibility to a power above self and society. Fundamental to every system of moral instruction must be justice, rest- ing not upon the shifting sands of policy, but upon the solid rock of rec- titude." enforcement of school regulations. 153 Topical Keview. — Enforcement of School Kegula- TIONS. Enforcement of regularity. 1. Intensely interest the pupils. 2. Interest the parents. 3. Urge regularity as a duty. Enforcement of promptitude. 1. Let the teacher be prompt. 2. Train to the habit of promptitude. 3. Impress the importance of promptitude. Enforcement of decorum. 1. 2 he teacher should be a model of decorum. 2. Show that decorum is an important condition of success. 3. Teach decorum systematically. 4-. Teach decorum incidentally. 5. Train to habits of decorum. Enforcement of quiet. 1. Be quiet yourself. 2. Secure quiet from principle. 3. Train pupils to do everything quietly. Communication. 1. Appeal to principle. 2. Never permit pupils to communicate. 3. Anticipate and prevent. 4. Tlirow around pupils the most favorable influences. Morality. 1. All the impulses of the teacher must be pure. 2. Teach morality systematically. 3. Incidentally teach moral lessons. 4. Work in the pupil a love of right. 5. Attach one vice at a time. 6. Train to the habit of right-doing. 7. Administer punishment in love. 8. Avoid all shams. 9. Appeal to conscience. 154 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER IV. principles pertaining to school punishments. Discipline is Instruction and Training in Duty. — Some use discipline as equivalent to school government. Here we use it in the sense of punishment in its relations to a life of duty. Conscience is the basis of discipline. Punishment — the intentional infliction of suffering upon offenders — is a mediate force used to quicken conscience . Suffering, mental or physical, wisely inflicted, educates conscience. As soon as conscience asserts its supremacy, punishment becomes unnecessary. The discipline of a school should be intrusted to no one unfamiliar with the science of duty, for everything of value to human beings is involved in this science. The Punishments Inflicted Test the Teacher's Qualifica- tions. — " The amount and kind of punishment inflicted at school is one of the best tests of a teacher's capacity and fitness for the station he occupies. No subject connected with school manage- ment is more delicate, none more important, and none requires more judgment, discretion, or wisdom. As a general rule, the best teachers are those who punish the least; and the wisest, those who make the best choice when punishment must be in- flicted. "Whatever savors of ill-temper or brutality, whatever tends to the injury of the body, mind, or sensibilities of the child, is to be unsparingly condemned." "What punishments to inflict, when to punish, and how to punish, are questions of infinite importance. Instead of seeking answers in eternal principles, our race has blundered on and pun- ishments have been inflicted in caprice or passion. The following are some of the important principles evolved by the experience and thought of the race, for the guidance of teachers and parents. SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS. 155 I. Keformatory. — Punishment should be Reforma- tory, never Vindictive. All punishments should tend to benefit the punished. In the state, punishment is re- tributive and not necessarily corrective ; the state deals with adults. The school deals with children ; hence school punishments should be corrective rather than re- tributive. Vindictive punishment is satanic, and is never inflicted by God or by good men. The good of the pun- ished is the paramount consideration. II. Self-control. — Punishment should foster Self- control and Self-respect. Self-government alone is wor- thy of man. Punishments should tend to foster self- control by working in the offender a firm resolve to forsake the wrong and do the right. Punishments that crush manhood are fiendish. III. A Natural Consequence. — The Punishment should be a Natural Consequence of the Offense. This is a fundamental principle of the Divine government, and the more closely human governments conform to it, the better. Such punishments, seemingly retributive, are in fact corrective. The relation of the punishment to the offense should be profoundly studied before it is admin- istered. IV. Mild. — Punishments should be Mild, but Cer- tain. Undue severity creates sympathy for the offender. All semblance of cruelty should be avoided. Mild but certain punishments are most effective. V. Deliberate. — The lnflictio7i of Punishment should be Deliberate and. Infrequent. Not in anger nor in haste should the child be caused to suffer. If pos- sible, both teacher and ;pupil should have time for re- flection. By faithful teaching and wise management, offenses should be prevented and punishment averted. 156 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. The almost continual and violent punishments inflicted by some teachers and parents are a crying evil. VI. Loving Heart. — The Loving Heart and Kind Word should accompany the Firm Hand. It grieves the teacher to inflict the punishment. The teacher suffers that he may benefit the child. The child realizes that the loving teacher suffers for him and with him. Con- science — a lively sense of duty — awakens. The punish- ment is effective. " But discipline can not overlook the use of suffering ; it is one of the important mediate forces, employed before conscience assumes the ascendancy and renders punishment unnecessary." VII. Educational. — Punishment should be made an Educational Means, and as such it should be essentially Corrective. It seeks always to bring the youth to a sense of his wrong-doing, and to produce a positive alteration in his behavior. It has for its aim his improvement. Every punishment must be looked upon as a means to an end. The pupil should always be conscious that it is painful to the teacher to punish him. Nothing can be more effectual as a means of cure for wrong-doing than for the wrong-doer to perceive in the manner, the tone of the voice, and the words, that he who punishes also suf- fers in order that the wrong-doer may be cured of his fault. "The principle of vicarious suffering lies at the root of all spiritual healing." Bentham's Principles. — The following are selected from Ben- tham's principles pertaining to punishment : 1. The punishment following an offense should exceed the ap- parent advantage derived from its heing committed. 2. The greater the offense, the greater should he the pains taken to secure its punishment. SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS. 157 3. Punishment should never he greater than is needed to pre- vent a repetition of the offense. 4. Regard should be paid to the sensibility of the offender, as dependent on age, sex, position, health. 5. Punishments should be increased in magnitude as tbe detec- tion of the offense is uncertain or remote. 6. When the offense is not an isolated act, but an act indicat- ing the existence of a habit, the punishment should outweigh the apparent advantages, not merely of the act, but of the habit. Goveknt:n"G Foeces. — Whatever moves to right-do- ing, and develops the power of self-government, is a gov- erning force in the educational sense. A brief outline of the governing forces is here submitted. 1. Intellectual Foeoes. — " Brains control." Cultivated intel- lect rules the world. Intellect gives us systems and motives. (1.) System. Intellect matures plans and perfects systems. Intellect subjects impulse to reason aud establishes the reign of law. (2.) Motives. Intellect governs through motives. The gov- erned are led to act from high and ennobling motives. Wise management leads pupils to choose order. 2. Moeal Foeces. — Ours is a world of duty. Man is a moral being, endowed with powers that enable him to appreciate and enjoy the right. (1.) Conscience impels to the Eight. The imperative I ought is a universal intuition. This is the central idea in all government. Without it, government, except by physical force, would be impos- sible. The teacher, by educating conscience, renders the pupil an upright, self-governing being. (2.) Affections. Eising above all the other faculties are en- throned the affections. Craving objects beyond self, they draw man into communion with his Maker and his kind. Happy the child impelled by love, and trained to do right because it is right ! 3. Social Forges. — Man is a social being. Social influences act and react. Social forces to a great extent regulate society. 158 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. (1.) Companionship. "A man is known by his company." " Evil associations corrupt good manners." Such truisms but indi- cate the great influence, for good or for evil, of companionship. Good companionship is a potent educational force, and one of the most powerful of the governing forces. (2.) Public Opinion. Ideas fight. Sentiments contend. Public opinion holds sway. Through public opinion the masters of assem- blies rule. The wise teacher creates and directs public opinion, and, through public opinion, governs. 4. Will Fokoes. — Man is free and responsible. Will is the self-determining power of the soul. (1.) Self-control. We never break the child's will. We cherish free choice from rigbt motives. We develop the power of self- government. (2.) Firmness. The teacher is firm because he is right. Kindly but firmly he guides. The child is developed into a self- determining and self-acting man. Eight motives lead to right determinations and right actions. 5. Physical Forces. — In school, as in society, the use of phys- ical force as a punishment sometimes becomes necessary; but, in the ratio that the higher forces control, it becomes unnecessary to use physical force. (1.) Restraints. This is probably the most effective way in which physical force can be used in school. By restraints even wild beasts are tamed. (2.) Pain. Some pupils can scarcely be influenced except through the body. In extreme cases, until higher motives can be brought to bear, it may be necessary to utilize this force. (3.) Comfort. Favorable physical conditions do vastly more than rules to secure good government. (4.) Recreation. This is a mighty governing force. If teach- ers and parents would profoundly and practically study the phi- losophy of recreation, they would find comparatively little need for punishments. SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS. 159 Topical Review. — Peinciples pertaining to School Punishments. Discipline defined. 1. Conscience is the basis of discipline. 2. Punishment is a mediate force used to quicken conscience. 3. Suffering tvisely inflicted educates conscience. Jf.. Punishment becomes unnecessary when conscience asserts its supremacy. The punishments inflicted test the teacher. 1. The best teachers punish least. 2. The wisest teachers choose the best punishments. 3. Wliatever savors of ill-temper is condemned. Principles stated. 1. Punishment should be reformatory. ' 2. Punishment should foster self-control and self-respect. 3. The punishment should be a consequence of the offense. jf,. Punishment should be mild, but certain. 5. The infliction of punishment should be deliberate and infre- quent. 6. The loving heart and kind word should accompany €ie firm hand. 7. Punishment should be made an educational means. Bentham's principles relating to punishments. 1. Tlie relations of punishments and offenses. 2. The punishment should outweigh apparent advantages. The governing forces. 1. Intellectual forces. 2. Moral forces. 3. Social forces. 4. Will forces. 5. Physical forces. 160 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER V. JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. Punishments that tend to work in the child a love for the right and a hatred for the wrong are judicious. Such punishments will be found to accord with the fore- going principles, and will tend to make the pupil strong to do the right and to resist the wrong. Bentham gives the following as the characteristics of judicious punishments : 1. Variability. — They should admit of degrees. 2. Equability. — They should admit of equal application under all circumstances. 3. Adequacy — To the offense committed. 4. Special Suitability — To the nature of the offense. 5. Exemplaeiness. — They should he impressive. 6. Subserviency — To reformation. 1. Public Populaeity. — They should not excite public sym- pathy in favor of the offender. 8. Eemissibility — In case of repentance or of miscarriage of justice. As the best of all punishments, we begin with — I. Reproof. — This is an efficient corrective of most faults. Let teachers and parents learn rightly to admin- ister reproof, and they will find the child-heart responding as does the rose-bud to the summer sun. 1. General Reproof is the mildest and most effective of all school punishments. It alone will suffice to cor- rect a majority of offenses. Some pupil has done wrong. At the proper time, in a low, earnest tone, the teacher speaks of the offense and the offender. No name is men- tioned, but the sincere hope is expressed that the offense JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 161 will not be repeated. Thus kindly and considerately dealt with, the pupil resolves to reform. Other pupils are strengthened by such reproof. The spirit of the school impels to the right. 2. Private Reproof, administered in the right spirit, is wonderfully effective, and works marvelous results. General reproof has failed. The pupil continues to offend. The teacher seeks a strictly private interview. She ap- proaches the pupil with kind looks. In gentle words she shows him the tendencies of his conduct. She wishes to help him to become a man. Will he help himself ? Teacher and pupil stand heart to heart. The boy's heart is touched. He is saved. The loving heart and the wise, tender words are invincible. Public and private reproof alone are sufficient in a vast major- ity of cases. In an experience extending over more than a quar- ter of a century, I have seldom found it necessary to resort to other punishments. 3. Public Reproof is a powerful but dangerous punish- ment. It should be used sparingly, and with discretion. Reprove not a child in the presence of another, is a safe and sacred rule. It is a fearful thing to break down the pupil's self-respect, and to blunt his regard for public opinion. But public opinion has its place. If the pupil can not be moved by either general or private reproof, a severer punishment becomes necessary. At a favorable moment the teacher presents the mat- ter to the school. It has become her painful duty to publicly reprove one of their number. She has labored earnestly to induce James to do right, but has failed. She mentions his name, not to wound his feelings, but to arouse him, and to give all the pupils an opportunity to aid him to correct his faults. All agree to help. The offender feels that he is in the hands of friends who mean to 162 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. do him good. He feels ashamed of his conduct, and resolves to reform. The tremendous moral influence of the school strength- ens him. In the effort to aid another, each pupil is henefited. Silently but surely the work goes on. The erring one feels, re- flects, resolves — yields to the power of public sentiment and the promptings of his better nature. II. Pkivation. — Next to reproof, privation is the best of school punishments. While seemingly retributive, pri- vation is essentially corrective. President Nott, after an interview with the great horse-tamer, remarked that Rarey pursued the same system in training horses that he had for long years used in training boys ; that the secret could be told in two small words — kindness, power. Restraint is as necessary as love. The wayward must be dis- ciplined into respect for authority. Privations are the natural punishments for abused privileges. The pupil must be made to feel the consequences of his conduct. Reformation should be followed by restoration of the forfeited privilege. The following are a few of the ways in which this punishment may be used to advantage ; 1. Deprive of Seat. A pupil who is very irregular, or who habitually communicates, or creates disturbance, forfeits his seat. Other offenses may be corrected by the same punishment. 2. Deprive of Recess. Recess should be enjoyed by all the pupils ; but one who during recess mistreats others, uses improper language, or is guilty of bad conduct, should be detained. He may pass out alone after the usual re- cess. Tardiness may be punished in this way. 3. Deprive of Recitation. The recitation should be esteemed a privilege. The teacher may excuse a pupil from class for repeated neglect in preparing lessons, for communication, for copying from others, for improper JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 163 conduct, or for rude answers. To be thus excused is keenly felt by most pupils. This punishment should not be inflicted for trivial cause. 4. Deprive of Class Position. The standing of the pupil depends on faithful and successful work. The negligent will naturally fall into lower and still lower classes. The time may come when such pupils may even forfeit their positions in school. These backward move- ments should be prevented if possible. Barely do they result in good to the pupils or to the school. 5. Deprive of Certain Privileges. Privation of a privi- lege should follow its abuse. The pupil will recognize the justice of the punishment. If inflicted in kindness and sorrow, this punishment is powerful to effect refor- mation. 5. Keeping after School. Except as a £>enalty for offenses committed while returning from school, this punishment is seldom justifiable. A boy mistreats younger pupils, or is quarrelsome, or uses bad language ; as a natural consequence, he is deprived of the privilege of returning home with the other scholars. " This method of punishment might, if the teachers were all judicious, he resorted to occasionally with good effect ; but teach- ers are not all judicious, and thousands of children are thus de- tained every day, to whom the detention is a serious injury and a grave injustice. For some trifling breach of order, like turning in the seat or dropping a pencil, for some small failure in a recita- tion, and often for no fault at all — whole classes being kept on account of the indolence of some of their members, and the innocent thus suffering with the guilty— the children are shut up in the school-house, sometimes during the intermissions, often after the close of school. Thousands of children in delicate health, to whom the regular school hours are too long, are per- manently injured by this system of confinement." 164 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 7. Deprive of Favor. The pupil is insolent ; he forfeits your approval. The pupil is idle ; you praise the studious. The approval of the teacher is a wonderful incentive to good conduct ; the disapproval of the faithful teacher is always a severe punishment. But praise or blame should never be lightly bestowed. Slight as are the privations named, they work marvelous re- sults. The imperative of conscience, " Do right because it is right" is wonderfully stimulative. Silently, slowly, but surely, the pupil is trained to govern himself. The foundation is laid for a noble manhood. III. Deportment Marks. — The pupil begins with a standing of 100 in deportment ; only improper conduct can lower his standing. The daily conduct of the pupil makes its own record on the mind of the wide-awake teacher. At the close of the month or quarter the de- portment is recorded in the register, and a report is sent to the parent. 1. Grades and Reports. From 100 to 90, excellent ; from 90 to 80, good ; from 80 to 70, passable ; from 70 to 60, poor. The words, never the figures, should be re- ported or published. Some schools use cards of four colors to represent the four words, and report the class standing on these cards. 2. Correct Marking. Great care and strict impartiality are necessary. The marking must be on general conduct, and not on specific violations of the regulations. What record has the pupil really made ? If you hesitate, always give the pupil the benefit of the doubt. Exert yourself to the utmost to prevent any pupil from falling below 70 in deportment. 3. Injudicious Marking has brought all marking into disrepute. Some teachers carry it to the extreme, and the JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 165 conduct of their pupils has reference to the marking rather than to the right. Others continually mark for specific offenses, and thus make themselves recording machines. Then, the marking is often glaringly unjust. Some incorporate self-reporting, with all its evils, with deportment marking. 4. No Marking is considered better than injudicious marking. Hence some educators oppose all marking for deportment. They tell us that, in the hands of the av- erage teacher, this punishment proves a serious injury. 5. Doubtful Punishment. Marking deportment is con- sidered by some prominent educators, to say the least, as a doubtful punishment. Superintendent Elliot, in his report of the Boston schools, expresses great pleasure in the assurance that some of the teachers are trying to dispense with deportment marks. He says: "No one disputes the necessity of rewards and punishments in edu- cation. They exist there, as they exist everywhere else, self-administered, if not administered by others — the in- evitable attendants upon honor or shame through life. But with regard to those which a teacher is to use, there is now a great diversity of opinions — some clinging to tradition, and others breaking away from it, in search of better influences. " He defines a true reward as that which gives greater power first to know, and then to choose and do, the right ; and a true punishment as one which lessens the power of doing and of being wrong, and shakes the hold of evil from the heart. He says that such rewards and punishments are indispensable ; but deportment marks and all such rewards and punishments are to be given only by those who believe in mere outward restraints. The principle is correct, but the application is erroneous. The pupil who does well is entitled to approval ; high de- 166 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. portment marks express approval. The persistently ■way- ward deserve the disapproval shown by low deportment marks. This punishment is a natural consequence of ha- bitually bad conduct. But it is simply idiotic to rely upon marking to cure all the ills of the school-room. No one can too severely censure marking as it is often done. 6. Marking is a Silent Force. As such it should be permitted to exert its influence for good. Seldom should the teacher refer to it, and never should he urge this as an incentive to good conduct. The punishment follows, as in nature and society, as a result of improper courses of conduct. IV. Suspension - . — Eeproof and privations are the only punishments ordinarily needed in school or family. The management should be so systematic and vigorous as to render severer punishments unnecessary. Still, in rare cases, the teacher maybe compelled to resort to suspension, expulsion, or corporal punishment. When demanded, he should have the courage and judgment to use these punish- ments effectively. Weak teachers continually resort to suspension ; strong teachers rarely use this punishment. But suspension is the best of the severer punishments. Eightly managed, it results in the good of the suspended as well as the good of the school. Who should suspend ? When ? How ? How long ? How may the suspended be restored ? Teachers must be prepared to act the answers to these questions. Success or failure may depend upon the course pursued. 1. The Teacher Suspends. Charged with the govern- ment of the school, familiar with all the conditions, and seeking only the good of all concerned, the teacher un- questionably should exercise the right of suspension. This right should be vested in the teacher by law or by contract. JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 167 Even in the absence of law, the teacher's position gives him the right to suspend. So decide the authorities. Superintendent Wickersham holds that " a teacher may suspend a pupil until the school-board can be called to act in the case.'' Judge Vincent sustains this decision. This position is held to be correct by the authorities in all the States. It is founded upon necessity. Order must be maintained. The teacher suspends, sub- ject to the action of the legal authorities. Except in cases of gross injustice, the school-board should sustain the teacher. Fellow teacher, govern your own school. Earely trouble the school offi- cers. If the suspended pupil wishes action on the part of the school- board, let him call a meeting of the board. When the matter comes up, calmly and f airly state the case, and abide by the decision. 2. Causes for Suspension. This punishment should be used with great discretion. The age and character of the pupil, the necessity, and the probable effects must be duly considered. (1.) Insubordination is a leading cause for suspension. A pupil who refuses to comply with the requirements of the teacher should be suspended, if he can not otherwise be led to submit. The teacher's authority must be maintained. (2.) Gross misconduct demands suspension. The school-room is not the place for miscreants. "We need houses of correction for these unfortunates. The school and the community should be re- lieved from their contaminating influence. (3.) Chronic irregularity justifies suspension. In many schools the pupil is suspended for the term, if absent without good reason for two days in any month. In some institutions tardiness suspends from class privileges for the day. (4.) Little offenses, if continually repeated, do great injury and give the teacher much trouble. Such offenders are sometimes effectually cured by a short suspension. (5.) General worthlessness necessitates suspension. The school is a workshop. Earnest effort is the condition on which its priv- ileges may be enjoyed. The teacher has exhausted his resources, 168 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. and failed. The pupil can not be induced to work. Suspension may arouso him. 3. Hoiv to Suspend. The management lias been such that the pupils feel that the offender should be suspended. The teacher has used all possible effort to save the pupil, and failed. Suspension has become a necessity. The school must be freed from demoralizing influences, and the pupil must be placed in a position favorable to reflec- tion and reformation. The case has been carefully considered. At the close of school, the teacher, in an earnest tone, speaks somewhat as follows: " It becomes my painful duty to suspend one of your number. You know how hard we have all tried to induce James to do right. It grieves me that we have failed. James, you are suspended from all the privileges of the school. I hope you will reflect on your conduct. Whenever you make up your mind to do right, como and tell me, and we will gladly welcome you back." A few such remarks will do much to direct public opinion, and to render the punishment effective. 4. Length of Suspension. The time may be definite or indefinite. Short periods are usually best, but the time must not be so short as to bring the punishment into con- tempt. Indefinite suspension fixes no limit. 5. Restoration. The restoration of a suspended pupil is a delicate duty, requiring judgment and skill. The t pupil should realize that the past is buried, and that he is permitted to begin anew. Attention is called to the fol- lowing points : (1.) Eestore a pupil whenever he gives satisfactory evidence of a determination to do right. (2.) So manage that the conduct of the restored pupil sball be especially exemplary. He will be closely observed. JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISIIMENTS. 169 (3.) In no case should the school-board restore a pupil without the approval of the teacher. V. Expulsion. — Suspension temporarily deprives the pupil of the privileges of the school ; expulsion severs his connection with the school. Suspension looks to the good of the pupil as well as to the good of the school ; expulsion looks alone to the good of the school. 1. Not a School Punishment. Expulsion is not de- signed as a school punishment. " After all other means have failed, a pupil may he expelled for disobedient, re- fractory, or incorrigibly bad conduct." Thus decides the Supreme Court of Illinois. Expulsion is not reformatory ; hence it can not be classed with school punishments. 2. Causes for Expulsion. " A pupil may be expelled for gross immorality, or a persistent violation of the school regulations." (School law of most States.) This law is sustained by the courts and by public opinion. 3. Who Expel. Expulsion is the act of the school- board, never of the teacher of a district school. Princi- pals of graded schools and faculties of higher institutions are usually authorized to suspend the wayward and expel the incorrigible. 4. Precaution . Expulsion is an expedient to relieve the school of the corrupting influence of the utterly unworthy. Eare, indeed, are the cases that justify this terrible punishment. Ponder long before cutting off op- portunity and hope even from the most unworthy. Act as if the unfortunate one were your own child. 5. Etiquette. A pupil expelled from one school will be refused admittance into other schools. This custom renders expulsion doubly severe. After laving down these somewhat elaborate principles, the writer, with Bentham, is strongly inclined to say to teachers, 170 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. " And thus having shown you when to punish and how to punish, let me advise you to have as little to do with punishment as you can help." See if you can not, by moral suasion, by precaution, by improved methods of organization and instruction, and by the bonds of affection established between you and your pupils, pre- vent offenses, and thereby avoid the necessity for punishment. If you must punish, try the effects of light punishments, such as reproof and restraints, before having recourse to severer punish- ments. You will be a good teacher in proportion to your ability to dispense with these. Few things have more hindered the art of education than the abuse of punishment. VI. Injudicious School Punishments. — Punish- ments which Violate Principles are to be Avoided. Pun- ishments injurious in their tendencies are injudicious and should be tabooed. Their name is legion ; only some of the more common are here classed. 1. Unusual Punishments commonly prove to be Inju- dicious. Punishments approved by public sentiment will generally be found safest and best. Teachers who rack their brains to invent new tortures render themselves unpopular, and hence less successful. The preceding pun- ishments are abundantly sufficient. 2. Cowardly Punishments are always Injudicious. Children not less than adults despise a mean, cowardly person, who wantonly punishes the helpless. Scolding, censure accompanied by threats, is one of the mean- est of this class of punishments. It is the rasping utterance of a chafed and cowed spirit. The sour, whining, threatening dys- peptic keeps the school continually irritated. The wise and sweet-tempered teacher or parent never scolds, never threatens, never irritates. The wretchedness caused by this cowardly pun- ishment is beyond computation. Persons to whom the habit of scolding has become chronic should be excluded from the school- JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 171 3. Threats are Univortliy of the Teacher. Nature makes no threats ; but a mild, certain punishment follows violated law. The teacher can not follow a better model. Foreshadowing consequences are not threats. 4. Nagging is a Contemptible Punishment. It means constant, vexatious, irritating talk and action. "Teachers are sometimes guilty of nagging. They do not scold, nor reprove, nor punish outright ; better if they did. The victim perhaps reports in this way : ' The teacher is always at me.' This is a mistaken policy. The average child is susceptible, and responds promptly to generosity, confidence, and obvious good will. "When the child-heart feels that the teacher wishes, re- spects, and enjoys goodness in the pupil, it has the strongest mo- tive to be good. But let the dark suspicion once get into the mind, ' My teacher likes me to fail and trip, so that he can be down upon me,' and the influence of the teacher for good is gone ; the child-heart is so embittered as to bring forth only evil instead of good, and the great end of education is defeated." 5. Cruel Punishments work Harm. Placing pepper on the tongue, putting split sticks on the ears, having pupils stand long on one foot, having pupils hold weights at arm's length, etc., are of this class. All tortures, all harsh and cruel punishments, are injudicious. 6. Head Punishments are Improper. The head, the immediate organism through which the soul acts, is a sacred thing. Slapping, boxing, pulling the nose, ears, or hair, are indignities to which no child should be sub- jected. If you must use corporal punishment, I beg you to spare the head. 7. Degrading Punishments are Educational Mistalces. No means should be spared to have the child think well of himself. Punishments having an opposite tendency are monstrous, and teachers who take a fiendish pleasure 172 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. in degrading and demeaning their pupils are human monsters. 8. Vindictive Punishments injure both Parties. Any punishment administered in anger is more or less vin- dictive. That a parent or teacher should punish a child simply to gratify spleen, and without reference to the good of the child, is hard to conceive. That such punish- ment is common is a humiliating fact. 9. Keeping in will generally prove to he an injudicious punishment. " To retain a pupil after school hours as a practice, hoping to create a new interest in tho pupil hy asking him to confine his attention for a longer time to the incomplete study, is an unwise measure. And if he is kept as a punishment, the teacher is more punished than the pupil ; for the two are looking at each other with no kind feeling. Each is tired, nervous, and exhausted. Besides, ofttimes, there is physical incapacity in the case. So long a time the mind can be confined, and no longer, to one sub- ject, or to similar subjects. Let the pupil go home, or at least go into the fresh air. If tho teacher will take a walk with his to-be-punished pupil, and after the lapse of half an hour spent in the open air return to the school-room, some good may result." It is a fearful thing to punish improperly. Erring man should ponder long before punishing a little immor- tal, "Over whom the angels watch." Injudicious punishments tend to crush out the noblest traits of child-nature — tend to foster all hateful passions. JUDICIOUS AND INJUDICIOUS PUNISHMENTS. 173 Topical Review. — Judicious and Injudicious Punishments. Reproof. 1. General reproof. 2. Private reproof. 3. Public reproof. Privation. 1. Deprive of seat. 2. Deprive of recess. 3. Deprive of recitation. 4. Deprive of class position. 5. Deprive of certain privileges. 6. Keeping after school. 7. Deprive of favor. Deportment marks. 1. Grades and reports. 2. Correct marking. 3. Objections to this punishment. 4. Marking a silent but effective force. Suspension. 1. The teacher suspends. 2. Causes for suspension. 3. How to suspend. 4- Length of suspension. 5. Restoration. Expulsion. 1. Not properly a school punishment. 2. Causes for expulsion. 3. The school-board expels. 4. Ponder long before resorting to expulsion. Injudicious punishments. 1. Unusual punishments. 2. Cowardly punishments. 3. Threatening. 4- lagging. 5. Cruel punishments. 6. Head punishments. 7. Degrading punishments. S. Vindictive punishments. 9. Keeping in for small offenses. 174 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTEK VI. COEPOEAL PUNISHMENT. I. Conclusions Reached. — Corporal Punishment is the Intentional Infiicton of Physical Suffering as a Re- formatory Means. Under this head are included all modes of inflicting physical pain as punishment. 1. " The Practice of inflicting Corporal Punishment upon Scholars has no Sanction out Usage. The teacher is required to keep good order ; if he can not keep the order that is necessary to enable him to properly instruct the scholar without inflicting corporal punishment, he is by usage allowed to inflict it. At the same time, as there is no law to warrant it, he is liable to the party injured as for an assault committed elsewhere. It is true that usage generally accepts the judgment of the teacher as to its necessity. 2. " The Law recognizes the Teaclier in Loco Parentis. That is, lie may do what a parent would do, or ought to do, to his child ; the teacher is the agent of the parent. And, besides, the law allows him to do what is needful to effect the purposes for which he was appointed. He is to maintain sufficient order to enable the school work to go on ; and if he be intruded upon, he has a right to maintain his control of the building. Suppose a stranger comes in and annoys the school ; he may be ejected. Suppose a pupil seats himself at the desk and refuses to leave ; he may be removed by force. 3. '' The Law gives the Teacher the Benefit of the Doult, as it is called. That is, it supposes the teacher to have acted from the best motives — that he did not aim to do more than was necessary. If the punishment is excessive, it must be clearly shown to be so. The law says the teacher must be the judge when correction is necessary, and how much must be administered. 4. " It must de repeated that the law does not vest in the teacher the power to punish; it is vested there l>y usage alone. It grows CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 175 out of the nature of t?ie case that he must have authority to govern his school. The exercise of his authority is acquiesced in by the community, and invariably sustained by the courts, on the ground of common custom." {New York " School Journal."") 5. Teachers Sustained. The decision of Judge Street is uni- formly sustained by the courts : " It is one of the duties of a school-teacher to maintain order in school during school hours, and enforce obedience to reasonable rules. For that purpose, when necessary, the teacher may inflict reasonable corporal pun- ishment. What may be reasonable and proper punishment in a given case depends a great deal on the circumstances of such case. In cases of trial on a charge of excessive punishment, of course the jury must determine from the evidence how severe the punish- ment was, and whether or not, in the given case, it was excessive or unreasonable. In every case it ought to stop short of brutality, or serious or lasting bodily injuries. Within such boundaries it may go to the extent of securing the obedience of the scholar, and, of course, should be measured somewhat by the degree of obstinacy, disobedience, and willful conduct of the pupil, even though it leaves some marks upon the surface of the skin or body. As I have said, the law does not sanction brutal punishment, or such as inflicts great, serious, or lasting bodily injuries ; but there may be cases which will cause all right-minded persons to regret that physical strength upon the part of the teacher failed to re- duce willful, disobedient, perverse, and obstinate scholars to obe- dience. Punishment should begin in moderation, and if the child then fails to mind, and becomes perverse, stubborn, insubordinate, and profane, and continues in such conduct, it may be rightly increased, even though it becomes so severe as to cause the pupil punished to wear its stripes." 6. Corporal Punishment may be Prohibited. This punishment is prohibited by law in a few countries. In this country it is left to the school-boards to determine. In some cities the school- boards prohibit its use. Unless positively prohibited, it is held that the teacher has the right to inflict corporal punishment. 7. Corporal Punishment is Undesirable. Public opinion is de- cidedly against it in the concrete, though approving it in the ab- 176 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. stract. Its infliction is apt to involve the teacher in trouble. There is danger of alienating both pupil and parent. Worst of all, it tends to excite anger, and to harden the sensibilities of the teacher. Besides, it is liable to monstrous abuses. Only in the extremest cases, and after all other means have failed, should this punishment be inflicted. 8. The True Doctrine — Grant the Right, out Avoid the Use. The world's educators, with singular unanimity, approve this doctrine. The fact that the teacher may and will resort to cor- poral punishment, if it becomes necessary, exerts a salutary in- fluence. > In the ideal school, taught by the ideal teacher, this punish- ment is not necessary. In the average school, taught by the aver- age teacher, it may be necessary. In all schools those teachers who seldom or never resort to corporal punishment should be held in the highest esteem. They have learned the art of govern- ing through nobler motives. II. Infliction of Coepokal Punishment. — The utmost discretion and tact is needed. Often the teacher rather than the pupil deserves the punishment. If this punishment must he resorted to, let it be inflicted de- cently and humanely. 1. Tlie Infliction should le Private. The sacred prin- ciple that one child must not be corrected in the presence of another has a double significance here. Only in cases demanding publicity should the infliction take place in the presence of the school. Are there such cases ? 2. The Punishment should he Moderate. It is the moral power of the teacher, and not the severe pain, that proves effective. This punishment simply enables the teacher to reach the nobler nature of the child. In many cases a single stroke is sufficient. Severity and cruelty are universally condemned. It is safest to err on the side of mercy. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 177 3. The Instrument should de the Bod. The time- honored birch is the fittest instrument. The ferule, the strap, the cat-of -nine-tails, are instruments of torture, to be shunned by the teacher. 4. TJie Bach and Shoulders are the fittest Bortions of the Body to inflict. Avoid all slapping, pulling ears or hair, shaking, or thumping. Hold the head sacred. Never break down the self-respect of the child. 5. Bunish in Love. You are the pupil's friend, and seek his good. You grieve to be compelled to punish him thus. You suffer most. The rod alone is powerless for good. The magic power of love does the work. The pain is soon forgotten, but the heartfelt sympathy of the teacher is like seed planted in the pupil's soul, destined to develop into a noble life. 6. The Bunishment should he Deliberate!- Prepare the pupil by leading him to realize its necessity. Calmly strike a single stinging blow. Talk earnestly for a min- ute or two, then give another blow, a little more se- vere. Thus administered, not many blows (seldom more than three or four) will be needed. Whenever the de- termination has taken possession of the pupil to for- sake the wrong and do the right, the punishment should cease. III. Treatment after Punishment. — This should be tender and considerate. Reformation is a growth. The pupil must be won back to right feelings and right con- duct. Let every look and word and act show him how much you are his friend. Encourage him, stimulate him, guide him. Thus administered and thus followed, corporal punishment becomes a great moral power. But may not the teacher who can thus administer this punishment succeed even better without it ? 178 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. IV. Advocates of Corporal Punishment. — Most of the great educators favor some form of corporal punish- ment in extreme cases. 1. Solomon. " The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame. Whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." 2. Locke. " There is one, and but one fault, for which I think children should be beaten ; and that is obstinacy or rebellion." 3. Horace Mann. " Corporal punishment should never be in- flicted but in cases of extremest necessity." 4. Bosenkranz. " Corporal punishment implies physical pain. Generally it consists of a whipping, and is perfectly justifiable in cases of persistent defiance of authority, of obstinate carelessness, or of malicious evil-doing. Corporal punishment is proper so long and so often as the higher perceptions of the offender are closed against appeal." 5. Kennedy. " Boards of education, instead of dismissing dis- orderly teachers, have dismissed corporal punishment, which is equivalent to dismissing discipline and accepting disorder." 6. Orcutt. " Rebellion should be met by stunning, crushing blows. Mildness is cruelty. Such cases demand instant and determined action. Moral suasion is not the remedy for bold, defiant violations of law." 7. Wickersham. " An open or premeditated act of disobedi- ence may be punished by personal chastisement. The teacher must either compel the pupil to obey, or suspend him. I prefer the former alternative. It is one of the few cases in which the rod will do good." 8. Page. " I do not hesitate to teach that corporal infliction is one of the justifiable means of establishing authority in the school-room." 9. Anna G. Brackett. " Physical pain is the poorest way to accomplish the end which we should aim at in all our punish- ments. Its proper use is with animals who can not be reasoned with in any other way, and with children for so long a time as they CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 179 are animals. For offenses arising from the animal nature cor- poral punishment is the proper correction ; and it is much to be regretted that the whipping-post has been entirely abolished, for no punishment could be more appropriate for the man who delib- erately insults a woman either by word or deed." 10. Ogden. " There is fortunately and designedly a close connection between the bodily sensibilities and the mental and moral. The intellect, the sensibility, and the will are all more or less affected by any suffering that may be inflicted upon the nervous sensibility ; and if, when inflicted, there is a clear appre- hension on the part of the sufferer as to its intent, and if it be administered in a proper spirit and in a proper quantity, it follows that, unless the subject of such punishment is beyond the reach of reformation, this means may and will reclaim him. " (1.) The infliction should be upon the back, shoulders, and lower extremities, since there is less danger of sustaining injury from the infliction of blows on those parts; but never upon the hands, head, or face, or any other place where it would injure the person or offer any indignities. " (2.) Manner. Private punishment will be most effective. " (3.) Instrument. The instrument should be a switch. " (4.) Frequency. The blows should not be repeated oftener than about once in half a minute; and for some purposes the intervals might even be prolonged beyond this time. " I venture to say that nearly all the hardest cases in our schools, if treated in a sensible manner, might be reformed." 11. Bicknel. " We would counsel teachers always to exercise the utmost caution and wisdom in the use of the rod, but we are far from taking the high ground of denying the teacher's right and duty to have recourse to it. The true aim of all school dis- cipline should be to stimulate such action in life as proceeds from the correct idea of duty. Such motives should be presented as will lead the child to obey rightful authority because he is under the highest moral obligations to do so. If love of doing right in the abstract, or the better-understood feeling of a child, love for his parents or his teacher, do not influence him to obedience, then we say that it may be the duty, as it is obviously the right, of the 180 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. teacher judiciously to inflict corporal punishment. Therefore we plead earnestly, in behalf of the conscientious teachers of the land, that all the facts concerning reported excessive punishments may be fairly considered before the teacher is condemned." V. Opponents of Corpoeal Punishment. — That some of the great educators belong to this class can not be denied. These all speak about as follows : 1. Spencer. " Savageness begets savageness. Great severity of punishment does but little good — nay, great harm — in educa- tion." 2. Lyman Cobb. " I conscientiously believe that corporal punishment, as a means of discipline, is adverse to the proper, full, and happy development of the social, moral, religious, and intellectual character of those who are flogged ; and because, also, I believe it has a degrading and hardening influence on those who receive it, and those who inflict it." 3. " London Globe.' 1 '' "This much, at least, it would be folly to deny : the stanchest advocates of physical force would probably concede that the teacher who can not manage his boys without resort to the rod is not a fully competent teacher. They would admit that he is not fully and completely equipped for his post." 4. Bentham. " The pains opposed to the pleasures of self- esteem and praise are among the most powerful weapons in the armory of the disciplinarian. They are the chief reliance of such as deprecate corporal inflictions." Bentham's elaborate scheme of discipline in the " Ohrestomathia " is a manipulation of the mo- tives of praise and dispraise, which he would fain make us believe to be all-sufficient. 5. " Teacher's Manual." " If absolutely indispensable, it should be administered in private, or with only a few witnesses. Public corporal punishment has a tendency to brutalize all who take part in it and witness it, and is less effective as a deterrent to others than a punishment which is unseen. Moreover, there is less risk, when the punishment is inflicted in private, that the offender will assume a tone of bravado, and that the punisher will engage in an unseemly contest with him." CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 181 6. A Writer in the "Chicago Medical Journal" says: "My attention has for a number of years been called to injuries caused by occasional cases of too severe or recklessly executed punish- ment of school-children. Foremost educators, while not believ- ing it expedient to prohibit corporal punishment, acknowledge that injury, injustice, and sometimes death even, do now and then occur from its use. These serious results may arise from fright or from concussion of the brain, produced by merely jerk- ing the children about, or — the most frequent cause — inflicting the punishment upon the child's head. I have known death to occur solely from the fright, although fatal results are not likely to arise except from immediate blows upon the head. No one form of punishment is so dangerous as boxing the child upon the ear. Not only is injury to the organ of hearing often produced, but in- flammation of the brain frequently follows, and death has been the result. If corporal punishment is allowed at all in schools, its use ought to be carefully guarded. No teacher should be al- lowed to punish a child by rudely jerking it about, by striking it anywhere on the head, or with any instrument whatever, except it be flexible and with smooth edges. These requisites are best fulfilled by a medium-sized rod." VI. Ground of Opposition". — The arguments against corporal punishment are, for the most part, founded upon its abuse ; but the widest experience as well as the sound- est philosophy recpiires its retention as a school punish- ment. The highly skillful may never need to use this punishment ; good teachers will use it sparingly and wisely ; only bunglers will resort to it as a common pun- ishment. In another generation flogging in the school will be regarded as capital punishment is now regarded in the state. 182 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER VII. REPORTS OF SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT, AND MANAGEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL PUPILS. I. Detailed Reports Demanded. — The medical profession holds in high esteem the numerous volumes giving the detailed practice of able physicians. Not less valuable to the professional teacher would be volumes containing the specific management of skillful educators, giving in detail the treatment of special schools, special difficulties, and special pupils. A score of such books by masters of the art of school management, like Arnold of Rugby and President Nott of Union College, would be esteemed above all price. II. The Inexperienced Teacher needs Concrete Oases. — The normal school, the normal institute, the educational journal, and individual observation furnish these to a large extent ; but the cases need to be more numerous, and should take a wider range. A knowledge of modes of management of the wisest teachers is needed. III. Such Reports are Highly Suggestive to Teachers. — No wise teacher will be a mere imitator. History never repeats itself. No two cases are ever exactly alike ; but cases may be similar, and a report of one may suggest the proper treatment of another. The sensible teacher will adapt the treatment to the school and to the individual pupils. He will never copy, nor ever become a mere imitator. IV. Disorderly Schools, Pupils, or Parents need Special Treatment. — Like the skillful physician, the able teacher seeks to discover the cause of the dis- SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT. 183 order, and he then devotes all his efforts to remove the cause and effect a cure. We have space merely for a few illustrative examples. V. Management of Disoedekly Schools. — Treat each case on its merits. 1. Disorder from Physical Discomfort. Eemove the causes. Render the scats more comfortahle ; improve the heating and ventilation ; secure abundant exercise ; create an atmosphere of cheerfulness and content. 2. Disorder from Coughing. Nothing is more conta- gious than coughing. This disorder demands prompt attention. A successful teacher says : " My remedy is, to select one, two, or three of the worst, who really can not control the cough, and send them home for the half- day with proper explanations, and then require the rest to stop. It needs some tact to accomplish this. For example, one hoy has just had a sudden and violent attack, and he douhtless expects to he the next one excused. I call him to me, give him a drink, and engage his attention for a short time with something new — a pic- ture, perhaps, or a little problem — and then dismiss him to his seat, saying that, as he has already stopped coughing, he need not begin again; and, adding a few pointed remarks to the school, I seldom fail to hold the evil in check." 3. Disorder from a Rough, Turbulent Class of Pupils. " I have a large school, an average attendance of fifty-three. I have a very hard time. The trouble is that the boys will fight, and lie, and steal, and. whisper. Now will you tell me what I can do to break up this state of things? I candidly do not blame these children so very much ; their parents are probably as bad. I know they are ignorant, and exercise no moral influence on their children. I am almost completely discouraged. Can you say anything to help me? " An able teacher answers : 184 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. " You have a heavy task, yet take courage. You must look over your school, and single out some whom you will make your assistants — young apostles. You must instruct them, and infuse your life and soul into them. You must interest your scholars ; tell them some stories that will certainly interest them. Do not make them too long; don't have them prosy; don't attempt any preachment : simply interest them. And you must have system. The worst men can be made into soldiers, and they will fight well because there is a system in the army. SpeaTc little. Practice a class in coming and going, until it moves right, if it takes you all day. This is the secret of the discipline of all large schools. Do not worry ; be cheerful. Get up an interest in the lessons. Some- how, get them to studying, by smiles, by praise, etc. Pick out the leaders, the troublesome ones, and take them singly, and try your influence on them ; get them to help you, to be your assist- ants. Call on the parents and talk with them ; make them glad you have called. Don't complain of John or Henry ; tell them however, that you want them to improve, and what they should do. Get up some exercises to call their parents in — some dialogues, etc. ; it gives an interest to the school-room. Examine your own manner carefully; see whether you scold, or fret, or lose your balance or dignity. Improve your manner day by day. One half of the fault is there. Resolve to be mistress, not physically, but mentally, morally, by the force of your will. Study to be a power in that school -room." 4. Disorder caused ly Wliispering. Many teachers ask, " How can I stop whispering ? " I answer — by stopping it. The Stoey of Joseph. — My first teacher permitted us to study "out loud." My next teachers prohibited loud studying, but placed no restrictions on whispering. After that we had a Yan- kee teacher, who prohibited all whispering. I could not start to school until the corn was gathered, but I heard of the new rule. The morning I entered, the teacher met me kindly, gave me a seat, and arranged my lessons. Very quietly he said: "Joseph, we do not have any whispering." SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT. 185 After about half an hour I forgot this fact, and asked my seat- mate something about recess. The teacher, in passing me, said, in alow, earnest tone, "Joseph, you must not whisper," and went right on with his work. I did not whisper for an hour, when I again thoughtlessly asked my seat-mate for his knife. Again, and still more earnestly, the injunction came, "Joseph, you must not whisper." I did not whisper again till afternoon, when I was so unfortu- nate as to ask about the spelling-lesson. The teacher came to me, and said : " Joseph, you may take your books and come with me. You may occupy this front seat by yourself. "When you feel that you can get along without whispering, I will let you return to your seat." For about a week I kept that lonely seat and thought. I then told the teacher that I could now get along without whispering. " Very well, you may take your former seat." I gave the teacher no further trouble. My recollection is that there was no whisper- ing in the school. The story of Joseph is instructive. The teacher had system, and was wide awake and firm. His management was vigorous and effective. By training, he converted precept and example into habit. Pupils who had always whispered were trained to the habit of non-communica- tion. " Where there's a will there's a way." 5. Disorder oecause of Contagious Laughter. " Our high school included sixteen laughter-loving girls, who spent the re- cesses in telling each other the most amusing secrets, and who often interrupted the school by bursts of uncontrollable laughter. The usual remedies utterly failed, but the following expedient proved completely successful: I changed the programme so as to have a laughing exercise at the time when the girls were generally the worst. When the time came I sent these girls to the board, one by one. The school saw the reason and began to laugh. I explained that I had set apart ten minutes for a laughing exercise ; that whatever they did, I intended they should do in a systematic 186 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. manner; and closed by calling on the most mischievous one to begin the recitation. I had so completely surprised the school as to produce the greatest sobriety, and the young ladies looked so ridiculous, that, at the close, the stillness was broken by one con- tinuous and prolonged uproar of laughter. Some of the young ladies laughed, others wept. I never called the class again, nor was I ever afterward troubled by laughing from those girls." - 6. Disorder occasioned by a Disorderly Teacher. " To correct such disorder, be orderly yourself ; this is the prime requisite. Any other means to secure order is unsatisfactory and unphilo- sophical. The teacher teaches more by example in all the details of school work than by virtue of authority. In every school the large majority of the pupils will soon imitate the teacher in his tone, language, and daily walk in the school-room. If the teacher is noisy in his manner, he will have noisy pupils, and as a result a noisy school. If he walks heavily, he must expect his pupils to do the same, for like begets like. If he whistles in the school- room during noon or recess, he must expect his pupils to do like- wise ; and he should not be surprised if his pupils try to outdo him in this particular, for it is but natural for them to attempt to excel. On the other hand, if the teacher's manner and walk in the school-room are quiet and self-possessed, and his voice at a medium pitch, soon the conduct of the pupils will be similar. The teacher's manner of doing everything will be truthfully copied by the band of pupils, who instinctively follow him from day to day. "Teachers, are any of you dissatisfied with your order? If so, I advise you to examine yourselves, find your defects, and set about a reformation, radical and thorough." VI. Govern Individuals through the Class. Instead of giving your attention to individual pupils and single misdeeds, trying to correct each in detail, endeavor to deal with faults in such a manner as to exert an influence upon the entire class, which will lead to right thoughts and better actions. Aim thus to develop the public opinion of your class in favor of the right, so that you may govern individual pupils through the influ- ence of your class. SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT. 187 Suppose you have a class of young pupils, amoug whom are many careless or restless children, and you notice that they make a great deal of noise in taking slates from the desks, or in placing slates on the desks. Telling them to make less noise, or remind- ing John, Charles, and William that they are too noisy, or taking their slates away from them, will not secure habits of handling slates quietly. But if you tell the class that some of the boys are always quiet in handling their slates, and that it would be so pleasant if all the boys would try to be quiet, and then ask how many would like to try to put down and take up their slates quietly, the unanimous response would commit the class in favor of less noise. Do not attempt to govern your class by naming individual pu- pils and charging them with faults ; such a course, if often pur- sued, seldom secures the desired end. Instead of directly telling pupils of their faults and bad conduct, lead them to see their own misdeeds in their true light through the public opinion of the class. The following incident will illustrate this point: One day a boy gave the teacher of his school an insolent reply. All who heard it were greatly astonished, but the teacher did not exhibit anger by scolding or threatening the boy with punishment. He quickly determined to improve that opportunity by teaching a valuable lesson to the entire school. The very calmness of his manner made a deep impression on the school, and while the pu- pils wondered how the disrespectful boy would be punished, they felt certain that such conduct would not be allowed to pass un- noticed. The hour for closing came, and school was dismissed without any allusion to the conduct of the boy. After the cus- tomary opening exercises on the morning of the next day, the teacher addressed the school substantially as follows: " Boys, if, while you were at play in the street before school opened, a gentleman who was passing the school had inquired the direction to the railroad station, would you have told him the way in a respectful manner? " " Yes, sir," was the unanimous response. "Suppose a common laborer, whose occupation soiled his garments, had come along and asked the way to Street, 188 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. would you have told him as well as you could, or would you have treated him rudely, telling him to go about his business ? " " "We would tell him the way," said the hoys. "Very good," said the teacher. "Now, suppose a man, very poorly clad, who was seeking work that he might earn a little food for his wife and children, or even one who was compelled to beg his daily food, should ask you a civil question, how would you treat him ? Would you give him a civil answer ? " " Yes, sir," responded the school. " That is right, boys." Tims the teacher prepared the school for the lesson he had planned to give. After a pause, looking carefully over the school, until all eyes were fixed upon him, even those of the boy who gave him a disrespectful answer the day before, he said, with a kind but sad tone of voice : " Yesterday afternoon I asked a question of one of the boys of this school. It was a proper question for me to ask a pupil ; it was a question which was justly entitled to a respectful reply. And yet, I am very sorry to know that even one boy in this school so far forgot that respect which is due to his parents, to his teach- er, and to his school-mates as to give his teacher a less civil reply than should have been given to a beggar in the street. I hope no boy in this school will ever again forget to be respectful." (Cal- kins.) VII. Management of Dull Pupils. Mrs. Dumont was the ideal of a teacher, because she succeeded in forming character. She gave her pupils unstinted praise, not hypocritically, but because she lovingly saw the best in every one. "We worked in the sunshine. A dull but industrious pupil was praised for diligence, a bright pupil for ability, a good one for general excellence. The dullards got more than their share, for, knowing how easily such a one is disheartened, Mrs. Dumont went out of her way to praise the first show of success in a slow ■ scholar. She treated no two alike. She was full of all sorts of knack and tact, a person of infinite resource for calling out the human spirit. SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT, 189 VIII. Management of Haed Cases. — The wise teacher so manages as not to have hard cases in his school. The materials of which such are made are transformed into good pupils. But, in all schools, cases frequently occur that try the teacher to the utmost. For their manage- ment no specific has been or ever will be discovered. Each case must be dealt with on its merits. Yet, cer- tainly, the management of similar cases by wise teachers must prove highly suggestive. 1. Charlie. " Charlie was an inveterate joker. His quaint answers and questions produced no little merriment at my ex- pense. I reproved him privately and publicly without effect. I resolved to turn the joke. ' Charlie, you may take off your coat. Hang it on the chair. Take this rod. Now, whip the coat.' Charlie was much surprised, and went to work with a right good will. I did not restrain the mirthfulness of the school. Soon Charlie broke down and burst into tears. He felt that he was beaten at his own game. After that he gave me very little trouble." 2. George. " George was told that he would not be allowed to leave the school-room until he had spelled the word correctly. A fiendish look, which the teacher was not slow to comprehend, arose upon his face, as he said to a companion, 'I'll keep her here all night ! ' A night in a country school-house with a vicious boy was not an agreeable subject for contemplation, and the folly of making such a rash threat was apparent. The teacher therefore put her wits to work to gain by strategy what she knew could never be obtained by force. Recess passed with the boy in his seat. Just before closing, the teacher proposed that all should choose sides. The sides were chosen, and, in the excitement of spelling down, our contumacious boy fell into the trap set for him by his wily instructor. "Watching for a moment of preoccupation on his part, she gave him the word fawn. ' F-a-w-n,' spelled he, in a distinct voice. The laugh that went round the class convinced him that his hour of triumph was over." 190 SCIIOOL GOVERNMENT. 3. Brice. " I was fairly puzzled. I had tried moral suasion, I had tried punishment, hut the hoy seemed incorrigible. He had been taken from a lawless private school and sent to me. His last teacher had expressed himself as glad to he rid of him, and he had evidently entered my school with the determination of having ' a good time,' which meant, in his opinion, getting many boys into mischief, and annoying me as much as possible. The boy was gentlemanly-looking, bright, and apt ; but ' obedience ' and ' order ' seemed to be terms which he habitually and system- atically set at defiance. The weak teacher's refuge, suspension, was possible; but the remembrance of former victories, and the heartfelt desire to train this smart boy into a good and useful man, made me shrink more than usually from such an alternative. I walked away from the school in some perturbation. What course had I best pursue? The happy thought struck me, 'Place confi- dence in him, put him to work for others ; perhaps he will en- deavor to deserve this trust.' I caught at the idea, and that afternoon, having called my fourth grade to the blackboard, I said, ' Brice, I have been some time trying to teach this grade how to do long division. Sometimes children catch such things quicker from an older child than from a teacher. You are quite apt at arithmetic ; will you come up here and try what you can do for them ? ' The boy's face flushed, but he came up with alacrity, and I never saw more patient, thorough work done than he went through for the next half-hour. I had no more trouble with Brice that afternoon, nor have I had a great deal since. As soon as I see him becoming restless, I call on him to help me with some of the lower grades, after which he will always return to his own task with renewed diligence. This method, doubtless, is old to many of you ; but by some it may have been untried, and to such I submit it, hoping that they may meet with like success." 4. " Alfred and Lena have arrived at that age at which youth- ful love begins to develop. They begin to think very much of each other. They begin to sit and stare into tbe distant future, and study the probabilities of the coming life. Fancy builds air- castles. They are continually smiling at each other. They sit together at rests, promenade together at noon, assist each other SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT. 191 in the difficult problems ; notes pass between them ; he waits for her at tbe gate; they go from and come to school together; they are so engrossed in each other that they begin to fail in their classes. However beautiful this boy and girl love, it is a serious evil in school life, and must be cured. I felt that something must be done. After much reflection I pursued the following course : "I spoke to the school about a pair of baby lovers. I de- scribed their conduct in a ridiculous light. Without mentioning the names, pupils knew to whom I referred. The cure was only partial. I kept them in at rest, and told them I wanted them to look at each other. I kept them after school, and told them I wanted them to walk home together. A few days' treatment, with the laughter of the school, effected a cure." (Thomas.) IX. Successful Management should be Eeported. — The general studies history from the standpoint of the soldier ; the lawyer ponders over trials and decisions ; the artist goes to Italy to study the works of the masters ; the educational artist sits at the feet of Socrates and Aris- totle, of Pestalozzi and Froebel, of Miss Willard and Anna 0. Brackett, and studies the art of school man- agement and the art of teaching as exhibited by the masters. Now that teaching and school management are recognized as arts, and the best talent is flowing into our noble profession, the demand for details of prac- tice is imperative. Works now published giving the practice of Pestalozzi, of Froebel, etc., however valuable, are too meager to meet the wants of teachers. Another decade ought greatly to enrich this department of our professional literature, and give us many volumes filled with the details of skillful and successful school manage- ment. 192 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. CHAPTER VIII. CONDITIONS OF OEDER — SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. Order, as applied to a school, means fitness of con- dition in all the parties comprehended in the idea of a school. The parties in this idea are as follows : 1. The district as a body politic ; 2. The parents and guardians ; 3. The children ; 4. The teacher. The school is in order when, and only when, all these parties are in order. These parties are in order when they are in the condition most favorable for the upbuild- ing and advancement of the school. Conditions of Order. (Kenedy.) I. For the District. — The district is in order — 1. When it provides for the necessary expenses of the school ; 2. When it is willing to contribute freely to the wants of the school ; 3. When it possesses a decorous and law-abiding public sentiment. II. For the Parents. — The parents are in order — 1. When they appreciate the value of education to the child ; 2. When they are wise in the daily management of their children's time, with a view to school duties and relations ; 3. When they are properly affected toward the school, and thereby sustain its management. III. For the Children. — The children are in order — 1. When they are happy ; 2. When they respect the teacher and his office ; ORDER— SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. 193 3. When they feel interested in the school, and have pride in its success. IV. For the Teacher. — The teacher is in order — 1. When he is thoroughly master of himself ; 2. When he possesses the clearest mastery of the sub- jects he is presumed to teach ; 3. When he comprehends correctly the relations sur- rounding and centering in him. School Duties. I. Duties of Teachers to Themselves.* 1. To use every effort to improve in the science and art of teaching, and in the art of school management. 2. To exercise a watchful care over every act and word, teach- ing by example as well as by precept. 3. To attend teachers' meetings and educational associations. 4. To spare no pains to preserve your health. 5. To pursue some branch of study outside of your profes- sional work. 6. To read educational books and journals. II. Duties of Teaohees to Each Other. 1. To aid and encourage fellow teachers by a friendly appre- ciation and recognition of their work. 2. To give other teachers the benefit of methods you consider good. 3. To extend every courtesy and render every assistance to teachers just entering upon duty. 4. To sustain your fellow teachers in the discharge of duty. III. Duties of Teaohees to School Property. 1. To make the school-room a pleasant and attractive place for children. 2. To ornament the school-room, when practicable, with pic- tures, drawings, etc. * Superintendent Duane Doty, of Chicago, is the compiler of most of these excel- lent hints and suggestions concerning the duties of teachers and pupils. Some changes have been made to adapt these hints to the wants of ungraded schools, and some omissions and additions occur. 9 194 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 3. To take good care of all books, maps, charts, blanks, and other school property intrusted to you. 4. To inspect daily the stoves, furniture, and other school property, reporting any damage at once to the school-board. 5. To take every precaution to guard against danger from fire. 6. To leave everything in a satisfactory shape at the close of the school. 7. To improve the school-grounds. IV* Duties of Teachers to Parents. 1. To avoid wounding the feelings of any parent by word or manner. 2. To endeavor to secure the confidence and cooperation of parents in your efforts to benefit their children. 3. To know that a dispassionate conversation with a parent will almost always convince him that you are pursuing a correct course with his child. 4. To keep parents fully informed of the doings and progress of their children. V. Duties of Teaoheks to Pupils. 1. To know that a pupil's true education is a growth conse- quent upon the proper exercise of all his faculties. 2. To know that growth and discipline come through the acquisition of useful knowledge. 3. To know that neglect, mistakes, blunders, or carelessness on your part are disastrous to pupils and most difficult to remedy. 4. To remember that children are children, and need assist- ance in many ways, but that the most valuable work for a pupil, under wise guidance, is the work which he does for himself. 5. To be ever thoughtful of the future of your pupils, and to make all school work and discipline such as will be of lasting ser- vice to them. 6. To remember that what a pupil grows to he is of more im- portance than what he lives to know. 7. To make yourself acquainted with the home influences af- fecting your pupils. 8. To talk to your pupils in a natural tone of voice. 9. To commend your pupils for all earnest work and effort. ORDER— SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. 195 10. To teach your pupils how to study. 11. To teach the reasons for, and the value of, good school order. 12. To train your pupils to the habit of obeying the laws of health. 13. To train your pupils to do right because it is right. 14. To encourage a cheerful spirit in all school work. 15. To require nothing of a pupil that there is a doubt of his ability to do. 16. To notice faults in manner, conduct, and language, and kindly correct them. 17. To understand thoroughly any complaint against a pupil before acting upon it. 18. To make no mention of former faults or irregularities that have been settled. 19. To be just and impartial in all your dealings with pupils. 20. To keep your school-room at the proper temperature and well ventilated. VI. Duties op Teachees to the School. 1. To be at your post in time. 2. To be systematic and methodical in all your work. 3. To be cheerful and enthusiastic in your work. 4. To keep your classes supplied with proper work. 5. To give your undivided attention to school duties, never sewing, knitting, working on school records, reading books, or writing letters during school sessions. 6. To have a carefully prepared programme for your daily ex- ercises, and to follow it closely. 7. To work your classes upon the prescribed course of study. 8. To talk little and in a natural tone of voice, but to do much in school. 9. To read educational literature. 10. To know that the best school-teaching is always associated with the best school government. 11. To know that good school government exists only where each pupil attends quietly and faithfully to his own business at his own desk, which is his place of business. 196 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 12. To rely upon your own tact, skill, energy, and devotion to your school work. 13. To feel an honest pride in your school, and a determina- tion that its work and progress shall give it high rank among schools. 14. To speak the English language in its purity. 15. To guard against the loss of time and waste of effort from the following causes : (1.) Stopping work to attend to individual cases of discipline ; (2.) Waiting for dilatory pupils ; (3.) Lecturing or talking upon matters of little importance ; (4.) Fussy and indirect ways of getting to work ; (5.) Slow and noisy movements of pupils ahout the room ; (6.) Inadequate preparation for the recitation ; (7.) Writing letters or working during session hours; (8.) Permitting irrelevant questions hy pupils ; (9.) Allowing pointless corrections hy pupils; (10.) Wandering from the subject matter of recitations ; (11.) Speaking too slowly ; (12.) Speaking in such tones as to disturb and distract pnpils at their work ; (13.) Putting work upon slates, paper, or blackboards too slowly ; (14.) Having no definite order of procedure in a recitation ; (15.) Tolerating habits of slowness and laziness in some pupils ; (16.) Dwelling upon what pupils already know; (17.) Eepetition of answers or parts of answers ; (18.) Inattention, requiring repetition of questions ; (19.) Failure by some pupils to understand each step in a recitation ; (20.) Having no well-defined next upon which to direct effort. I. Duties of Pupils to Themselves. 1. To remember that promptness, energy, patient industry, enthusiasm, and earnestness are the surest reliance for success in student life as well as in business life. 2. To remember that there is a time and a place for work, for ORDER— SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. 197 play, for study, and for rest, and that the school-room is the place for study. 3. To feel the importance and understand the great value of time, and to learn how to improve it. 4. To be always neat and tidy in dress and person. 5. To cultivate a cheerful disposition. 6. To he kind and polite to all. 7. To cultivate that self-reliance which always commands re- spect. 8. To do the very best you can in every work and exercise. 9. To obey the laws for securing and preserving perfect physi- cal health. 10. To be truthful and use good language on all occasions. 11. Duties of Pupils to Schoolmates. 1. To be kind and courteous to all. 2. To be guilty of no rudeness to others. 3. To speak no ill of others. 4. To say nothing of others that you would not freely say in their presence. 5. To avoid tale-bearing. 6. To avoid wasting the time of schoolmates by whispering, writing or passing notes, or diverting their attention with nods and signs. 7. To exhibit a helpful spirit in all your relationships. 8. To protect the weak and unfortunate. 9. To exercise a watchful care over little ones going to and from school. III. Duties of Pupils to Teachers. 1. To be dutiful, polite, and respectful to teachers. 2. To render proper explanation for absence and tardiness. 3. To obey promptly and cheerfully all the signals given by teachers. 4. To cooperate with them in their efforts in your behalf. 5. To assist them in carrying into effect any plans for the good of the school. 6. To do all in your power to help the teacher to sustain good order. 198 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. IV. Duties of Pupils to the School. 1. To be prompt and regular in attendance at school. 2. To observe and obey the regulations of the school. 3. To attend cheerfully to every duty. 4. To remember that the school is kept for your benefit. 5. To do your full part in making your school the best possible. V. Duties of Pupils to Peopeett. 1. Never to cut, mar, mark, or injure desks, walls, fences, or any school property whatever. 2. To use and guard public property as carefully as if it be- longed to your parents. 3. To return every article to its place after using it. 4. To keep your books and slates covered, and learn how to use them properly. 5. To keep your desk and its contents in good order. 6. To keep the floor about your desk neat and clean. 7. To be careful in the use of ink, and not stain desks or books. 8. To see that your shoes are clean before going into school. VI. Duties of Pupils in the School-House. 1. To attend quietly and faithfully to your own business at your own desk. 2. To attend promptly to every school requirement. 3. To move quietly but quickly about the school-room and halls. 4. To recite lessons in a full, natural tone of voice, pronouncing every word distinctly. 5. To do all manual work upon slates, paper, or blackboards with the greatest rapidity consistent with neatness and accuracy. 6. To avoid disturbing the school by such unnecessary annoy- ances as — (1.) Dropping slates and pencils; (2.) Noisily taking articles from desks ; (3.) Noisily using pencils upon slates and desks; (4.) Noisily handling paper and turning leaves; (5.) Moving the feet upon the floor; (6.) Striking the desk- frames with the feet when changing position ; ORDER— SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. 199 (7.) Attempting to sharpen pencils on desks; (8.) Using the lips while studying ; (9.) Carelessly opening and closing doors; (10.) Unnecessarily calling the teacher's attention to trifles ; (11.) Interrupting the teacher when hearing a recitation ; (12.) Bringing to desks articles not needed in school; (13.) Forgetting to hring your books to school; (14.) Forgetting where the lesson is; (15.) Inattention to the instruction ; (16.) The habit of not understanding a question without repe- tition ; (17.) Answering questions before called upon to do so. VI. Duties of Pupils outside the School-House. 1. To go to and from school in such a manner as not to disturb any one. 2. To go directly home at the close of school. 3. To come to school at the proper hour, and not earlier. 4. To make no unnecessary noise in the neighborhood of the school-house. 5. To obey at once the signal for entering the school-house. I. Duties of Parents to their Children. 1. To provide the best educational facilities. 2. To encourage regularity and promptitude. 3. To encourage studious habits. 4. To aid by sympathy and counsel. II. Duties of Parents to Teachers. 1. To sustain teachers. 2. To impress upon their children the duty of respect- ful and cheerful obedience. 3. To visit the school and encourage the teacher. 4. To discourage fault-finding. 5. To cooperate with the teachers in cases of discipline. III. Duties of Parents to School-Boards. 1. To select the best citizens as members of the school- board. 200 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. 2. To urge the employment of the best teachers. 3. To sustain the school-board. Duties of School-Boaeds. 1. To provide good grounds and buildings. 2. To provide suitable apparatus. 3. To select the best available teachers. 4. To sustain the teachers. 5. To avoid the selection of relatives or personal favor- ites for teachers. 6. To give no encouragement to factious complaints. School Eights. I. Eights of Teachers. — Teachers have rights ; to insist on these is noble. A truckling, cowardly syco- phant is not fit to be a teacher. 1. The teacher has the absolute control of the internal workings of the school. He is responsible for results, and hence must be left untrammeled to reach results in his own way. 2. The teacher has the absolute right to classify, teach, and govern the school. Parents and school-boards may suggest and advise, but not dictate. The competent teacher knows best ; the incompetent teacher should be speedily removed. 3. The teacher has a right to the respect and confi- dence of the parents. 4. The teacher has a right to a joint control with parents of pupils while going to and from school ; also, to punish for conduct out of school which tends to injure the school and subvert the authority of the teacher. II. Eights of Pupils. 1. To the treatment due to rational beings. 2. To sympathy and encouragement. ORDER— SCHOOL DUTIES AND RIGHTS. 201 3. To thorough and appropriate instruction. 4. But, towering above all the specific rights of child- hood, and embracing them all in its wide significance, is the grand right to maturity — the right to the complete unfolding of its powers — the right to attain its end ; the right to be a man ; the right to read the Creative Mind spread abroad upon his works ; the righb to the infinite pleasures that wait upon mature susceptibilities ; the right to scatter happiness here ; the right to retire in peace from a well-employed mortality ! III. Eights op Pakents. 1. To thoroughly qualified teachers — those who know methods as well as subjects, mind as well as matter. 2. To faithful and devoted teachers. Parents intrust the teacher with their most precious treasures. The teacher owes it to parents to do as well for the children as if they were his own. 3. To kind and loving teachers. Loving parents claim the right to commit their precious darlings to sympathetic teachers ; teachers from whose hearts issue treasures of love and encouragement ; teachers who will take the place of the parents. IV. Eights of School-Boards. 1. To manage the finances. 2. To employ and dismiss teachers. 3. To approve the general regulations. 4. To expel disorderly pupils. 5. To sustain worthy teachers. Suggestions. — The youthful teacher will read this chapter many times. The pupils can he quietly taught their duties by giving one or two items at a time. School duties and rights fur- nish valuable topics for essays and lessons in normal schools and normal institutes. PART IV, C0UR8E8 OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. CHAPTER I.— The Circle of Science. II. — General Course of Study from the Primary School to the University. III. — Course of Study for Elementary Schools. IV. — Practical Suggestions — Use of Course of Study in Ungraded and Small Graded Schools. V. — The Programme in Ungraded Schools. VI. — Course of Study and Position of the High School. PART FOURTH. COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. CHAPTER I. THE CIRCLE OF SCIEHCE. I. The Mental Unit. — The sciences constitute one grand hierarchy, each science shading into the others. Mind is the universal unitizing force, the central unit in the circle of science. The universe was constructed from the standpoint of mind, and can he understood only from the mental standpoint. Each one's world is what he knows ; to the individual, as to the race, the circle is ever widening. II. Matter and Spirit. — In all the universe we recognize hut two substances — matter and spirit. Sub- stance is that of which we affirm attributes, the entity which is the basis of phenomena. Passivity, extension, impenetrability, indestructibility, and the quality of oc- casioning specific sensations are the essential properties of matter ; spontaneity, and the power to know, to feel, and to will, are the essential characteristics of mind. Matter and spirit, the bases of all the sciences, like all first truths, are indefinable. With reference to substance, all the sciences are divided into two groups : 206 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. 1. The World of Matter embraces all the branches which treat of the material universe. Space and duration are conditions, and not material entities. The physical forces are the inherent properties of matter ; and the laws of nature are the modes in which these forces act. 2. The World of Spirit includes all branches treating of finite spirit or man, and the Infinite Spirit or God. We feel an absorbing interest in the world of matter, for in all its parts we discern the plans of the Infinite Mind ; but the world of spirit has for us a boundless fascination, for here we discern our inmost selves. We can neither de- fine spirit nor prove its existence. When the soul acts, the intuition of conscious self is inevitable. When the idea of a supreme intelligence is once suggested, and we look around us and within us, the intuition — God — the something above nature — seems to be equally inevitable. It is no more necessary to prove the existence of the human soul or of God than to prove an axiom. III. The Lstorganic World. — Here are classed all sciences which treat of matter as related to space and duration, and as affected by the physical forces. 1. Mathematics. Under this head are classed all branches treating of matter in its relations to space and duration. In mathematics, matter is considered as quantitative. Mathematics enables us to convert figured extension and rated motion into numbers ; hence, spec- ulative or (1.) Pure Mathematics, which includes mathesis, the science which creates functions, and calculus, the science which computes functions. a. Mathesis embraces geometry, the science of figure, and mechanics, the science of force. b. Calculus embraces arithmetic, the science of the THE CIRCLE OF SCIENCE. 207 valuation of functions, and algebra, the science of the transformation of functions. Mathematical principles are applied to the phenome- nal world ; hence, practical or (2.) Applied Mathematics, which includes survey- ing, navigation, physico-mathematics, and mathematical astronomy. 2. Physics includes the branches which treat of matter as affected by physical forces, giving us natural philosophy and chemistry. (1.) Natural Philosophy, now commonly called phys- ics, treats of matter as related to the molecular and molar forces. Physics proper treats of aggregation and the aggregating forces. (2.) Chemistry treats of matter as affected by chemism — treats of the composition and decomposition of bodies. IV. The Organic World. — Here are classed all branches which treat of matter as organized. Cosmic forces give us cosmic organisms ; hence, 1. Cosmology, the Science of Worlds, including geotics and astronomy. Geotics is the science of the earth, and includes the branches which treat of the earth as an organism. Geology unfolds the plan of God in evolving the earth and its inhabitants. Geography treats of the earth as an organism and as the home of man. Astronomy is the science of the universe considered as an organism. Vital forces give us living organisms ; hence, 2. Biology, the Science of Living Organism. Bot- any, the science of vegetable organism, and Zoology, the science of animal organism, are classed under this head. Biology also discusses the formation of organisms under the influence of the life-forces. Life is the coordi- 208 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. nating force inherent in germ-matter. All life comes from antecedent life. The Creator is the Author of life, as he is of law and substance. His plan in evolving the myriad forms of living organisms remains to he discov- ered. The theories of scientists fail to account for the facts. Indeed, after sixty centuries of effort, man has obtained but a glimpse of the divine plan. Achievements of transcendent splendor await well-directed effort. Y. The World of Man. — All sciences and arts which have reference to man the thinker, or to man the actor, or to man the emotional being, are placed in this group. The soul is embodied spirit ; the body is the organism through which it acts. The soul is propagated with the body, dwells in it, operates through it, suffers with it, and abandons it in death. Mind, soul, and spirit, in the language of the masses, are synonyms, and are so used in this work. Each is used to designate the entity that knows, feels, and wills ; the ego, the "conscious self," the self -determining and self-acting person — the man. Man is a rational being ; man is a science-maker ; man thinks and expresses thought ; hence, 1. The Thought World. Here we class those branches which treat of man the thinker, man the theo- rizer, man the language-user. (1.) Man the Thinker. The three master sciences form this group : Psychology — the science of the soul ; Logic — the science of correct thinking ; Philosophy — the science of principles. (2.) Man the Language-user. Language is the sci- ence and art of expression. Languages are grouped as living or dead, as ancient or modern, as inflected or non- inflected. The philosophy of language includes the THE CIRCLE OF SCIENCE. 209 branches which treat of language as a science and an art — etymology, grammar, rhetoric, criticism, and philol- ogy. Philology investigates the historical development of speech, the laws of language, and the relations of different tongues. The soul responds to the objective and subjective universes ; hence, 2. The Emotion World. "VVe have power to ap- preciate as well as create the beautiful ; hence, (1.) The Beauty World, or the JEsthetical Man. We place in this group sciences and arts having beauty as the leading element : aesthetics (the science of beauty), poetry, imaginative literature, rhetoric, elocution, music, drawing, etc. Man, in his inmost soul, feels the intuitive imperative " I ought" ; hence, (2.) The Duty World, or the Ethical Man. Here are classed the branches treating of man's duties growing out of his various relations. The moral universe is as real as the physical. Conscience, the central power of the soul, impels to right, and is the great governing force. Of all the departments of knowledge, Ethics, the science of duty, is first in importance. Duty is the willing obedience to law. Happiness, the highest good, is the result of such obedience. (3. ) The Humor World, or the Mirthful Man. Wit, the capacity to feel in view of the ludicrous, is the safety- valve of the soul. While enriching all departments, hu- mor can not be represented in the circle of science. (4.) The Unexplored Regions. Vast realms in the domain of emotion remain to be explored by science. Man chooses and acts ; hence, 3. The A ction World, or the Practical Man. All 210 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. the branches which consider man as an actor, as a history- maker, are classed under this head. (1.) History is the Science of Human Achievement. As to time, history is ancient, medieval, or modern ; as to matter, it is special or general, biographical or na- tional ; as to method, it is descriptive or philosophical. (2. ) Sociology is the Science of Enlightened and Pro- gressive Society. It includes government, law, economics, and sociology proper. Economics embraces political econ- omy, professions, arts, and all the varied occupations of the race. VI. The Would of God. — Man knows, feels, and acts finitely ; but God is omniscient, all-loving, and omnipotent. That the Infinite Being possesses attributes of which we are not conscious, that his attributes are in- finite in number as in degree, we can not doubt. Each one's concept of God will for ever enlarge, for ever ap- proach the infinite. The chief study of mankind is God. Here are classed all branches which treat of God and of man's relations to God. 1. Religion — bringing Man bach to God — includes all forms of worship. Paganism includes all forms of idolatry. Mohammedanism has for its central idea, "There is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet." Mormonism and Mohammedanism are mixed religions. Revealed Religion is the religion of the Bible. Ke- ligion is a life, not a theory. God has spoken to man, and the Bible is his word. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man are the central ideas. The pa- triarchal dispensation extended from Adam to Moses ; the Judaic dispensation, from Moses to Christ ; the Chris- tian dispensation extends from Christ to the end, "which no man knoweth." THE CIRCLE OF SCIENCE. 211 God is not a theory, but men have formed many theories concerning God. Eeligion is not a theory, but men have constructed many theories concerning religion. Hence, 2. Theology, the Philosophy of Religion. (1.) Philosophic or Speculative Tlieology includes the various theories and speculations concerning God and man's relations to God : Atheism — no God ; nothing above nature. Pantheism — no personal God ; the universe and God are identical. Polytheism — many gods. Monotheism — one divine nature. Natural theology — God in nature. (2.) Dogmatic Theology includes all forms of authori- tative religious teaching. And is either pagan or Bibli- cal. Biblical includes Judaic and Christian. Dogmatic Christian theology embraces human creeds (written or unwritten), liturgies, religious forms and ceremonies, theological polemics, and church polity — congregational, presbyterian, and episcopal. (3.) Christian Theology. Theodical — vindication of God ; historical — the origin, development, and achieve- ments of Christianity ; exegetical or hermeneutical — science of Biblical interpretation ; practical — Christianity in every-day life ; experimental — effects of Christianity on the lives of people. The great departments of Christian theology are exegetical, systematic, historical, and pas- toral. . The Circle of Science — Remarks. 1. Truth is Accurate, Complete, and Harmonious Knowledge. To know all about one thing, it is necessary to know something about everything. Absolute truth, therefore, is only possible to infinite intelligence ; but, so far as our knowledge is accu- 212 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. rate, harmonious, and complete, to that extent we have reached truth. 2. Classification is Susceptible of Unlimited Extension. The telescopic view here given may be extended in every direction into microscopic regions. Every thinker needs to become fa- miliar with a telescopic outline of classified knowledge, that he may be able to determine the latitude and longitude and the re- lations of the various branches. The microscopic is the world of specialists. Every student should explore at least one micro- scopic field. 3. After each Disputed Point imagine a large Interrogation Point. Investigate for yourself. Form your own conclusions. Brevity necessitates positive statements, but the author disclaims any wish to dogmatize. 4. Other Schemes have been laid under Tribute. The form and, to some extent, the classification here presented are believed to be original. This is one of few cases in which the circle is thought to be a desirable form for presenting outlines. The Circle of Science is exceedingly suggestive. The schemes of Hegel, Oomte, Spencer, Hill, Harris, "Wickersham, Long, and others have been carefully examined and freely used. The various schemes have been constructed from various standpoints. That of Dr. "W. T. Harris, constructed from the educational standpoint, is con- sidered the best for our purposes, and has been largely used in the Circle of Science and in the General Course of Study. 5. The Object of the Outline is to Peach, if possible, a Philo- sophic Basis for Courses of Study. Reader, be not discouraged ; this problem has puzzled the greatest thinkers. Patient toil will give you a fair degree of mastery. You will be a philosopher when you are able to find the trunk and trace out the branches of the tree of knowledge. You will be a cosmist when you are able to stand at the center and see with the mind's eye the circle of science. CIRCLE nc qp.\ENCE.' GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 213 CHAPTER II. GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY FROM THE PRIMARY SCHOOL TO THE UNIVERSITY. The thought and experience of all ages should have weight in the construction of courses of study. We seek the best means to develop man's entire nature, and render each individual of the highest value to the race and to himself. That we may proceed safely, let us examine some of the — I. Principles pertaining to Courses of Study. 1. Psychological Principles determine Courses of Study. In order to construct courses of study adapted to mental development, we must know the plan of the mind, and must understand the laws, means, and methods of culture. It is self-evident that courses of study must conform to the facts of mind as developed in mental and moral science. 2. Educational Symmetry requires that Courses of Study he so arranged as to foster the Full and Harmoni- ous Development of the Body, the Intellect, the Emotions, and the Will. Though the correctness of this princi- ple is unquestioned, it is notoriously violated in existing courses of study. From the primary school to the uni- versity this principle, embodied in practice, would work marvelous changes. 3. Educational Adjustment requires that Schools and Courses of Study be adapted to the Age and Development of the Pupils. Than this, no feature in courses of study is more vital. Because of its gross violations, waste labor in education is the rule. Adaptation is the golden law of culture and the perfection of system. 214 GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY Circle of Science. Lower Education. Elementary Schools. 6 to 14—8 Yeaks. High Schools. 14 to 18 — 4 Years. Inor- ganic "World. Arithmetic Geometry. Physics. Algebra. Geometry. Plane Trigonometry. Elementary Chemistry. Elementary Physics. Organic World. Geography. Objective Botany. Objective Zoology. Objective Astronomy. Objective Physiology. Physical Geography. Physiology. Elementary Botany. Elementary Zoology. Descriptive Astronomy. Thought World. Language Lessons. Composition and Gram- mar. Reading. Etymology. English Grammar and Composition. Rhetoric. Latin. Elementary Psychology. Beauty World. Penmanship. Drawing. Vocal Music. Juvenile Literature. Penmanship. Drawing. Vocal Music. English Literature. Art Criticism. Duty World. Manners. Morals. Manners. Morals. Elementary Ethics. Action World. Oral Biography. Oral History. American History. Civil Government. Oral Political Economy. English History. French History. General History. Civil Government. Ele. Political Economy. FROM THE PRIMARY SCHOOL TO TEE UNIVERSITY. 215 Higher Education. Colleges. 18 to 22 — i Years. Universities. 22 to 25—3 Years. Spherical Trigonometry. General Geometry. Calculus. Physics. Chemistry. Mathematical Astronomy. Elective Studies. Botany. Zoology. Geology. Anatomy and Physiology. Elective Studies. Latin or Greek. French or German. Psychology. Logic. History of Philosophy. Philosophies. Elective Studies. History of Art. Art Criticism. History of Literature. Science of Rhetoric. Oratory. Elective Studies. Ethics. Natural Theology. Philosophy of Religion. Evidences of Christianity. Elective Studies. Political Economy. Constitution and History. Constitutional Law. Sociology. Elective Studies. Theological School. Normal School. Law School. Medical School. School of Engineering. School of Mining. School of Chemistry. School of Agriculture. School of Journalism. School of Authorship. School of Scientific Research. School of Philosophy. School of Sculpture. School of Painting. School of Music. School of Oratory. Special Lines of Advanced Work. 21G COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. 4. All of Science is needed to Develop All of Man. Huxley declares that whatever is taught in the university should be taught in the primary school, and all thought- ful educators approve the statement. The course in the elementary school covers the entire circle of science. This widens in the high school, and becomes broader and deeper in the college. That the daily work in every grade should be made to touch the entire circle is a cardinal principle of human culture. 5. Thorough Culture is the best Preparation for Prac- tical Life. Culture increases mental power and gives a man command of himself. The cultured surpass the un- cultured in every field of activity. Culture is the most practical of all things. Courses of study must be so ar- ranged as to give broad, deep, and thorough culture. 6. Knowledge which is most valuable in Practical Life is best for Culture. Such knowledge is intensely inter- esting ; hence it is the best means of securing attention and glad effort. Though not yet canonical, this prin- ciple is rapidly growing into recognition, and we hear less and less of "culture studies" and of "bread-and- butter studies." 7. The general Course of Study in Elementary and High Schools needs to be substantially the same for All. In the college, a wide range for optional and equivalent studies must be allowed. Below the college, all pupils, candidates for college as well as for practical life, need to pursue about the same studies. The minimum or maximum amount of knowledge required in a branch will depend upon the pupil's aptitude in that branch. Thus the course can be made flexible, and may be adapted to each pupil's capacity and tastes. 8. The Studies of each Grade must be so arranged that GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 217 each shall complement the Others. Mathematics, natural science, language, history, ethics, and aesthetics must he kept abreast. The phase of each branch studied in any grade must be the same. The work required in the several branches must be proportioned. Harmony of development, intensity of impression, and pleasurable advancement will thus be secured. Courses of study which violate this principle — as nearly all do — need to be readjusted. 9. A General Knowledge of many Sciences and a Thorough Knowledge of a few Sciences is the True Doc- trine. Culture and utility alike demand the application of this principle in our educational work. Life is short. Every one needs 'a general knowledge of the various sciences, both to enable him to commune with the think- ers of all ages, and also to reach the highest results in his special field of work. Equally necessary is it that each one should master a few subjects ; this will develop strength, self-reliance, and originality. Carefully must we guard against extremes. The old course of study, limited to "the three K's — reading, riting, and rith- metic," represents the meager education of a rude civilization. The tendency of the new education is to overcrowd the course, not so much by the number of branches as by the amount of each required. This tendency needs to be carefully guarded against by every teacher. 10. From the Primary School to the University, the Courses of Study should be adjusted and harmonized. The elementary school and the high school must make connec- tion, as must the high school and the college, and the college and the university. Thus will be secured system and efficiency, and a broad edu- cational highway will be opened to every child in the land. This 10 218 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. principle requires that all schools of the same grade, public anil private, shall have substantially the same course of study and tbo same standard of graduation. Cooperation is the key to achievement. Teachers should con- stitute the grandest brotherhood on earth, with harmony in all the ranks. The adoption of this principle will promote harmony and secure cooperators. The above principles are illustrated and applied else- where. Let ns intensify them by studying — II. The Psychological Basis of Courses of Study. The primary object of education is the fullest develop- ment of all the powers of the mind, and courses of study must be arranged with reference to this end. But man is a practical being ; he must provide for the necessi- ties and comforts of life, and must labor for the highest good of the race ; hence, courses of study need also to be made remarkably practical. The human constitution is such that, for the purposes of culture, the mind needs to be brought into daily contact with its entire surround- ings ; and man's adjustment to his environments is such that precisely the same course is the best possible for practical life. Psychological knowledge is the basis of educational science, and hence must determine courses of study. 1. Childhood demands Activity and Contact with the Objective World. The business of children is to grow, to become familiar with their surroundings, to form right habits, and to master the objective phase of subjects. In the elementary school a solid foundation for future achievement is laid in actual experience. 2. Youth demands Science from an Objective Stand- point. The youth needs to keep near to earth, and to continually build on experience, and to verify acquisition GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 219 by the objective and the concrete. As children feast on the objective, so youth feast on scientific knowledge based on the objective. In the high school, our jouth acquire the elements of the sciences. 3. Early Manhood demands Philosophy. Eeason now asserts its preeminence ; the mind grapples with cause and effect, means and ends, principles and systems. In the college, all subjects are investigated from the phi- losophical standpoint, and here the highest general cul- ture is reached. 4. Manhood demands Wisdom and Action. Man is a producer : only animals and fools are content to bask. Man is a creator : each worthy person assumes respon- sibilities, and grows great in their faithful discharge. Man is a philanthropist : each noble nature labors to make the race wiser, better, happier. Man is a cosmist : the universe is his field of thought ; he seeks to under- stand something of nature, himself, and God. In special schools and in the varied fields of achievement, each person seeks to make the most of himself and to become of the greatest possible value to the race. The univer- sity furnishes the best facilities for preparation for the highest achievements. 5. Thus, beginning with the lowest, each department grows into the next higher. The elementary school grows into the high school, and the high school grows into the college. Each occupies the entire circle ; but each con- siders that phase of the various branches adapted to the development of the learner. The child is content to know what it is, and the youth to know how it is ; but the man seeks to know why it is and whence it is. Thus, in the teachings of psychology we find a solid basis for courses of study. 220 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. III. Relative Value of Different Studies. — All science knowledge is valuable ; but, relatively, some studies are more valuable than others. In selecting branches for courses of study, due weight must be given to the practical and culture value of each branch. A branch is valuable in proportion as it gives culture and information. Culture is primary, and is the most practical of all things ; but in the acquisition of useful knowledge and practical skill, the highest culture may at the same time be secured. Study merely for discipline is an educational mistake. Each department of knowl- edge has its own peculiar value, both as a means of culture and an instrument of mind. Culture and prac- tical utility are coordinate. 1. Mathematics and Physics give the Basis of Courses of Study. Mathematics gives the mastery over mea- surement and number, and develops the power of con- centrated and exact thought. Without mathematical knowledge little progress can be made in the other de- partments of science ; but educators need to guard against the now too common error of giving undue prom- inence to this department. 2. Natural Science gives a Mastery over the Organic World, and develops the powers of observation and classi- fication. The culture, though different, is as valuable as that derived from the study of mathematics. The knowledge obtained is of the highest importance. Until recently, the natural sciences were almost ignored in courses of study ; now we are in danger of going to the opposite extreme. 3. Language gives a Mastery over Expression, and develops the power of analytic and synthetic thought. For practical utility, language deserves the first place in GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 221 a course of study. Our own language is of paramount importance, both for utility and as a means of culture. While claiming for Latin and Greek, properly studied, great value, we can not deny that they have been assigned by far too much space in the curricula of the past. The time has come when college courses must be made large- ly elective. One dead and one modern language, in ad- dition to our own, are all that the average student can master without neglecting other departments of equal value. 4. History and Sociology give a Mastery over the Movements of the Race, and develop breadth of thought, power of combination, and vigor of action. Civilized man is essentially a history-maker. History and soci- ology stimulate all his nobler impulses. The position and value of these studies are now unquestioned. Fa- miliarity with our own history, government, and laws, and with political economy, is simply a necessity. To under- stand our own, we must study the institutions and history of England, Germany, France, Greece, and Eome ; these great fountains of history, government, law, and litera- ture will of course be thoroughly studied by every student. 5. JEsthetics gives a Mastery over the Beauty World, and develops the creative powers. The soul expresses itself in song, in poetry, in literature, in eloquence, in painting, in sculpture, and in architecture. Beauty as embodied in nature and art fills the soul with gladness, and inspires us for achievement. The cultivation of the sesthetic faculty is scarcely less important than that of reason. 6. Ethics gives us a Mastery over the Science of Duty, and develops the powers of right acting. The science of 222 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. duty is the most important of all the sciences, and de- serves a very prominent place in all courses of study. Duty is the highest as well as the most useful kind of knowledge. "It is the key to individual happiness and to the happiness of mankind." IV. The SonooL, the College, and the TJkiveesity.* — In education, as in all else, our age is one of transition from the old to the new. The old or traditional scheme of education took its rise in the great awakening of intellectual activity after the sleep of the Middle Ages,' when the treasures of thought, in art, litera- ture, philosophy, and science, of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were suddenly thrown open to the modern mind. Modern thought, once aroused, began to gather its own inde- pendent materials. Thus there has arisen a new and far more glorious revival of learning. But there has been no change in our schemes of education at all commensurate with the prodigious change in the materials of thought. The new science material is mostly taught by old class-room, text-book, memoriter methods. Is it any wonder that the result is wholly unsatisfactory? Education is confessedly a preparation /or active life. It has two ends, culture and iitility. The main aim of the former edu- cation is development; the main aim of the latter is direct prep- aration for special pursuits. These two are not antagonistic, but consecutive. If we compare education to an edifice, the one forms the basis, the other the superstructure of every perfect scheme ; if we compare it to a tree, the one forms the roots and the trunk, the other the fruit-bearing branches. All enduring work must oe in the image of Nature's work. There are two natural methods by which we acquire knowledge and power. External nature, streaming in through all our senses, produces changes in consciousness, whioh, being organ- ized, we call knowledge. Again, our fellow men continually act * Joseph Le Conte, in " Princeton Review." The presentation is so condensed and changed as to relieve Professor Le Conte of all responsi- bility for the matter as here given. GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 223 upon and determine changes in us through the medium of lan- guage ; while we, in turn, reacting through the same medium, ac- quire power over our fellow men. The one is nature-culture, the other language-culture. The order of culture must be the order of natural develop- ment. Childhood is the golden period, the flood-season of per- ception and memory ; youth is similarly the period of culmination of the imaginative and aesthetic faculties; while only later, in early manhood, begins to show itself the higher faculty of pro- . ductive thought. In childhood and youth, we deal mostly with facts, phenomena, and properties; in early manhood, with laws, principles, and causes. The one may be called natural history, or simple history ; the other is called science. The first belongs to the lower education, the second to the higher education. To illustrate : In biology, the forms, the habits, the structure, and the classification of animals and plants belong to natural history; while the laws of form and structure, as revealed by comparative anatomy, physiology, and embryology, and, more than all, the laws of evolution of these forms and their causes, are science. 1. The School. — The elementary school and the high school are included. The general characteristic of this grade is that it cultivates mainly the memory, the perceptive faculties, the in- tuitive reason, the imagination, and the taste. These faculties must be the main object of culture in the schools, because they are the dominant faculties of childhood and youth. In brief, there are three coordinate courses in the school: (1) natural his- tory, or nature course ; (2) language course ; (3) lower mathe- matics. The greatest want of our present school systems is the fuller introduction and the proper teaching of natural history. It is difficult, almost impossible, to teach the higher departments of science with success in the college and university, unless natural history has been taught in the preparatory schools. The fact is, the natural history of all subjects belongs to the school, and should be largely mastered there; and then the mind is left free to take up the same subjects on the higher plane of science. Of all subjects, natural history is the least adapted to the old mode of teaching. Of all subjects, it is the most utterly profit- 224 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. less if pursued by class-room text-book methods alone. Culture is evolution by voluntary methods. The higher grows out of the lower. The methods of the higher must be more or less antici- pated in the lower. 2. The College. — The fundamental idea of the college, as I understand and would define it, is culture for culture 1 s sake. The college is still, and even much more than the school, a gymnasium in which we strive to exercise in the highest degree all the facul- ties and powers of the mind, so as to produce the greatest intel- lectual strength and symmetry. Its goal is a perfect intellectual manhood. The lower education gathers and organizes facts, but takes no thought of the bases of certainty and the grounds of be- lief; but the higher education, which deals with rational methods and a permanent structure of knowledge, can not neglect these. 3. The University. — This is the crown of the educational life. We have seen the school and college occupied only with the gen- eral culture; the one with the lower, the other with the higher general culture. But there is yet another kind of education ab- solutely necessary for the highly cultivated mind, and the name university ought to be reserved for this. The mind, so long occu- pied with culture for culture's sake, must now devote itself to cul- ture for use in some special but noble field of activity. In one word, the characteristic of the university as distinguished from the college is, that it is essentially a collection of professional schools, unified and ennobled by the general course continuing. Of the educational tree, the schools are the roots, the college the stately trunk, the university the beautiful cluster of fruit-bearing branches, firmly united with the continuing but ever-diminishing trunk. The elementary-school graduate steps with ease from this grade of culture to a corresponding grade of life ; the high-school gradu- ate finds it more difficult ; the college graduate finds himself edu- cated up to a high plane of life, but entirely unable to take success- ful hold of any one of those pursuits which belong to his grade of intellectual activity. The university must span the wide chasm with many bridges. This she does by means of her professional schools. The educational tree, like the tree of life, must bear GENERAL COURSE OF STUDY. 225 twelve manner of noblest fruits. This, I am convinced, is the true ideal of the university — an ideal not yet reached in any country, but which will be realized in the future. The English University system scorns to be regarded as other than high general culture. Its pride and boast is that it prepares for no special pursuit. The German University is in many respects an admirable system, yet I think it has great faults. I believe it is not in the direct line of progress toward the true ideal. The American University has as yet no distinctive character of its own. The terms college and university have heretofore been used synonymously. The traditional American college is modeled on the English system, while the ideal of reform here, as in England, is the German university. Hence, our best institu- tions are now essentially colleges with some university features added. Yet I feel sure that, untrammeled as we are by hindering traditions and a false constitution of society, our American insti- tutions, by further modifications, may and will approach the ideal nearer than any other. The True University, therefore, is a collection of the highest professional schools gathered about and united to a system of highest general culture — a cluster of fruit-bearing branches crown- ing the solid trunk of the educational tree. It is no longer cul- ture for culture's sake, but culture as a preparation for activity in the highest of all fields ; it is culture as a professional training for scholars, thinkers, investigators, teachers of the human race, leaders and directors of the thought of the age. If only a few such are turned out in a century, the university will have fulfilled its highest function. The General Course of Study. — The limits of this work necessitate extreme brevity in the discussion of the topics presented in this chapter. Fellow teacher, I ear- nestly call your attention to the importance of carefully studying the plan and outline of the general course of study. You are an artist, not an artisan. You need to understand the whole scheme. In thought, go with the 226 A CLASSIFIED SCHEME I. COSMOLOGY. 1. The organic sciences, dealing with the laws 2. The organic sciences, and properties of dealing with the laws and properties of Quantities. Motions and forces. Organisms. Class of School. , Mathematics. Dynamics. Organics. Arithmetic. The elements of Moler Geography. Elementary Algebra. and Molecular Phys- Elementary lessons in (H ics. Botany. £ -> Physiology. S o Hygiene. a" w Higher Algebra. Physics, Moler and Mo- Zoology. Geometry. lecular. Physical Geography. o Trigonometry. Astronomy (descriptive). Botany. o a Analytical Geometry. Chemistry. Physiology. 03 C3 a Psychology. Analytical Geomotry Moler and Molecular Morphology. (continued). Physics. Physiology. Spherical Trigonom- Chemistry. Botany. ij etry. Mineralogy. Zoology. o Calculus, Differential : Geology. Psychology. and Integral. Meteorology. Astronomy. OF KNOWLEDGE. 227 II. ANDROLOGY. III. ONTOLOGY. 1. The sciences per- : 2. The arts, useful and 1. Theology, based 2. Philosophy, based taining to Man in aosthetic, arising on the category on the category his social relations, from the reactions of Absolute Be- of Absolute Be- and arising from of mind on external ing conceived as ing viewed as the the reactions of nature. the Infinite Per- ultimate principle mind on mind. son. in the generaliza- tions of Science. Sociology, or Histor- Pragmatology, or Natural theology. ies. Technics and Linguis- tics. History of tho Unit- Spelling. Divine Wisdom, ed States. Reading. Divine Goodness, Writing. Divine Design, Grammar. Divine Power Drawing. (to be taught in Music (vocal). connection with natural - science lessons). History (universal). Grammar. Constitution of Unit- Analysis. Natural Theolo- ed States. Rhetoric (Composition gy, to be taught Ethics. and Declamation). in connection English Literature. with natural- Drawing. science lessons. Latin and Greek. Music (vocal and in- strumental). International Law. Rhetoric. Theology, natural Philosophy, to be Political Economy. Logic. and supernatu- studied as a doa- Sociogeny, or Sci- Elocution. ral. ble movement of ence of History. English Literature. The Philosophy of JiealismB.Tii.Id6- > Politics, or Science of Latin and Greek. Religion. alism. Government. Philology. Paideutics, or Sci- Music (vocal and in- ence of Education. strumental). 228 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. learner through the elementary school, through the high school, through the college, through the special school, through his life-work. Adjust your part of the work to the whole. Give each lesson in view of the whole. Then, instead of being a thing of shreds and patches, our educational work will become systematic, harmonious, and truly " A thing of beauty ami a joy for ever." For the elaborate discussion of these subjects, the reader is referred to their exhaustive treatment by Dr. "\V r . T. Harris, of St. Louis, in his annual reports and addresses. Here Dr. Harris stands first among thinkers and educators. For the purpose of comparison and for its intrinsic merits, we here insert by permission " A Classified Scheme of Knowledge," by Prof. J. M. Long, given in his "Philosophy of the Sciences," a work that should be in the hands of every professional teacher. CHAPTER III. COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. A well-digested Cotjese of Study, next to quali- fied teachers, is the great want of our elementary schools. The highest good of the millions is the issue involved. The school education of the masses is limited to the ele- mentary school. No measure for human elevation, now engaging the attention of states and nations, is fraught with greater good to the people than that of securing well-matured and well-adapted courses of study in all our elementary schools. The course needs to be both philo- sophical and practical, combining the wisest theory and COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 229 the widest experience. In the preceding chapters the effort has been made to lay a broad and solid foundation ; we are now prepared to erect the superstructure. I. Psychological Basis. — The course of study is so arranged that pupils are daily brought into contact with each of the departments of science. Simultaneously all parts of the tree grow ; so, under this arrangement, all the powers of the pupil develop simultaneously. Here we find a cardinal principle of the science of education ; we reach the rock, and upon it base the course of study. II. Elementary ScnooL Period. — Six has been wisely fixed by most States as the minimum age for ad- mission. Where the Kindergarten method is used, pupils may safely be admitted when but four or five years old. As schools are generally managed, pupils under six should be excluded. The elementary school period properly in- cludes eight years — from six to fourteen. Some will not require the full time to complete the course, while others will need more. The course of study is arranged with reference to faithful pupils of average abilities and aver- age opportunities ; and it is aimed to be elastic, in order to be adapted to the varying wants of various pupils. III. The Elementary School Studies. — While reading, language lessons, arithmetic, and geography en- gage the chief energies, a beginning is made in all the departments of knowledge. Pupils who go on with their school work lay in experience, a solid foundation on which to build when they enter the high school and college. Those who enter life without further schooling will have an invaluable preparation for self-education and for the practical duties of life. Knowledge is both mental food and the instrument of the mind. The educated man is a master. Each study gives a special mastery. The place 230 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. a is H a c- *■*■> :* hio ;* - - :'«m •+» *;*;;* - -t»* : «»# ; -+• : r+) ;* ;* * : ;* i c; -+» :* : I* :►»* r*> * '.* '. \ '.* -*• ~ **■>* : ■* ; •+» : -«" :* :* * .' H> 1 -2 »fl " ,*> ;* «b ;* - :-+» -*> * ;* \ +s ; «»* : -+• ; ^*» :• [• !* 1 ;* ^ A i « -*> :* hio ;* :h» -+» * :* '. :* - -*»* : h3>* : -H H» :* :* * .' !• S 5 £ ^ £ •» -+ i : :* *■» :* -+j rM * :* : :* H« - -+» :* : •+> * : rt* •^ ;* ;* * : -K I =j •+> : :* ■+> ;* -+> H* * :* : :* * : - h* ; * :* * * -+> -+• : * :* * : : ;* ■3) § T3 i « * : ■* -i» * * * :* ; :* * -» * :* : * * ; •*« * * : * : * * : : '. * |S 1 « * : :* * . 1* r*. * * # :* " .'* * : : " * ;* * :* **< * » * * * '* 8 U2 o o si 3 a > a« t §T3C ! Pm t> 3 ^ : .a • o. • cj • & : o • § ■S c o< > t c c Cs 1 > 1 c K a | C a 6 a > "7 , > a S. a -c c c PC « c c i 1 a ? a. i a X ) t -"i C ■c c h c E - Pi JF i "I | c I c bo ^2 Pi trj 13 a a a , o g 5 I >r tr: - O L O * B t 03 3 a 03 c Sh -a c | £ o ^> M u c c B 6. c 5 t c '> P ! cr £ D it 1 > e 9 17 I '? G c E "3 t- c c c 1> c c [- c ■A u B al »« E hS c jE Is is qOQ o o i-i B O 1^ o . s Q o O si* R Q & M O O So t-3 Km J COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 231 Elementary Schools include all schools, public and private, below the high school. The names, common schools, public schools, free schools, and primary schools, are commonly used to designate this grade of schools; -but these names are more or less objectionable. Elementary Schools is specific and unobjectionable. Primary and Grammar Schools. — Under the old organization of graded schools, the primary school included the first four years of the elementary course, and the grammar or intermediate school the second four years. Always unfortunate, these distinctions are now decidedly objectionable. No such division exists in the modern organization of un- graded or graded schools. The true plan, it is believed, is to abandon the distinction between primary and grammar departments, and make the elementary school one in name as well as in fact. There is no good rea- son for the distinction. Ungraded and graded schools will then have the same nomenclature — Elementary Schools with eight grades. Years and Grades. — First year, first grade; second year, second grade ; third year, third grade, etc. Every one will understand these terms without explanation. They do not confuse the parents nor the pupils. Unfortunately, the old plan of numbering the grades in the reverse order of the years is still retained in a few cities. The grades, however, are very properly designated by the letters H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A ; H corresponding to the first year, G to the second, etc. Divisions in Ungraded Schools. — The pupils are divided into four divisions. D division embraces those in the first and second years of the course ; C division, those in the third and fourth years ; B division, those in the fifth and sixth years ; and the A division, those in the seventh and eighth years. This plan makes it possible for one teacher to manage a large ungraded school. The course of study and the ideal programme are based on this grouping. School Terms. — The school year is divided into two terms of from three to five months each. Where the schools are sustained ten months, each term is five months, and a half term is called a quarter. In most States, the ungraded schools average from seven to nine months annu- ally. An average school term is about four months. The course has been arranged in view of the medium time. If the term is longer, more extended work can be done ; if shorter, less ground can be passed over. The Stars denote that the instruction is oral ; no text-book is used. In the first and second grades, all the work except reading is necessarily oral work ; the pupils will use no book except the Reader. The Figures denote the part of the work accomplished each term. Take the First Reader : ■£ does not mean £ of the book, but £ of the work proposed. Take arithmetic : -| does not mean £ of the book, but ■J- of the course in advanced arithmetic. To proportion and adapt the work for each term is the mission of the teacher. Superintendents and principals may aid by giving general directions and appropriate sug- gestions, but minute specifications and the designation of pages should be avoided. The teacher must be trusted with a wide discretion both as to the ground covered and the methods pursued. 232 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. of each of the common-school studies, and the mastery it gives, is a most interesting inquiry. 1. Inorganic Nature. Mathematics and physics meet the child at the threshold, and bar all progress unless made through their portals. (1.) Arithmetic gives a Mastery over Number. (2.) Geometry gives a Mastery over Form and Mea- surement. (3.) Physics gives a Mastery over the Moler, Molecu- lar, and Chemical Forces. 2. Organic Nature. (1.) Geography gives a Mas- tery over Place. This earth is our key, our measuring line, our unit. (2.) Botany gives a Mastery over Plant Life. The pupils learn to observe, to describe, to classify. No book need be used except the book of nature. (3.) Zoology gives a Mastery over Animal Life. The lessons given are objective and oral, as in botany. (4.) Physiology gives a Mastery over Right Living. Practical hygiene is incidentally taught. The objective phase of anatomy and physiology is learned. It is not wise to carry this branch very far in the elementary school. 3. The Thought World. Man thinks and expresses his thoughts ; hence spoken and written language. (1.) Reading is the Door to all Treasured Knowledge. The ability to gain knowledge from books is of the first importance. To be an intelligent, impressive, and charm- ing reader and speaker is the greatest of all accomplish- ments. Preeminently, the work of the school is to teach wJiat to read and how to read it. (2.) Spelling. Before the fifth year, no spelling-book is used. The reading lessons, the object lessons, and the language lessons furnish abundant exercise in spelling. COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 233 (3.) Etymology, Spelling, and Dictionary. Through- out the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth years, the ety- mology of our language is studied systematically. Spell- ing, here and everywhere, is chiefly written. Words are analyzed, defined, and correctly used. The recitations in this subject alternate with reading. The course of study indicates alternate terms for reading and etymology, but we find alternate recitations far more satisfactory. Each pupil now has a dictionary, and is persistently trained to use it. (4. ) Language Lessons and Grammar give a 3Iastery over Expression. The instruction is largely oral. The mastery of spelling, capitals, punctuation, correct ex- pression, chaste and fluent composition, and the great principles of our language, is the work of the district school. 4. The Bea uty World. ^Esthetics gives a mastery over the elements of beauty. ^Esthetic culture increases our capacity to produce and enjoy the beautiful. (1.) Kindergarten wisely makes beauty a leading ele- ment. Although classed in this department, Kindergar- ten work enters into all departments where instruction is given to young children. (2.) Penmanship and Draioing recite on Alternate Days. With the books and charts now in use, any good teacher may teach these arts successfully. Experience shows that pupils make better writers by taking draw- ing and penmanship on alternate days than when they take penmanship daily, and omit drawing altogether. Taste and skill are more truly cultivated. (3.) Vocal Music is now widely recognized as a com- mon-school study, and, as in Germany, such recognition must become universal. Systematic instruction for a few 234: COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. minutes daily will give nearly all the pupils a mastery over easy music. (4.) Colors. An occasional lesson, with incidental in- struction, is all that is needed to give a fair knowledge of colors. (5.) Juvenile Literature. A little attention to this subject will greatly benefit the pupils. What shall our boys and girls read ? Judicious instruction here will do great good. 5. The Duty World. The constant and interested effort of the teacher and pupils is needed to develop good manners and noble characters. The instruction should for the most part be informal and incidental. The open- ing and closing exercises, cases of discipline, and incidents connected with the various lessons are some of the occa- sions for impressing duty. One short, systematic lesson each week should be given to each division. Instruction in duty is incomparably the most important of all school work. G. The Action World. (1.) History and Biography give a Mastery over Events. The oral instruction in history is given mainly in connec- tion with the geography and reading ; but systematic bi- weekly lessons should not be omitted. During the fourth and seventh years text-books are used. The oral biog- raphy throughout the course maybe incidentally given in connection with the reading and other lessons. A taste for reading history will be cultivated. (2.) Civil Government and Political Economy. To prepare intelligent citizens is one object of our elementary schools. The plan of our government and the plainest principles of political economy should certainly be taught. The synthetic process is used for beginners. We begin COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 235 with the family, and build up the neighborhood, the school district, the township, the county, the state, the nation, the world. One short lesson each week is suffi- cient. During the eighth year small text-books may be used, and the subjects considered analytically. Remarks. — We must abandon the absurdity of trying to give what the parents call a thorough education in our common schools. All that can be well done there is, first, to awaken the love of knowledge in the child ; second, by natural methods of teaching, to instruct him how to use his mind and how to use books ; third, to bring him into vital contact with the realms of knowledge, by putting him in possession of first principles. The mass of useful information and the details of knowledge he must gain in his com- ing life. This we can achieve in the common school. The new education in the elementary school simply utilizes the law of variety ; it leads the child in pleasant ways from topic to topic, so that in a year it knows more about a dozen useful things than it knew about reading in the old district school, and has lived through the happiest year of its life, because its schooling has sim- ply been the continuation of the natural methods of developing its faculties, begun at the mother's knee. IV. Advantages of Country Schools. — These are many and great, and should be fully utilized. 1. Vigorous Physical Manhood is a prominent and marked advantage. Country life and rural industry are far more favorable to physical development than are the conditions of city life. ; 2. Habits of Industry, necessitated by country life, are largely to the advantage of country pupils. 3. The Social and Moral Influences are also decidedly to the advantage of the country pupils. 4. Nature favors the Country School. Animal and vegetable life surround the child. The means of culture are inexhaustible. 236 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. V. Disadvantages of Country Schools. 1. No Course of Study. Each teacher is left to do what seems right in his own eyes ; each one follows his own course of study. The new teacher pays little or no attention to the work of his predecessor. Each year the rock is rolled a short distance up the hill, only to be left to roll back again. Comparatively little real progress is made. For want of a good course of study, systemati- cally followed, fully half the time of both teachers and pupils is wasted. 2. Inexperienced and Inefficient Teachers are a most serious Disadvantage. Cities have longer terms, pay bet- ter wages, and afford the hope of promotion ; hence, cities command the best teachers. Good and permanent teach- ers are sorely needed in the country schools. 3. Short Terms are a great Disadvantage. A term of three months, though it does some good, is clearly an in- excusable educational waste. Every country school ought to be sustained from seven to ten months annually. 4. Frequent Change of Teachers is Ruinous. Seldom does the same teacher remain in the same school longer than one or two terms. No sooner has he become ac- quainted with his work than he is compelled to seek an- other school. 5. Irregular Attendance is a Crying Evil in Country Schools. Parents and teachers should combine to remedy this evil. 6. Lack of Efficient Supervision. In some States there is no supervision. In no State is the supervision sufficient- ly systematic and all-pervading. VI. What Country Schools may be Made. — A course of study may be adopted and used ; good teachers may be provided ; terms may be lengthened ; and wise COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 237 supervision may be secured. Because country pupils are stronger, more studious, and less affected by distractions, they will usually accomplish as much in seven or eight months as city pupils will in ten months . The combina- tion of work and study is decidedly advantageous. Work- ing mornings and evenings and during vacations, and studying hard during the school year, make country pu- pils, as a rule, stronger, physically and mentally, than their city cousins ; and, where they have had passable opportunities, they usually excel in the high school and the college and in practical life. VII. Grouping Country Schools. — That courses of study and programmes may be adapted to the various schools, it is found necessary to divide the schools of a county into two or three classes. • 1. First-class Schools are such as employ first-class teachers, furnish the necessary instrumentalities, and sus- tain an annual session of not less than eight months. First-class schools can follow substantially the course of study here given, and also use the ideal programme. 2. Second-class Schools are such as employ second-class teachers, and provide meager instrumentalities, but sus- tain an annual session of at least seven months. Second- class schools will need to omit from the course of study some of the oral work, as the teacher will not be qualified to give the necessary instruction. 3. Third-class Schools are such as employ third-class teachers, and sustain an annual session of six months or less. Third-class schools will need to strike out nearly all the objective work and use the simplest programme. We can not expect third-class teachers to do efficient work. 4. The Efficient County Superintendent, from year to year, groups the schools of his county, and labors to 238 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. transform third-class schools into second-class, and sec- ond-class into first-class schools. A healthy emulation is encouraged. Third-class country schools ought speedily to disappear, and second-class schools ought, in the near future, to become the exceptions. VIII. Elementary School Diploma. — No single measure can do more to deepen the popular interest in elementary schools than the inauguration of graduation. Hundreds of thousands, who do not now dream of such a thing, will be stimulated to complete the course. No- thing can be more practical. IX. Elevation of Country Schools. — Search the history of those most distinguished in all the fields of human achievement. You will find that a vast proportion of these began their careers in the rural districts ; and, in modern times, in the country school. It will doubtless continue thus till the end of time. God made the coun- try and blessed it. The elevation of the country school is the grandest field of usefulness now open to statesmen and philanthropists. CHAPTER IV. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS — HOW TO USE THE COURSE OF STUDY IN UNGRADED AND SMALL GRADED SCHOOLS. What shall I Teach ? and how shall I Teach it ? Few problems are so important to the teacher. The hints here given, it is hoped, will aid in the solution. Not individual experience, but the results of all experience, are trustworthy. With singular unanimity, the world's PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 239 educators substantially approve the following exhibit of the elementary school work. This chapter is designed for constant reference ; it is a key to the course of study as well as to the ideal programme. It is the first attempt, so far as I know, to completely systematize and outline the work in ungraded schools. D DIVISION". (First and Second Yeabs.) INOEGANIO WORLD. Objective Arithmetic (short Daily Lessons). First Year. Numbering groups of objects from | | to ] | | | | | ; counting objects and writing numbers to 50 ; addition and sub- traction of l's, 2's, 3's, 4's, to 20. Use the signs +, — , and =. Second Year. Numbering groups of objects to 12 ; counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's, to 100 ; writing and reading numbers to 1,000 ; addition, subtraction, and multiplication, to 50 ; Roman numbers in connection with the numbering of the reading les- sons to O. Objective Geometry (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Forms and names of solids ; plane figures and lines ; Kindergarten work. Have the pupils handle the blocks and sticks, and draw the forms on slates and boards. Objective Physics (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Gravitation, rest, motion; properties of bodies. Give easy illustrations, but no theory. (Bi-weekly and weekly indicate the proportion of time given to subjects, rather than intervals between lessons.) ORGANIC WORLD. Objective Geography (Daily Lessons). — First Year. De- velop the ideas — above, below, between, near, far, over; teach the cardinal poiuts ; train the children to locate things in the school-room ; recall child experience, and lead the pupils to ob- serve and express. Second Year. Directions and locations ; map of school-room ; 24:0 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. map of school-grounds ; bodies of water and divisions of land. Use geography board. Objective Botany (Bi-weekly Lessons). First Year. Leaves and flowers — form, colors, parts. Second J ear. Most common plants ; roots, stems, leaves, and flowers; how plants grow from the seed. Objective Zoology (Bi-weekly Lessons). First Year. Summer: insects — form, color. "Winter: domes- tic animals — color, food, form, habits, uses. Second Year. Summer: insects proper — beetles, butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, etc. "Winter: rats, mice, rabbits, domestic fowls — treated as in first year. Physiology and Hygiene (Incidental and Bi-weekly Lessons). THOUGHT WORLD. Beading and Spelling (Two Lessons Daily). First Year. Easy words and sentences from board and charts ; First Reader begun and completed ; every word made familiar before reading; the reading just like talking; all lessons printed or written on slate, and read from slates as well as from books and charts; words in reading lesson spelled by sound and by letter; combine the word, sentence, and phonic methods. Second Year. The Second Reader begun and completed. Les- sons should be written on slates and read from them as well as from books ; words in lesson spelled by sound and by letter ; oral and written spelling ; distinct conversational tones developed ; short advance lessons and daily reviews. Language Lessons (Daily Lessons). — First Year. Simple and familiar objects described. Full statements should be required of pupils ; ungrammatical statements always corrected, but no rea- sons or rules given. Oral composition and short printed or writ- ten compositions. Second Year. Less familiar objects described; uses and prop- erties of objects taught. Lead pupils to construct and arrange sentences. As in the first year, correct ungrammatical statements, but give no rules. Oral and written composition. The matter for the language lessons will usually be the same as in the oral work. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 241 BEAUTY WORLD. Penmanship and Drawing (alternate Daily Lessons). — Let- ters and words copied from board and charts on slates. Draw on slates and board ; combine lines ; geometrical outlines ; outline of leaves ; simple designs with straight lines. Yooal Musio (short Daily Lessons). — Practical rote or imita- tion singing, including songs and scale, using tbe syllables and ah. Heading music from one to five of the scale ; no skips, but com- mencing one of the scale on different degrees of the staff". Illus- trate length, pitch, and power. Give names of departments and the subject of each department. The use of notes ; exercise with quarter notes in double time ; explain p, /, pp, ff, quarter rest ; review frequently. Colors (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Primary and secondary colors; common colors ; prism and solar spectrum. Use color chart, col- ored crayon, tissue paper, and objects. Kindergarten Work (Daily Lessons). — Keep the little ones interested and busy ; make their amusements educational ; in the absence of Kindergarten gifts, invent apparatus. DUTY WORLD. Manners (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Cleanliness, neatness, and quietness. Let particular attention be paid to the manner of an- swering. For the most part teach manners incidentally. Morals (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Obedience, truthfulness, promptness. Appropriate stories; be true to nature; teach by example; train. Eeligion (Opening Exercises). — Sacred songs, reading Bible, prayer ; incidental lessons ; nothing denominational, nothing of- fensive ; the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. ACTION WORLD. Oral Biography, Oral History, and Government (Bi- weekly). — Most of the instruction in these subjects will be given 11 24:2 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. incidentally ; still, regular lessons are deemed of great impor- tance. Management — D Division. 1. Length of Lessons. From 10 to 20 minutes. 2. Government. Keep the little ones interested and busy ; direct and manage ; be gentle and kind. Your approval will be the highest reward, and your disapproval the severest punishment. 3. Hand-Work. Give the children plenty of hand- work ; always examine the work ; approve faithful effort. 4. Vary the Work. Children weary of monotony. A pleasing variety characterizes good management. Some Kindergarten work will be found highly beneficial. 5. Dismiss the D's half an hour earlier than the oth- ers, both in the forenoon and the afternoon. DIVISION". (Third and Fourth Years.) INORGANIC WORLD. Primary Arithmetic (Daily Lessons). — Third Year. Practice in the fundamental rules ; use of signs ; addition, subtraction, mul- tiplication, and division tables ; Koman numbers ; weights and mea- sures begun; metric as well as common weights and measures used. Use an attractive primary arithmetic. Fourth Year. Forming composite numbers and involution ; factoring and evolution by factoring ; multiple divisor, cancella- tion ; weights and measures ; some practical problems. Combine oral and written work ; review continually. An easy primary arithmetic completed. Objective Geometry (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Angles, relations of lines, relations of angles, relations of simple figures. Use sticks and blocks as well as the board and slates. Objective Physics (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Simple mechanical powers ; applications of force. The apparatus necessary may be constructed by the teacher and pupils. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 243 OBGANIO WOELD. Pemaey Geogeaphy (short Daily Lessons). — An easy primary geography begun and completed; the objective work continued. During the fourth year geography and history will be recited on alternate days and combined as far as possible. Objective Botany (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Third Year. Va- riations in root, stem, and leaves; double flowers; how plants grow, continued ; endogens and exogens. Fourth Year. Flowers — their uses and modifications ; ovary and its development ; fruits. Objective Zoology (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Third Year. Sum- mer : insects, spiders, and myriapods ; segments and rings of body. Winter : birds ; vertebrate structure ; birds and mammals com- pared. Fourth Year. Summer: crustaceans and worms ; comparison of the classes of articulates. Winter : reptiles and batrachians ; comparison of these with mammals and birds. Physiology and Hygiene (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Circulatory organs ; inspiratory organs ; practical hygiene. THOUGHT WOELD. Reading and Spelling (Daily Lessons). — The Third Reader begun and finished; words spelled and embodied in sentences; diacritical marks and classification of elementary sounds. Pupils use a small dictionary, and define words by synonyms as well as by use. Practice on elementary sounds. Language Lessons (Daily Lessons). — A suitable book may be used — language lessons, not technical grammar. Pictures may be brought before the class, and connected descriptions required. Simple rules for capitalization and punctuation taught. Daily work in composition required ; subjects the same as in the oral work; language used by pupils carefully noticed ; object words, action words, and quality words taught. Ideas underlying other parts of speech developed, but no technical terms given ; sentences as to use; elements of simple sentences. Practical command of our language, and not theory, is the object. 244 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. BEAUTY WORLD. Penmanship and Drawing (alternate Daily Lessons). — Use suitable copy-bopks ; impromptu writing exercises on board and paper; self-criticism. Use suitable drawing-books; continue drawing on slates and board ; draw and describe geometrical figures ; draw parts of flowers and plants, and give tbe botanical terms. Vocal Music (short Daily Lessons). — Sing songs ; scales from C below the staff to E fourth space ; whole and half notes and dotted whole and half notes ; G clef, F clef. Explain sharp, flat, and natural. Transpose scale to G, D, F, and B flat. Exercise in triple and quadruple time. Eeading music in G, D, F, and B flat. Explain tie, slur, hold, cres., dim., andante, moderato, allegro, and ad libitum. Colors (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Complementary and supplemen- tary colors; formation of secondary and tertiary colors; shades and tints. Juvenile Literature (Bi-weekly Lessons). — What shall our boys and girls read ? How can a taste for pure, useful literature be cultivated ? Who are some of the great authors ? The lessons will be devoted largely to these points, and to reading or reciting choice selections. DUTY WORLD. Manners and Morals. — Systematic lessons given weekly; constant attention to the manners and morals of the pupils. By using some suggestive work the teacher will be able to accom- plish much more than by drifting. ACTION WORLD. Primary U. S. History (alternate with Geography). — During the third year, incidental lessons in oral biography and history ; during the fourth year, a suitable primary history will be used ; combine geography and history. Civil Government (Bi-weekly Lessons). — The family, the school district, the township, the county and county officers. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 245 Political Economy. — The simplest principles illustrated in connection with geography, history, and civil government. Management — C Division. 1 . Lessons. Length, from 15 to 25 minutes. 2. Government. Order secured by systematic work ; pupils trained to act from a sense of duty and stimulated to self-government ; respect for law and for persons in authority cultivated. Oral Work. One lesson each day. The teacher must carefully prepare these lessons from day to day. Teach a few things well, and make each lesson a review of pre- vious lessons. We can not too strongly insist upon the importance of this work. The teacher who can not con- duct the oral work successfully has probably mistaken his calling. B DIVISION. (Fifth and Sixth Years.) INORGANIC "WORLD. Arithmetic (Daily Lessons). — Fifth Year. Complete arith- metic begun. Keview fundamental rules; fractions — reduction, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division ; practical prob- lems ; mental and written arithmetic combined. Sixth Year. Decimals and Federal money ; practical problems and accounts ; denominate numbers ; tables constructed ; re- duction and practical problems. Combine mental and written arithmetic. Oral Geometry (Bi-weekly lessons). — Review of previous lessons ; equivalent surfaces ; measurements. Oral Physics (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Review; sound; heat; chemical elements. ORGANIC WORLD. Geography (Daily Lessons). — Complete geography begun. Mathematical, physical, and political, combined ; map-drawing ; 246 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. imaginary journeys; the earth considered as an organism ; winds and ocean currents. Make the study attractive ; use globes and wall maps; teach thoroughly the great features; avoid cum- bering the mind with unimportant details. Constantly connect geography and history. Astronomy (in connection with Geography). — Solar system ; a few constellations. Botany. (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Fifth Year. Oral plant-analy- sis; grouping of plants ; modes of distributing seed. Sixth Year. Oral plant-analysis; modes of fertilization of plants. Objective Zoology (Bi-weekly Lessons).— Fifth Year. Sum- mer: insects proper — crude classification. Winter: crude clas- sification of mammals — bimana, carnivora, herbivora, roden- tia, etc. Sixth Year. Summer: articulate structure; mollusks; com- parison of mollusks, articulates, and vertebrates. Winter : fishes ; crude classification of birds. Physiology and Hygiene (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Digestive organs ; the skeleton ; the muscles ; practical hygiene. TnOTJGHT WORLD. Beading (alternate with Etymology).— Fourth or Fifth Reader ; vocal drill ; attributes of voice ; some features of style. Few un- graded schools can afford to have classes in both the Fourth and Fifth Readers at the same time ; the A's and B's use the same book. Etymology (alternate with Reading). — Word-analysis ; writ- ten spelling and defining ; use of dictionary. Composition and Grammar (Daily Lessons). — Use the best book that can be procured ; give drills in parts of speech and their modifications up to verbs. Analysis and composition ; let the composition be oral as well as written, that the pupils may become accustomed to speaking well at the same time that they learn to write well ; capitals and punctuation reviewed. Never fail to criticise faulty language used by pupils ; mastery of our language, not technical grammar, is the end sought. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 247 BEAUTY WOELD. Penmanship and Drawing (alternate Daily Lessons). — Suit- able copy-books ; impromptu writing on board and paper. Suit- able drawing-books; sketcb flowers, leaves, and otber objects from nature ; learn terms used in perspective. Vocal Mijsio (Daily Lessons). — Sing scale from G below staff to G above ; transpose scales to A, E, A flat, and E flat ; exercise in double, triple, quadruple, and sextuple time ; reading music in various keys; explain D. 0., D. S., sign, staccato, repeat-dots, modulation, allegretto, andantino, presto, retard. Juvenile Literature (Weekly Lessons). — A suitable book will prove of great value bere ; wbat to read and bow to read taugbt. DUTY WORLD. Manners (Bi-weekly and Incidentally). Morals (Bi-weekly and Incidentally). action world. History (in connection witb Geography ). Civil Government (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Review of pre- vious lessons ; the State Constitution, laws, officers. Political Economy. — A few leading principles in connection witb civil government and geography. Management — B Division. 1. Recitations. From 25 to 30 minutes. 2. Government. Self-government ; pupils trained to act from principle. 3. Oral Work. One lesson each day. 4. To designate specific work is unwise. Everything depends upon the teacher. Persons who are not full of the subjects, and who do not prepare for each day's work, are certainly unfit to teach district schools. 248 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. A DIVISION. (Seventh and Eighth Yea.es.) INOEGANIO WOELD. Aeithmetio (Daily Lessons). — Seventh Year. Denominate numbers completed ; review of common and decimal fractions ; percentage and application ; writing notes, drafts, and receipts ; day-book and ledger. Eighth Year. Equation of payments; proportion: evolution; mensuration ; algebraic symbols and algebraic solutions of prob- lems; simplest form of book-keeping; reviews and practical problems. During the first four school years proportionally less time is given to arithmetic than to other subjects, be- cause child-mind is not sufficiently developed for arith- metical reasoning. During the second four years, from ten to fourteen, arithmetic receives as much attention as the other leading branches. By pursuing the course in- dicated, unflagging interest will be secured and the best results obtained. Oeal Geometey (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Review ; relations of planes ; relations of solid figures. Physios (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Review ; ligbt ; electricity ; elements and compounds. Severe Criticism. — " I have read the proof of ' Elementary Course of Study ' and your impractical suggestions, and I must say it is superlative nonsense. Twenty branches for common schools ! ye shades of the three R's ! Bi-weekly recitations ! ye ghosts of the old schoolmasters ! No teacher with intelligence above a mosquito will be fooled by such idiotic stuff. One lesson in two weeks for children ! We practical teach- ers know that children forget nine tenths of the instruction when the lessons come daily. I can think of no expletives that will do the subject justice. But no teacher outside the insane asylum will attempt to follow your suggestions." Reply. — " Faithful are the wounds of a friend." He who would please all must deal in well-worn platitudes and glittering generalities. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 249 He who dares to advance, or who ventures into the dangerous field of details, will meet opposition enough. I accept the situation. " First pure, then peaceable," Looking at the subject from the standpoint of the old education, it i3 not surprising that my friend is horrified. Change your standpoint, friend, and view the matter in the light of the new education. The scales may fall from your eyes, and you may wonder how you could have been so blind and mistaken. The old education tried to teach abstractions and mere book lessons. The children could not remember because they did not understand. Neither the matter nor the method was adapted. In the new education the child sees, and hears, and handles, and does. What he learns of one subject he uses in others. The things he learns in his oral lessons he uses in his reading lessons, his language lessons, and his other lessons. What he learns to-day he reviews to-morrow, and what he learns this week he reviews next week, and the next, and the next. What he learns in school he applies out of school. Few and precious are the things taught, but they are mastered. They are called up again and again, and in various relations, until they become a part of the child's self. The plan as outlined is now substantially followed in the best schools in Europe and America. As rapidly as our teachers master the true philosophy of education, they will of necessity in substance pursue this plan. I welcome criticism and discussion. Error will ultimately yield, and truth will triumph. I can afford to wait. ORGANIC WORLD. Geography (Daily Lessons). — Seventh Year. Geography re- viewed in connection with U. S. history ; no advanced work. Eighth Tear. Geography completed ; careful review ; consid- erable attention given to mathematical and physical geography. If the teaching has been judicious, the pupil has ac- quired such knowledge as is needed in practical life ; if he advances, he will thoroughly review descriptive in con- nection with physical geography during the first year in the high school. Objective Geology. — A few lessons in connection with geography ; minerals collected and classified. 250 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. Botany (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Seventh Year. Plant-analysis ; classification of plants. Eighth Year. Plant-analysis ; plant-structure ; review. During the first four years the leading object is to cul- tivate the observing powers, and have the child become familiar with the forms and relations of roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. The names are learned inci- dentally. During the fifth and sixth years classification and plant-analysis are taught orally. During the seventh and eighth years each pupil should have a small book, such as " How Plants Grow," or " Youmans's Second Book." Objective Zoology (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Seventh Year. Summer: habits of insects ; noxious and beneficial insects. Win- ter: radiates and protozoans ; five branches of animal kingdom. Eighth Year. Summer : animals injurious and useful to man. Winter : general review of zoology and classification of animals. How to observe animals and learn their habits must be the central thought throughout the course. In this work noxious and beneficial insects will receive the most atten- tion. Some time should be devoted to insects each year. The general principles of classification should come in incidentally. Physiology and Hygiene (Bi-weekly Lessons). — The brain ; the nervous system ; tho sensory organs ; review of previous les- sons. During the last year it is better to place a suitable book in the hands of the pupils. During a part of the eighth year, daily lessons may in turn be given in physiology, zoology, and botany. A foundation should be laid in experience for the systematic study of these subjects in the high school and college, as well as in prac- tical life. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. '251 THOUGHT WORLD. Beading (alternate with Etymology). — Seventh Year. Fifth Reader; inflection, emphasis, quality, form, and force; styles — narrative, descriptive, and didactic. Eighth Year. Fifth Reader ; easy lessons in stress, pitch, quan- tity, and grouping ; some attention to action ; special vocal drill. Etymology (alternate with Reading). — Thorough study of word-analysis ; written spelling ; use of dictionary. Composition and Geammae (Daily Lessons). — Begin with verbs ; develop the sub-classes of the parts of speech ; finish the parts of speech and their modifications; analysis and parsing: peculiar and idiomatic expressions discussed ; work in grammati- cal figures ; conversation led by teacher, in which language used by pupils is carefully noticed ; composition. The best grammarians are those who use the best con- structions, not those who can give most glibly the rules for these constructions. While I have little sympathy for extremists who seek to expel grammar from our elemen- tary schools, 1 have none for those who adhere to the old profitless methods of merely teaching technical grammar. The subject must be developed from the standpoint of language. Practice must lead up to principles. BEAUTY WOELD. Penmanship and Deawing (alternate Daily Lessons). — Suita- ble copy-books ; suitable drawing-books. Draw from geometrical solids and from objects in nature ; some principles of light and shade ; designs applicable to useful purposes ; art criticism. "Writing and drawing are so valuable, practically and educationally, that they are combined throughout the course. Pupils will become better writers by taking draw- ing on alternate days. Drawing is no more difficult to teach or learn than penmanship. " Drawing," says Presi- 252 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. dent Pickard, " in its industrial phase, is a chief agent in hand-culture. Its importance will be more and more felt as manual skill becomes more imperatively the demand of the times." Juvenile Literature (Weekly Lessons). — With a suitable book, direction may be given to the pupils' present and future course of reading. Nothing can be more important. Vooal Musio (Daily Lessons). — Practice scales with ah. Review transposition and modulation. Introduce tonic, dominant, dominant seventh, and subdominant chords. Reading in various keys. Explain lento, animato, largo, accelerando. By devoting fifteen minutes daily, most pupils will learn to sing, and to read music as easily as print. DUTY WORLD. Manners (Bi-weekly Lessons). Morals (Bi-weekly Lessons). ACTION WORLD. United States History (Daily Lessons). — Teach thoroughly the leading facts ; review daily ; lead the pupils to actualize the events. Suitable book begun and completed during the seventh year. Civil Government (Bi-weekly Lessons). — Constitution and government of the United States. A suitable book should now be placed in the hands of the pupils. Political Economy (Bi-weekly Lessons). — An easy book may now be used, but the instruction will be largely oral. No knowl- edge is more needed to prepare for citizenship than that acquired in this department. Theories are not discussed. Facts are given, and principles are constantly illustrated by concrete cases. Agriculture. — One or more terms of oral work may with great profit be devoted to this subject. Lupton's " Scientific Agriculture " is an admirable book for this purpose. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 253 Management — A Division. 1. Length of Recitation. From twenty-five to thirty minutes. 2. Study. Considerable study out of school will be expected ; two hours daily will injure no one. 3. Government. Self-government as the result of right instruction and wise management. The pupils of this age are expected to be models of decorum. Appeal to the highest motives. 4. Oral Work. Less oral work is needed with this division ; the pupils are now able to gain knowledge from books, and are less dependent on the teacher. 5. The Recitations. In large ungraded schools, com- bined and alternate recitations are a necessity. The pu- pils of this grade must study more and recite less. 6. Higher Branches. On no account attempt to teach algebra, rhetoric, natural philosophy, or other of the higher branches, in the elementary school. Legitimate work will engage all your time and energies. Exceptions to this rule should be strictly exceptional. Eemaeks on the Outline. 1. For Ungraded Schools. This outline is strictly applicable to ungraded schools, and to the ideal pro- gramme presented in the following chapter ; however, with slight changes, it may be adapted to primary and grammar schools, and to any programme. To give sys- tem and efficiency to the work in district schools is of paramount importance. 2. Full Outlines. The outline is purposely made full ; each teacher must emphasize the work for which he is best fitted and has the best facilities, but must not neg- 254 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. lect the other work. So little has been done to help the country teachers that fullness of detail and even repetition are more than justifiable. 3. Sloiv, healthful Development. There must be no forcing, no crowding, no cramming. The teacher must understand the plan of child-mind and the relative value of the branches taught. There must be complete adap- tation. Touching daily the entire circle, child-mind de- velops slowly, but healthfully and symmetrically. 4. Practical Value. The millions complete their school education in the district school ; hence the work outlined is such as is deemed best to develop a noble man- hood and to fit all for practical life ; it, at the same time, is admirably calculated to fit pupils for the high school. The advantage of such a course of study over that of the three R's is as great as that of the express train over the old lumbering stage-coach. 5. The Coming Teacher. None but qualified teachers should be employed in the ungraded school. To such it will be a constant pleasure to follow the course of study outlined. The " New York Journal of Education " well " The corning teachers will teach, not merely hear recitations ; their pupils will acquire knowledge after the normal method of childhood, by being taught, by seeing and thinking, instead of by the memorizing of words from books. Language will be taught by talking-lessons and writing-lessons about pictures, plants, ani- mals, every-day life and experience. Oral instruction will be given upon form, color, measures ; animals will be grouped by habits ; vegetables, minerals, hygiene, and the human body will be studied objectively. The metric system will be taught from the metric apparatus. ISTo spelling-books will be used before the fifth year, the reading-books taking their place. In the stead of parsing and other technical work, lessons will first be given in THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 255 composition, in the use of capitals, in letter- writing, and in the arrangement of sentences. Books will be used, but oral instruc- tion will predominate. Children need the loving teacher. The coming teachers will have to know something. Their knowledge will have to be real 'live' knowledge, not dead verbiage; and they will need to know a good deal about the natural, social, and industrial life that the children come in contact with out of doors and at home." The coming teacher will be a student of nature and society as well as of books. CHAPTER V. THE PROGKAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. The teacher has a greater work to do than has the commander of an army, and his campaigns need to be planned with even greater care and skill. The pro- gramme is a prominent part of the plan of an educational campaign. The construction of a good programme for any school is a most difficult problem ; for an ungraded school it is peculiarly difficult. The following princi- ples may aid in the solution. I. Adaptation. — The Programme must be Adapted to the School. Numbers, advancement, instrumentalities, and surroundings need to be duly considered. The pro- gramme must be constructed in view of the actual con- dition of things. II. Employment. — Specific Employment must be pro- vided for each Pupil during the entire School Day . Study, recitation, and recreation need to be wisely proportioned. 256 COUESES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. To arrange the time for specific study by each division is as necessary as to fix the time for recitations. System- atic and well-directed effort is fundamental in education. III. Teaching Houes. — All the Teaching should be done during the Six School Hours. To keep the pupils longer is barbarous ; nor can the strongest man do efficient teaching for a longer period. Eecitations during recesses, or before or after school, are evils. Exceptional cases may justify the temporary violation of this principle ; but, however large the school, a good programme, it is believed, will enable the teacher to do all his legitimate school work within the school hours. IV. Length of Eecitations. — Adequate Time must be secured for each Recitation. Ten minutes is the mini- mum time for an efficient recitation. Eecitations of from three to eight minutes simply waste the time of both pupils and teacher. Time for thorough work must be secured, but no recitation in the elementary school should exceed thirty minutes. The artifices to economize time are indicated in the following pages. V. Combined Eecitations. — Two Classes in the same Branch may Recite at the same Time. One class draws maps while the other is drilled orally ; one solves examples while the other explains ; one does written work while the other does oral work ; both classes review together. Com- bined recitations should not be attempted except by skill- ful teachers and in large ungraded schools. Such reci- tations, in good hands, and with abundant blackboard surface, give excellent results, often doubling the effi- ciency of the teacher. VI. Eests. — Two Rests during each Half Day are highly Important. They are needed to maintain vig- orous health. Once each hour, in the open air, the THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 257 pupils expand their lungs and call into activity every muscle. Besides, thorough and certain ventilation is thus secured. This arrangement enables pupils to accom- plish more and better work, and renders it much easier to preserve order. The school day is thus divided into six periods of about one hour each. VII. Due Attention to Each Pupil. — Each Pupil should have a Recitation during each of the School Sours. A just proportion of the time is due to each class. Too much care can not be taken in the application of this principle. The lower classes must not be neglected. VIII. Concentration. — The entire School should be Engaged upon the same Subject. As far as practicable, this principle should be applied in the construction of the programme. One hour can be devoted to language lessons and grammar, one to arithmetic, one to reading and spelling, one to geography and history, one to art, and one to oral work. This principle, though not gener- ally accepted, is believed to be sound. ISTo other arrange- ment is so simple or so natural. No other plan proves so satisfactory in practice. In view of the above principles, the course of study, and the practical suggestions, we will now proceed to construct an ideal programme for ungraded schools. IDEAL PROGRAMME — EXPLANATIONS AND DIRECTIONS. I. D Division. — If possible, place all the pupils of this grade in one class, and use either the First or Second Eeader. Where this is impracticable and the school is large, have one of the advanced pupils hear alternately with yourself the First and Second Readers. Usually you will have one or more pupils who wish to become teachers, and this will be good practice. If the school is 258 IDEAL PROGRAMME FOR KsCITATIONS. Time-Table. D Division. Fikst and Second Teaks. Opening Exercises. . . C and D. Lang. Less . A and B. Gram, and Composition 8.50 to 9.00—10 m. 9.00 to 9.20—20 m. 9.20 to 9.50—30 m. j Kindergarten and Lan- \ guage Lesson 9.50 to 10—10 m. A and B. Arithmetic. 10.00 to 10.10— 10 m. 10.10 to 10.25— 15 m. 10.25 to 10.55— SO m. Print or Write Read. Les. 10.55 to 11.05—10 m. D. Reading and Spell C. Reading and Spell A and B. Reading or Etymology. . . . 11.05 to 11. 15— 10 m. 11.15 to 11.30— 15 m. 11.30 to 12.00— 30 m. Print or Write Read. Les. Kindergarten or Dismiss. 12.00 to 1.00—60 m. D. Geography I C. Geography or His- ) i tory J A and B. Geography ) or History ) 1.00 to 1.10—10 m. 1.10 to 1.25—15 m. 1.25 to 1.55—30 m. Draw Maps Kindergarten Work. . . . 1.55 to 2.05—10 m. D. Reading and Spell. . Writing or Drawing.. . Vocal Music 2.05 to 2.15—10 m. 2.15 to 2.40—25 m. 2.40 to 2.55—15 m. 2.55 to 3.05—10 m. D. Oral Work C. Oral Work A and B. Oral Work. General Business and j Dismiss I 3.05 to 3.15 — 10 m. 3.15 to 3.30—15 m. Print or Write Lang. Les. 3.30 to 4.00—30 m. Kindergarten or Dismiss. 4.00 to 4.10 — 10 m. UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 259 Study. C Division. Thied and Foubth Yeaes. B Division. Fifth and Sixth Yeaes. A Division. Seventh and Eighth Teaks. Gram, and Composition.. Gram, and Composition. Language Lesson.. Recess. Arithmetic Arithmetic Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic Recess. Reading and Spell.. Reading or Etymology. . . Reading or Etymology. . . Reading or Etymology. Reading or Etymology. Noon. Geog. or History. . . Geography or History. . . Geography or History . . . Geography or History. Geography or History. Recess. Drawing or Writing. Drawing or Writing. Recess. Oral Work Oral Work and Compos'n Oral Work and Compos'n Oral W'k and Compos'n. Oral W'k and Compos'n. Write Composition. 260 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. SCHEDULE OF ORAL WOKK. Days. D Division. C Division. B Division. A Division. Monday. Obj. Geometry. Obj. Geometry. Obj. Geometry. Obj. Geometry. Tuesday. Obj. Botany. Obj. Botany. Obj. Botany. Obj. Botany. Wednesday. Obj. Zoology. Obj. Zoology. Obj. Zoology. Obj. Zoology. Thursday. Gen. Obj. Less. Civ. Governm't. Civ. Government. Civ. Government. Friday. Manners. Manners. Manners. Manners. Monday. Obj. Physics. Obj. Physics. Obj. Physics. Obj. Physics. Tuesday. Biog. and Hist. Gen. Obj. Less. Juvenile Lit. Juvenile Lit. Wednesday. Hygiene. Hygiene. Physiology. Physiology. Thursday. Colors. Colors. Political Econ. Political Econ. Friday. Morals. Morals. Morals. Morals. Remarks. — On the above plan, the teacher may construct a schedule to suit his work ; the schedule will need reconstruction each term. We wish here simply to outline the work and show its practicability. With- out crowding and without interfering with other work, all the subjects named in the course of study may be taught. Changes must be made to suit the seasons. Lessons in botany will be given weekly during the fall and spring ; lessons in zoology will be given weekly during the winter mouths. Objective geometry may come weekly one term, and next term objective physics. In some subjects bi-weekly lessons are sufficient ; in most subjects the intervals between lessons should be much shorter. In some subjects, the lessons may be given to the entire school ; in other subjects, the C's and D's may be drilled together. Thus the intervals between lessons may be greatly shortened. But it is impossible to give specific directions. The wise teacher will know how to plan and to conduct oral work. By pursuing this plan a many-sided development will be secured, and much valuable knowledge accumulated. Besides, a vastly better knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar will be acquired than on the starvation plan. The mind grows on what it assimilates. THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 261 small, and one of the other divisions not represented, you can arrange the programme to hear both classes. In all other subjects, you can readily manage the D's in one class. In the absence of Kindergarten, the ingenious teacher will manage to provide congenial work for the little ones. II. Division. — The pupils of this grade may be classed together in all branches. In language, the D and C divisions have a combined recitation, or a pupil-teacher conducts these classes on alternate days under your di- rection. III. A and B Divisions. — The average school will have less than ten pupils in each division. The manage- ment is not difficult even with double this number. Sev- eral plans are in use to economize time and effort. 1. The Combination Plan. Take arithmetic : while the A's solve the problems, the B's are drilled orally ; the alternations may take place several times during the reci- tation ; the divisions review together. In other subjects these divisions may recite together, as one division may do written work while the other is drilled orally. I have found the combination plan very satisfactory when in skillful hands. 2. The Alternation Plan. On this plan the A and B divisions recite on alternate days. In some subjects this will answer, but it seldom gives satisfaction in arith- metic, grammar, or geography. In these branches there seems to be a necessity for daily recitations. Some teach- ers get good results by having oral and written recita- tions on alternate days. 3. Shortening the Recitations. This will give each division fifteen minutes. This plan is a serious educa- tional waste. The time is too short for thorough work with this grade of pupils. The teacher squanders his 262 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. energies. The combination plan almost doubles his effi- ciency. 4. Pupil-Teacher Plan. On alternate days the reci- tations are conducted by pupil-teachers. If you have one or more exceptionally good pupil-teachers, this is an admirable plan ; otherwise it will not give satisfaction. 5. Class-Leader Plan. You appoint a member of each class as class-leader. While you are engaged with the A's, the class-leader, under your direction, will have charge of the B's. This is one of the best devices to meet the difficulty under consideration known to the pro- fession ; but great discretion is necessary in its use. 6. United Recitations. In penmanship, drawing, vocal music, reading, spelling, etymology, and much of the oral work, the A and B divisions are worked as one class. There are disadvantages, but no better plan is pos- sible in large ungraded schools. The ingenious teacher will use such expedients as are deemed best under the circum- stances. In small schools, the programme may be so adjusted as to give each division full time ; but, unfor- tunately, this gives too many long recitations, and hence wearies the C and D divisions. IV. Study. — The A and B divisions will be stimu- lated to do considerable reading and some studying at home. Provision is made, however, for studying all les- sons during school hours. In elementary schools much studying out of school hours is neither desirable nor prac- ticable. For the most part, the school work can and should be done during the school day. V. Classification and Pkomotion. — The pupil after being tested is placed in his proper division. In- dividuals are promoted whenever qualified. Grades are promoted annually, and divisions biennially. When once THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 263 a school is classified, the management in this respect is not difficult. VI. The Oeal Wokk. — One hour daily is devoted to oral work. The management may be varied without limit. The object is to secure systematic work. The intelligent teacher will study to do the best for his pupils. I have found decided advantages in devoting the last hour to this work, as the oral work furnishes subject matter for the language lesson during the first hour of the following day. The interest accumulates throughout the day, and culminates in the oral work. VII. Advantages of the Ideal Programme. — The ideal programme is the outgrowth of the new education, and is the product of the thought and experience of edu- cators. Attention is invited to some of its features. 1. The Ideal Programme is Artistic. Teaching is the art of human development. The teacher is an art- ist. As the means of culture, he commands the entire circle of science. The ideal programme gives his plan of work. It may be infinitely varied, to meet all possible circumstances ; but the essential features remain, giving completeness and harmony to the work of the ungraded school. Thus school management becomes an art. 2. The Ideal Programme is eminently Practical. In some form it is now successfully used by the best teachers in all the States. The results are most gratifying, quad- rupling the efficiency of the schools. Every teacher qualified to take charge of an ungraded school may safely adopt and adapt it. Eote teachers, machine teachers, and all other unpractical and incompetent teachers, are cautioned to let the ideal programme alone. Such per- sons can not comprehend it, adapt it, or use it. It is de- signed for teachers, not for mere school-keepers. 264 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. 3. The Ideal Programme is Progressive. Like the course of study, it aims to represent the most advanced thought of the living present. While it may be regarded as in advance of many teachers and many schools, it is hoped that it will help to lead the great forward educa- tional movement. With such a programme there can be no standing still. The teacher must move up or move out. 4. The Ideal Programme is Algebraic. It may be adapted to any school. Don't mistake. It is not arith- metical ; it will not suit your school. You have brains ; the general principles are given ; you know the peculiar wants of your school ; it is your business to find the value of x. 5. The Ideal Programme is singularly Simple. It could hardly be more so. Everything complex has been eliminated. It is eminently adapted to the average coun- try school. 6. The Ideal Programme Systematizes the Oral Work. This is its crowning merit. It furnishes the pupils real mind-food in place of the dry husks of the old education. More, it necessitates the employment of genuine teachers. More, it compels unflagging effort and constant growth on the part of the teacher. 7. The Solution of the Country-School Problem. Having worked on the ungraded-school problem for more than a quarter of a century, it gives me pleasure to sub- mit to school-boards and my fellow teachers, as at least a partial solution, a practical course of study, and a prac- tical programme. Antiquated Programmes. — " One at a time ; first come, recite first," was the unwritten programme of the old schoolmaster. " School began at sun-up and closed THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 265 at sun-down." From this chaos the history of the evo- lution in our school work is most interesting. Among 'the crude attempts to construct programmes, the anti- quary will find many curious relics. 1. " One teacher heard 125 classes recite each day ! " 2. Another teacher made the time of recitation uni- form, giving five minutes to each class ! 3. A smart teacher made recitations long when inter- esting and short when dull ! Classes crowded out " took their chances " next day ! Specimens of the antiquated programme may still be found in some remote districts of most counties. The curious can explore and excavate for themselves. Programme for Small Schools. — Many a teacher fails in a small school who would succeed well in a larger one. A close classification is necessary. Individuals in small schools are treated as classes are in large ones. The teacher becomes a private tutor. The interest cen- ters in individual pupils. A school of ten will occupy the entire time and energies of the best teacher. As each programme must be widely different from all others, it would be folly to publish a programme for this class of schools. A teacher who is qualified to take charge of a small school will know how to construct a programme. The secret of success is in taking an absorbing interest in each pupil, and in devoting one's entire time to indi- vidual instruction. Programmes for Graded Schools. — These are far less difficult to construct than programmes for ungraded schools. Fewer subjects and fewer classes for each teacher simplify the problem. Besides, an experienced principal directs the work. Still, the programmes used in most small graded schools are susceptible of decided improve- -.n [See page 273.] 266 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. fc ej >.*> ^>^> U 14 > bobo2 .3 9 8 _C _C 33 s F RH : E?r? ff be A ■orafl 3J 9 h >,■- £>>> £ aa 03 03 o o O "3 < MM -CO .a eucc ca os a .a bo bo 03 03 3 =3 02 bo cd .a bo . 03 . 3 • M 03 bo bo bo • 03 03 o o c o M O w a • MM a ooc <2 MM O 03 P^OJ os : M - (X M fc M M i en M « o o !zi ^5§a M H o <1 M ►J £• o o o O an so a: fe s g s <1 M < bi a 8 W W X>>>, .qMMM M S3 M O pa g be-- 9 n - ■-■ § a a s § § .a .ca be hi) be o o o £ be be bo 9 03 C3 C3 a : m bo 3 • O C3 M r* co be bo dggg MMMM 'C3 Pon ■^ : o3 ; M : .M ■d • O o o t i o • > £ •d g-s !-S"S : bo-*J p. S C CD HI OMfc a M 03 O ,o A) 03 s g 1 .a .a SB p ■E a PS Ph^jd : &«^ : OcbM • •awij, pome rH OiOO ooc c o oooo © iHHHHO)HH y-i rH CM rH CM CM rH rt o o OlOiOlOlOO >C lO oiAoiao •ang; O-^-iCO-* rHCMCO «* O r- CM Tj< O <=» rH CM -# lO i-H CO o o <^ iHHrKS riHrtrtffllS CM CM CO CO CO C0-* rH rH rH 1-1 1-1 1-trH rH r-l 1C i^ itliOiOOO •Hioag OOH» OrlHn CO HrtHrlrlCS CM CM CM CO CO CO CO TH TH T* *-< rHrH rH rH »-H §c K^3 fc -3 . CD c m boh b j •4 o 63 M Opening Exercis 0. Eeading A. Arithmetic.. D. Numbers... . C. Numbers a E £ r t c c > > -a c o3 - ) t ■5 > c 03 i C3 s s o3» Mj a ^," 03 b c 03 o bo PQPNo D. Ee B. Ge A. Gr D. 0b Band Drawi D. Re A. Hi Band A. Re Bingiu THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 267 EXPLANATIONS.* This programme proposes that the common school be graded into four divisions, called D, C, B, A — A being the highest. The Pleasant Work put down for the D class may consist of some of the gifts of Kindergar- ten. Nos. 8 (the connected slat), 9 (slat-interlacing), and 10 (stick-laying), paper-cutting, paper-folding, and paper-intertwining seem available aud profitable. Desk work in numbers means copying and solving examples planned on the Grube method, or something similar. Let the teacher present the requisite number of examples on the blackboard from day to day. It is planned that the A class will prepare the arithmetic lessons at home, and others if necessary. The subjects that may be taken up in general exercises are many. The following schedule presents the use of five for the first month. It is best to keep one subject before the attention at least two days. Subjects. 1st and 3d Weeks. 2d and 4th Weeks. M. T. W. Th. F. m. T. W. Th. F. 1 1 1 1 1 1 "l "l ' 1 1 For the second month substitute one of the following subjects : Color, Animals, Easy Experiments in Natural Philosophy, Great Orators, The Ocean. For the third month : Object Lessons, Easy Experiments in Chemistry, Great Artists, Ancient Cities, The Clouds. For the fourth month : Common Things, Great Inventions, How Iron and Steel are made, Great Battles, Great Political Events. Other subjects can be used. Let teachers who can, take twice the time and half the topics. Untrained teachers will be apt to shun the Ideal Programme. * One of our most efficient educators, President J. C. Gilchrist, of the State Nor- mal School, Cedar Falls, Iowa, after seeing it thoroughly tested in many schools, kindly presents his programme, with the explanations, for publication in this work. It dif- fers from mine chiefly in the management of the recesses, the advanced classes, and the oral work. In schools where no oral work has been done, these general exercises will answer for a year or two. For the 6ake of uniformity I have changed the letters indicating the divisions. 268 PHELPS'S IDEAL PROGRAMME .Recitations. Time-Table. Division D. First and Second Tears. Roll Call 8.55 to 8.58— 3 m. 8.58 to 9.05— 1 m. 9.05 to 9.15— 10 m. 9.15 to 9.30— 15 m. 9.30 to 9.45— 15 m. 9.45 to 10.15— 30 m. 10.15 to 10.30—15 m. Opening Exercises.. . . C. Reading Print Words Write Reading Lesson . . Use Construction Blocks. 10.30 to 10.40—10 m. General Exercises. D. Numbers C. Arithmetic . . . B. Arithmetic . . . A. Reading D. Spelling 10.40 to 10.50— 10 m. 10.50 to 11.00— 10 m. 11.00 to 11.15— 15 m. 11.15 to 11.35— 20 m. 11.35 to 11.55— 20 m. 11.55 to 12.00— 5 m. Reading Construction Blocks. . . Write Spelling Lesson. 12.00 to 12.57—57 m. Roll Call Singing D. Reading C. Reading B. Reading A. Grammar .... B. Geography . . . A, B, and C. Pen. 12.5V to 1.00 to 1.05 to 1.15 to 1.30 to 1.45 to 2.10 to 2.25 to 1.00— 3 m. 1.05— 5 m. 1.15— 10 m. 1.30—15 m. 1.45—15 m. 2.10—25 m. 2.25—15 m. 2.40—15 m. Write Number Lesson. Print Words Construction Blocks . . . Reading Recess 2.40 to 2.55—15 m. C. Geography B. Language Lesson. D. Spelling A. History C. Spelling 2.55 to 3.10— 15 m. 3.10 to 3.30— 15 m. 3.30 to 3.35— 5 m. 3.35 to 3.55— 20 m. 3.55 to 4.00— 5 m. Copy Forms. . . . Write on Board Dismiss FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 269 Study. Division 0. Third and Fourth Tears. Division B. Fifth and Sixth Tears. Division A. Seventh and Eighth Tears. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic Arithmetic Blackboard Drawi'g General Recess. Arithmetic Reading. Reading. Reading. Arithmetic Geography '. Geography Grammar. Noon. Reading Reading Grammar. Grammar. Grammar. Reading Geography History. General Recess. Language Lesson History. History. History. Spelling Geography Geography Reading mar. 270 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. EXPLANATIONS AND REMARKS. This programme * is constructed to suit our country schools as now- organized. " 1. It embodies all the essential facts of the rural district school. Having been in the business, we can speak intelligently and somewhat pathetically of the actual situation. If such a programme be not adapted in all material respects to a country school, then it is the business of the teacher of that school to bring it up to the conditions of the programme as speedily as possible. Lacking in the ability to do so, he should attend vigorously to the personal and professional equation until he can make his side of it equal to the emergency. " 2. No programme can be made for any one school, which will exactly suit the circumstances of every other or perhaps of any other school. No two teachers are, can be, or ought to be exactly alike in all their details. As to class of pupils, character of teachers, organization and manage- ment, schools necessarily differ. Hence, is it cither to be expected or desired that the same programme, in all its details as to studies, time- table, order of exercises, and other particulars, should be exactly fitted to all circumstances ? We think not. On the other hand, we think that above all things teachers of country schools, as of all other schools, need to cultivate and to exercise that common sense which largely consists in the power of adapting one's self to varying conditions and circumstances. " 3. The teacher of every school should make himself master of the sit- uation, instead of allowing the situation to master him. In respect to their scholarship, gradation, and the like, it is self-evident that all coun- try schools must be somewhere between the primary and the high school. This being the case, they must be susceptible of some sort of classifica- tion approximating that of the city schools ; and in the hands of earnest, determined, skillful, and industrious teachers, that approximation can be realized in practice. It is true there are difficulties to be surmounted ; but for what is a teacher licensed and employed if not to wrestle with difficulties ? " 4. If this programme should be studied, if the principles embodied in it be mastered, and its provisions, under suitable modifications in particu- lar cases, be enforced in every country school in the land, we hesitate not to say that the value of these schools would be increased tenfold. " 6. We hear too much said against theories. All practice, whether in the teacher's profession or any other profession, that does not rest upon a true theory (another name for sound principles and immutable laws), is simply quackery. He alone who masters these principles and grasps these laws is fitted to devise wise methods and successful systems of practice in any department." * Developed under the direction of that great educator, President W. F. Phelps, of the Winona (Minnesota) State Normal School, and published, with the explanations, in the " Educational Weekly," Chicago. THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 271 MICHIGAN PE06EAMME FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS. D Division. C Division. B Division. A Division. Third and Fifth and Seventh First Second Fourth Sixth and Eighth Year. Yeae. Years. Years. Years. A. M. MIN. 9.00! 5 Opening. 9.05' 10 Reading. Beading. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. 9.15! 15 Printing. Beading. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. 9.30 20 Printing. Slate-writing. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. 9.50 20 Numbers. Numbers. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. 10. 10 20 Numbers. Numbers. Geography. Geography. AHthmetic. 10 . 30 j 15 Recess. 10.45; 15 Numbers. Numbers. Geography. Geography. Geography. 11.00 20 Drawing. Drawing. Geography. Geography. Geography. 11.20' 20 Writing. Drawing. Geography. Geography. Geography. 11.40 20 Spelling. Beading. Arithmetic. Arithmetic. Geography. P. M. 1.00 20 Heading. Beading. Beading. Reading. History. 1.201 20 Beading. Beading. Beading. Beading. Grammar. 1.40J 10 Beading. Beading. Beading. Reading. Grammar. 1.50! 10 Printing. Beading. Beading. Grammar. Grammar. 2.00! 15 Beading. Beading. Reading. Grammar. Grammar. 2.15 15 Writing. Writing. Writing. Writing. Writing. 2.30! 15 B EC ESS. 2.451 20 Spelling. Spelling. Spelling. Grammar. Grammar. 3.05 20 Spelling. Spelling. Spelling. Grammar. Spelling. 3.25| 5 Spelling. Spelling. Spelling;. Spelling. Spelling. 3.30! 10 Copying. Spelling. Spelling, Spelling. Spelling. 3.40 10 Copying Copying. Copying. Spelling. Spelling. 3.50 10 Oral Lessons. Oral Lessons. Oral Lessons. Oral Lessons. Oral Lessons. EXPLANATIONS AND REMARKS. " The italic type indicates recitations ; the common type the time when classes should study particular subjects. The study programme is of as much importance as the recitation. Teach children to study. " In the construction of the permanent programme the necessary number and size of the classes should be considered ; the alternation of study and recitation ; the time required for study in different grades and in different branches ; the length of recita- tions, both in the grades and branches; the hours when lessons should be studied as well as recited ; and recesses and dismissions. From the number of minutes in the Bchool day subtract the number devoted to opening- exercises and recesses; the re- mainder will be the time that can be given to class exercises. Determine the neces- sary number of class exercises, divide the time at command by the number of class exercises, and the quotient will be the average number of minutes that may be given to each exercise; the time of the more important classes may be increased by short- ening the time of the less important. The programme should be constantly before the school, and strictly followed." The above programme was prepared by a committee of leading educators in 1879. With many commendable features, this programme is susceptible of decided improve- ment. The advanced recitations are too short. The oral work is substantially ruled out. 272 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. NEW YORK TRANSITION PROGRAMME FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS. Many schools are in the transition stage. The old education is pass- ing away, but educational errors die hard. The following programme, one of the best of its class, marks the transition from the old education to the new. Here we find thought and svstem. Time. Division. Exercises. | Time. Division. Exercises. 9.00 Opening exercises. 1.00 D Reading and spelling. 9.10 i> Reading and spelling. 1.10 C Language lessons. 9.20 c Arithmetic. 1.25 B Language lessons. 9.35 B Arithmetic. 1.45 A Grammar. 9.55 A Arithmetic. 2.10 1 General exercises. 10.20 D Numbers. -- 1 Writing and drawing 10.30 General recess. 2.80 Recess 10.45 i> Object lessons. 2.45 D Language lessons. 10.55 c Primary geography. 2.55 C Reading and spelling. 11.10 B Geography. 3.10 B Reading and spelling. 11.30 A History. 3.30 A Reading and spelling. 11.55 General exercises. 3.55 General exercises. 12.00 One hour's recess. EXPLANATIONS. The teacher should have definite ideas as to what studies the child should pursue, and how much time should be given to each. D Division (age 6 to S) to have 5 recitations of 10 m. each = 50 m. Studies. — Language — First Reader, spelling. Mathematics — Concrete numbers, fundamental processes. Science — Elementary object lessons and geography. Art — Drawing, printing, writing, singing. C Division (age 8 to 10) to have 4 recitations of 15 m. each — 60 m. Studies. — Language — Second Reader, language lessons, composition. Mathematics — Primary arithmetic, oral and written. Science — Object lessons, primary geography. Art — Drawing, writing, singing. B Division (age 10 to 12) to have 4 recitations of 2D m. each = 80 m. Studies.— Language— Third Reader, language lessons, composition, written spelling. Mathematics — Arithmetic, oral and written. Science — Descriptive geography. Art — Drawing, writing, music. A Division (age 12 to 14) to have 4 recitations of 25 in. each — 100 m. Studies. — Language — Fourth Reader, grammar. Mathematics — Arithmetic, algebra. Science — History, civil government, physiology, natural philosophy. Art — Drawing, music. This programme is now (18S0) used in Venango County, N. Y. THE PROGRAMME IN UNGRADED SCHOOLS. 273 ments ; the general principles referring to programmes apply equally to graded and ungraded schools. One thing needs to be well understood : Programmes mid courses of study can never be stereotyped. Value of a Good Programme. — The advantages of a well-digested and wisely adapted programme can not easily be overestimated. Such a programme, persist- ently followed, will secure — 1. Regular Study. Pupils are trained to study sys- tematically. 2. Right Habits. Such habits are formed by doing the right thing at the right time, and in the right way. 3. Tenacity. Pupils learn to suppress whims and work to a plan. The will is cultivated. Tenacity of purpose is developed. 4 Well-directed Effort. The efforts of teachers and pupils are well timed. No time is wasted. Development is the result. The value of the school is increased ten- fold. 5. Perpetual Organization. The school need not be disorganized by a change of teachers ; the new teacher will be enabled to begin where his predecessor left off. Incalculable benefit results. The stone is kept rolling. The pupils steadily advance. System tells. 6. Educated and Systematic Teachers. Teachers are compelled to work to a plan. Systematic study will fit for systematic teaching. Teachers will steadily grow, and will become grand men and women. 7. Better Supervision. By requiring a programme for the term and a report for each month from every teacher, the County Superintendent can know the condition of each school. He may well consider a teacher disquali- fied who can not make out and carry out the ideal pro- 274 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. gramme. The superintendent will thus be prepared to bestow his labors where most needed, vastly increasing his efficiency. No other measure can accomplish so much good for the country school as the embodiment of a good course of study in well-arranged programmes. CHAPTER VI. POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. Sixty centuries were necessary to prepare our race for the work of popular education, and to give all civilized nations the elementary school. The next great forward movement will make the high school coextensive with the elementary school. I. Connecting Link. — The high school is the con- necting link in our educational system. Without the high school, we have fragments, but not a school system. The elementary school prepares the pupils for the high school, as the high school prepares them for the college. The college preparatory is an unfortunate expedient, and for that reason has been abolished by our best institutions. Academies and seminaries do excellent service, but are as drops to the ocean. We find everywhere brave young people thirsting for education. Good public high schools in every community will enable such to move upward, and will give us ten college students where we now have one. The high school will connect the elementary school and the college, and thus perfect our great educational highway. Public high schools, and good secondary pri- POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 275 COURSE OF STUDY TOE HIGH SCHOOLS. ClECLE OF Science. Studies. First Yeae. Second Year. Third Year. Fourth Yeajj. Terms, j Terms. Terms. Terms. 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 1 2. 1. j 2. Inorganic World. i * i \ i 1 1 1 1 ...j... Organic World. i \ 1 1 i * i 1 j Thought World. Rhetoric and Composition . l 1 i i X 4, I i 1 i 1 Beauty World. * t... ! * # * * * * * * * Elocution * * * * i * - * * * Duty World. * i . Action World. l i j i i 1 1 1 * 276 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. vate schools, within the reach of all, are among our greatest educational needs. II. Educational Work of the High School. 1. Development. The prominent work of the high school is to develop manhood and womanhood. The ele- mentary school lays the foundation and gives the rudi- ments of an education ; the superstructure is erected in the high school, in the college, in the university, and in practical life. 2. High-School Period. Up to the age of fourteen, both for physical and psychical reasons, continuous hard study can not be required ; but from fourteen to eighteen, the high-school period, study is grateful and invigorating. A youth may study hard, amass and digest vast stores of knowledge, and yet continually grow stronger, physically as well as mentally. 3. High-School Processes. The educational processes in the district school are preeminently objective, syn- thetic, inductive, and experimental ; in the high school the processes are subjective as well as objective, analytic as well as synthetic, deductive as well as inductive, and philosophical as well as experimental. 4. Preparation for Practical Life. In the high school a broad and deep foundation is laid for future achieve- ment. Here the pupil attains to a good degree of culture and scholarship. He is now in command of all his powers, and is prepared for a successful career in life. Happy the student who goes up higher, and in the college explores the grandest phases of science. In the college, thought becomes philosophical and far-reaching. The student successfully grapples with the most sublime problems, and reaches higher and still higher generalizations. A man educated in a district school may do well, but in prac- POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. £77 tical life he is no match for the high-school graduate ; nor can the high-school graduate compete successfully with the college graduate, or the college graduate with the university graduate. In all the fields of human achieve- ment, men and women of culture, other things being equal, have immensely the advantage. III. Circle of Science in the High School. — In the high school the circle widens. Knowledge is sys- tematized — becomes scientific. Eesearch is at once more minute and more general. As in the district school, the entire circle is touched continually. 1. Inorganic World. (1.) Mathematics. The first year is devoted to alge- bra, and the second year to geometry. Algebra is com- pleted, and arithmetic, algebra, and geometry are reviewed and compared, during the first half of the third year. Trigonometry is studied during the first half of the fourth year. (2. ) Physics. A year is devoted to elementary physics and elementary chemistry. The high school should be rich in simple, inexpensive apparatus for illustrating these branches. As far as possible, the pupils should be trained to use the apparatus and make the experiments. Mere theory and dry book-work will not suffice to wrest the se- crets from nature. Experiment must be made the basis of theory. Whatever is attempted should be mastered. 2. Organic World. (1.) Physical Geography. The earth is now studied as a cosmic organism ; studied in its relations to animal and vegetable life ; studied as the home of man. De- scriptive geography is thoroughly reviewed and kept fresh by constant use in connection with physical geography, history, and literature. 278 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. (2.) Anatomy and Physiology, Human and Compar- ative. Half a year is devoted to the study of human and comparative anatomy and physiology. Charts and a skeleton are the essential means of illustration. A mani- kin is extremely valuable. Eubber and plaster casts are admirable helps. Here, as elsewhere, the demon of ex- clusive book-work and of unimportant details must be exorcised. (3.) Botany and Zoology. The third year is devoted to these sciences. In order to secure specimens for illus- tration, botany is studied" during the fall and spring. Zoology can be studied advantageously during the winter months. The extended experience accumulated in the elementary school renders less objective work necessary. (4.) Geology and Descriptive Astronomy. A year is devoted to these sciences. Both subjects are studied from the standpoint of nature. The earth and the starry heavens are made the basis of each step. Personal ob- servation enables the learners to understand the book and to profit by the instruction of the teacher. 3. Thought World. The thinker, the thought, and the expression of thought merit a prominent place in the high-school course. (1.) Theoretic Grammar. The learner is now pre- pared to understand theoretic grammar. (2.) Rhetoric and Composition, respectively the art and science of effective expression, and the art of correct expression, engage special attention during the first year. Theoretic grammar is continued in connection with this subject. Rhetoric, though usually classed under aesthetics as a high-school study, belongs here. The expression of thought, rather than the beauty element, predominates. Composition continues to receive marked attention. POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 279 (3. ) English Literature follows rhetoric, and occupies the second year. As to the beauty element involved, this subject belongs to aesthetics ; as to the history element, it belongs to the action world ; but, as studied in the high school, thought and its expression are the principal ele- ments considered, and hence it is classed in this depart- ment. The works of tAvo or three authors are carefully studied. (4.) Latin, from the philological standpoint, should be thoroughly taught during the third and fourth years. The practical value of Latin, when properly taught, is very great, and it certainly deserves a place in the high- school course, because — a. The study of Latin gives a culture not otherwise easily attained ; b. The preparatory Latin is needed to fit the student to enter college ; c. The practical value of Latin when well taught is considerable. (5.) Greek is remanded to the colleges. It has no place in the high-school course. Many colleges have rec- ognized this fact. (6. ) Modern Languages. I do not see how the modern languages can be taught in our elementary or high schools without overcrowding the course of study. While ad- mitting their value, I am thoroughly satisfied that they belong to the higher education and not to the lower. The study of our own language and literature certainly deserves the first place in the elementary and high-school courses of study. President Elliot, of Harvard, says : " I may as well abruptly avow, as the result of my reading and observation in the matter of education, tbatl recognize but one mental acquisition as an essential part of the education of a lady 280 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. or gentleman, namely, an accurate and refined use of the mother tongue." (7.) Elementary Psychology. Psychology is now suc- cessfully taught in many high schools and in all normal schools. The value of psychology is unquestioned. With suitable text-books and suitable methods, it may be made intensely interesting. Speculative and compara- tive psychology belong to the college course, but the facts of elementary psychology should be mastered in the high school. The omission of psychology from the high-school course is inexcusable. 4. Beauty World. (1.) Elocution and Rhetorical Exercises alternate throughout the course. Elocution is studied as a science and practiced as an art. The choicest literature is read and recited, and composition is made a specialty. (2. ) Vocal Music and Drawing also alternate through- out the course. (3.) Art Criticism. Even a brief course will be of great value. Occasional lectures do much to cultivate taste, and give the pupils a glance into the art world. Art collections are now within the reach of all high schools. 5. Duty World. (1.) Ethics, the science of duty, is studied during the last half year. The teacher may present the leading fea- tures of natural theology in common with ethics. (2. ) Manners and Morals. All are trained incident- ally, but persistently, to habits of right conduct. Pupils, during this transition period, need every safeguard as well as every incentive to right. These formative years determine the weal or woe of most persons. The world's greatest benefactors are teachers with pure and noble POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 281 impulses, and endowed with the power to direct, to mold, to build, and to establish. 6. Action World. (1.) English and French History engage attention during the first year. The relations of English, French, and American history are carefully considered, and United States history is reviewed. (2.) General History occupies the second year. A broad foundation is laid for future reading, and leading facts of history are made a part of the permanent furni- ture of the mind. (3.) Civil Government and Political Economy are taught during the third year. The work is necessarily rudimentary. Lectures on sociology may be given dur- ing the last year. IV. Village and Central High Schools. — We must have high schools within the reach of all. Young people can go two, three, four, or even five miles to attend the high school. In connection with every village graded school there should be a high school, free to the high- school district. In thickly settled rural districts cen- tral high schools must be established. The masses must be educated at home, or never educated. The high school saves vast sums, and also keeps our youth under parental control during this critical period of life. V. Establishment and Growth. — In villages and rural districts the high school is a growth. For some time, but one or two years of the course should be attempted. As the numbers increase and the pupils advance, the course should be extended. Usually the full course may be reached within four or five years. "We must be con- tent to move slowly, in order to move surely. Thorough work and steady advancement is the wise plan. 282 COURSES OF STUDY AND PROGRAMMES. VI. The two Plans for sustaining Secondary Schools. — The elementary school is an established fact. ISTo sane man now questions the right or the duty of the State to sustain elementary schools. But elementary schools do not fully meet the demands of our civiliza- tion. The masses begin to demand facilities for a higher culture. Two ways of meeting this demand are proposed : 1. The Work may be left to Private and Church Enter- prise. The dependence may be placed in private high schools, academies, seminaries, and college preparatories. To this plan there are many objections : it is costly ; it makes the high school accessible only to the few ; it breeds clannishness ; it renders system impossible. His- tory shows that this plan absolutely excludes the masses, and hence fails to meet the demands of popular educa- tion. 2. Tlie State may provide for Public High Schools. These can be placed within the reach of all the people, and thus the high school will be made as free and common as the elementary school. While we highly prize the private school work, and feel a sincere cordiality toward all good instruction everywhere, we still think, with President Bascoin, that a system of public high schools commends itself " by the immediateness, sufficiency, and economy of its work ; by the harmony under it, and the con- sequent strength it will give to all departments of education ; by the unity of the national life which it expresses and nourishes ; by the increased breadth of popular thought which it promotes ; by the enlarged and patriotic impulses which it calls forth, crowd- ing back narrow incentives, and assigning the nation to its true position ; and by the wise, patient spirit with which it overcomes administrative difficulties, and unites all interests in one large and libei-al work." During the next quarter of a century, the great battle over POSITION AND WORK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. 2S3 this issue will continue to rage. All the foes of popular edu- cation will combine against this grand forward movement. For a while demagogues will join the ranks of the enemy. But the result is not doubtful. High schools will become coextensive with elementary schools. Our civilization demands it. It will pay. The highest good of our race demands it. Then will we have a grand educational highway, extending from the primary school to the university, and as free as the air we breathe to every youth in the land. VII. The Missing Link. — The high school is the missing link in our educational systems. The high school of the future will serve a threefold purpose : 1. It will place the general culture demanded hy our civilization within the reach of all. 2. The principal of the central high school will be principal of all the schools in the township ; and thus will he secured for the elementary schools of our rural districts superior professional direction. 3. At the minimum cost and under the most favor- able circumstances, the high school will fit our aspiring youth for the college. It is the mission of the present generation to supply the missing link, and thus perfect our educational scheme. Caution. — It should be distinctly understood that the high- school course was constructed in view of the work planned for elementary schools. In case high-school classes have not taken the elementary work, it will be necessary to so change the course as to supply the deficiencies. This will be especially necessary in botany and zoology, and these studies should be pursued during the fall and spring. PART V. STUDY AND TEACHING. CHAPTER I.— Rules for Study. II. — Conditions for Study. III. — How to Study. IV. — Art of securing Attention and Study. V. — Work for the Little Ones. VI. — Objective Points in Education. VII. — Principles pertaining to the Science of Edu- cation and the Art of Teaching. PART FIFTH. STUDY A WD TEACHING. How may pupils be trained to study ? How may the teacher secure study ? How may the largest results he obtained from the efforts put forth ? How may such a desire for knowledge be created as will make of the pupil a lifelong student ? In the following chapters the at- tempt is made to answer these questions. Certainly no part of the art of school management is of greater im- portance. CHAPTER I. EULES FOE STUDY. Bettee study conditions, better learning. Whatever tends to secure effective study, tends to elevate the race. The following rules have proved of great value to many hundreds of students and teachers. I. Take a deep Inteeest in - what you Study. — Cold iron can not be welded. The indifferent student fails to weld the new and the old knowledge. Heat the iron, and 288 STUDY AND TEACHING. a few strokes do the work. Interest is mental heat ; learning and memory are in proportion to the interest. A cold, slow, repulsive teacher is a dead failure. He who can not create and sustain a deep interest can not teach. The student who does not take an interest in his work does not learn. II. Give your Entire Attention to the Subject. — Attention is the condition of knowledge. But for the accumulated power of attention, learning and progress would be impossible. Close and continuous attention en- ables the pupil to master difficulties and retain results. As the rays of the sun, when concentrated by the burning- glass, produce combustion, so, when the energies of the soul are directed to a single point, the mind burns its way through all difficulties. Newton said : " The difference between myself and others is, chiefly, that I have acquired the power to concentrate my attention more completely, and to hold it longer on a subject, than most men.' Herein lies the secret of success. A giddy, inattentive pupil accomplishes little. A teacher may work mira- cles, but if he can not secure and hold the attention of his pupils, he can not teach. III. Study Systematically both as to Time and Method. — A programme sufficiently elastic to meet the various circumstances is needed. A well-arranged pro- gramme enables the student to accomplish double as much as he ordinarily will do without one. " In education," said Everett, "method is everything." The pupil who knows how to study, and wisely uses his time, can pre- pare his lesson better and in much less time than one who does not know how to study, or who lacks system. A teacher who is not systematic, or who can not train his pupils to system, has no business in the school-room. RULES FOR STUDY. 289 IV. Master each Step as you go. — The child asks, " What is it ? " the boy or girl, " How is it ? " the youth, "Why is it ?" The child masters the objective phase of the subject, the boy the analytic, the youth the scien- tific, and the man the philosophic phase. While in hand, is the time to master the lesson. To go through a book once is sufficient. Let each lesson be a review of previous lessons. " Leave nothing unconquered behind." Teachers who hurry their pupils through the book, who crowd them through many and long lessons, do much to injure them. Study few subjects. Short lessons and long study will produce strong men and thorough scholars. V. Think Vigorously, Clearly, and Indepen- dently. — " Thinking makes the great man." The ninny dreams, leaving others to solve the problems and think out the lessons. In most classes may be found those put- ty-faced, soft-brained, indolent creatures, who do their best to prove Darwinism. Ability to think rapidly and effectively is the objective point in intellectual culture. Each lesson is studied and taught with this end in view. The honest, independent, and able thinker is the grand- est man that walks this earth. VI. Study to Know, not to Recite. — Studying to recite is one of the greatest evils connected with school life. In many schools the pupils who study to know are the exceptions. The lesson is recited glibly to-day, but forgotten to-morrow. Good marks are secured, but the child is not educated. Eight methods of teaching render such reciting impossible. The true teacher inspires the pupil with a love for knowledge. The subject is studied, and the book is used as an instrument. Instead of re- citing the facts, theories, etc., given in a book, the pupil tells what he thinks about what the book says. The 13 290 STUDY AND TEACHING. teacher and the pupils together work out wider, deeper, more accurate views of the subject than can he obtained from the text-books. Pupils thus taught never finish their education. VII. Use what you Learn. — Knowledge increases mental power. It is valuable for its own sake. Use keeps knowledge fresh. Think, write, talk. Connect books and nature. Connect past and present acquisitions. In whatever you engage, command and use your entire resources. The true teacher trains his pupils to use what they learn, by continually leading them to tell what they know. VIII. Duly mix Study, Eeceeation, and Eest. — Eecreation and rest are essential to physical vigor, and hence to effective study. Winship practiced gymnastics and lifting for an hour or two a day, until the weak boy became the strongest man in the world. Daniel Webster would concentrate his mighty powers for a time, then take recreation, and he became the intellectual giant of the age in which he lived. "Work while you work ; play while you play." Hard study hurts no one. The great- est thinkers are usually healthy. Man was made to think. To Teachees. — How can you benefit your pupils more than by teaching them one of these rules each week ? In eight weeks they will all be learned, and your pupils will be able to do more and vastly better work. You can illustrate the rules and train the learners to apply them. In all my school course I do not remem- ber receiving any instruction in the art of study. Half my ener- gies were wasted. From the heart I urge you to assiduously train your pupils how to study ; you have no duty more important. CONDITIONS OF STUDY. 291 CHAPTER II. CONDITIONS OF STUDY. Cheerful, earnest, well-directed study is the key to scholarship and success. No feature of school manage- ment is more important than the art of securing effective study. I. Physical Conditions. — The body is the organ- ism through which the mind works, and hence must be kept healthy and vigorous. Pure air, suitable exercise, proper diet, cheerfulness, and abundant sleep are the phys- ical conditions of hard study. The stomach should be neither empty nor loaded ; the system should be neither excited nor relaxed ; the position should be neither un- comfortable nor sleep-inviting. Under such conditions, pupils will have clear heads and the power of physical and mental achievement and endurance. II. Surroundings. — The disciplined mind may work on through turmoil, but even philosophers seek solitude and stillness. Much more does the inexperienced pu- pil require the most favorable surroundings. The wise teacher manages to have a quiet school, to have com- munications made only through the teacher, to avoid all distractions ; he so arranges everything as to foster study. Parents should see that certain hours are made equally favorable for home reading and study. The pupil will soon learn to place himself under the most favorable con- ditions, and " In solitude to muse, to think, to conquer." III. Struggle or Perish Alone. — Each soul is an individual personality. Self-study and self-help develop 292 STUDY AND TEACHING. individuality and power. Each pupil is trained to do his own work. He learns that "Heaven helps students who help themselves." During recitation and social in- tercourse, he gains what he can from others. During the hours of study, he suffers no one to hinder or assist. The habit of independent study grows into the habit of independent thinking and acting. IV. Programme for Study. — Comparatively short periods of study, with ever-increasing intensity, are best. I have found forty mintues the best average time for ad- vanced students, both for study and recitation. Intense study during periods of forty minutes, followed by a few minutes of real recreation, enables the student to accom- plish twice as much during a year as he can by drudging on through many weary hours. Lively recitations of forty minutes each, followed by short recesses, are also by far the most favorable for advancement. The younger the pupils, and the more intense the work, the shorter must be the periods of study and the longer the intervals of rest. The plan now adopted in many schools, of having a recess of ten minutes at the close of each hour, is based on a profound knowledge of child-nature. Effort must stop short of exhaustion. After rest, the mind readily grapples with the work of the hour. With renewed vigor and power, after each period of recreation, the pupil takes up again the problem. He works systematically, doing specific work at specific times. The youth who vigorously follows these directions will steadily increase in physical and mental power. HOW TO STUDY. 293 CHAPTER III. HOW TO STUDY. Horace Geeelet was accustomed to say, " Any one can dig, but he is a wise man who knows what to dig, and when to dig, and how to dig." Any one can study, but he is a philosopher who knows what to study, and when to study, and how to study. The farmer, the mechanic, the artist, the scientist, and the teacher are entitled to start with the accumu- lated experience and achievements of the race. Thus only is progress possible. Surely the child is entitled to no less. To leave the young to grope their way, is to rob them of their best years. Wise parents guide the efforts of their little ones. Experienced and wise teachers should direct the activities of learners. The chief office of the teacher is to train pupils to right habits of study. He who knows how to study and has the will to study scarcely needs a teacher. He has learned how to search for truth and how to master sub- jects. He has gradually become self -helpful and indepen- dent of the teacher. He falls in love with knowledge, and esteems truth more than millions of gold. The pupil thus trained will be an earnest student through life. How may we educate our pupils to study ? How may we make them independent of ourselves ? I. Cleae Ideas of the Lessoh is the Fiest Step. — Experience and previous lessons furnish the basis. What is the general subject ? What are the relations of the lesson to previous lessons ? Whatever the lesson, the learner asks himself these questions. With the subject clearly before his mind, he goes to work. 294 STUDY AND TEACHING. II. The Lesson is Eead Carefully. — This is done in order to get before the mind its general scope. The student reads the lesson slowly. Each word not under- stood is examined, and, if compound, analyzed. After thus reading the lesson, the student is prepared for its systematic study. III. The Mastery of the Leading Features of the Lesson is the Next Step. — Now begins hard study. Definitions, principles, divisions, and leading facts or state- ments are made a part of the pupil's self. He will not rest until he can correctly present and clearly illustrate the principal points. Committing and reciting defini- tions, principles, or statements, that convey no meaning to him, are monstrous errors. Only principles, definitions, and facts, thoroughly understood, should be treasured in memory. IV. The Student now devotes Himself to the Study of Details and Illustrations. — From particu- lars to generals, then from generals to particulars, is the true method of study. The student begins with the con- crete and works up to definitions, principles, and classi- fication ; reversing the process, he reduces generals to particulars, thus verifying his conclusions. He synthe- tizes and analyzes ; he induces, deduces, and reduces. He begins with intuitive knowledge, works up to gen- eralizations, and finally reduces all generalizations back to intuitive knowledge. At every step he has recourse to illustrations. Illustration is the great lever in study and teaching. To illustrate means to illuminate, to make clear. Illustrations remove mountains of darkness and difficulty. The unknown is expressed in terms of the known. New and abstract truths are reduced, by con- cretion and comparison, to the range of experience. The HOW TO STUDY. 295 child and the philosopher pursue substantially the same course. Caution. — To envelop the pupil in a cloud of details is ruin- ous. The illustrations may be remembered, but the principles will be lost. Endless detail is the demon of school work. Let the student actually master the cardinal features of subjects, and he will grow strong, day by day, in valuable knowledge gained, and in power accumulated. On this point the majority of teachers need revolutionizing. Avoid the extremes. Neither husks nor skeletons suffice. Thoroughness is the mastery of principles and their application. It is not enough to demonstrate that the square described on the hypothenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. The student must be able to use this principle in the demonstration of other theorems, in the solution of problems, and in practical life. In all study and all teaching, theory and its application go hand in hand. Practical education, in the true sense, is the result. V. Helps ik Study. — If the mechanic needs tools, how much more does the student need books ! Books are guides as well as implements. To learn how to use books, is a most important part of an education. 1. The Dictionary stands first. As soon as the pupil begins the Third Eeader, a small dictionary should be placed in his hands, and he should be trained to use it properly. The advanced student, at any sacrifice, must have for constant use an unabridged dictionary. With- out a dictionary, no lesson can be properly prepared. Whenever there is a doubt about the meaning, pronuncia- tion, or spelling of a word, the appeal is made to the dictionary. It should be the constant companion of teacher and pupil, as it is of the scholar. 2. Other Text-Books for Reference are needed. Other authors may often open up new fields of thought, or pre- 296 STUDY AND TEACHING. sent the topic from different standpoints. The student with two or three text-books on the same subject has decided advantages. 3. Refer ence-Boolcs. A good encyclopedia is inval- uable. It enables the student to gain wider and deeper knowledge. He finds where information may be had, and learns how to gain it. The more of the works of great thinkers the student has at command, the better. These he consults as he does the dictionary, or as he asks the views of his companions. He learns to commune with the masters, and thus discovers the sources of infor- mation, and acquires the power of vigorous thought. 4. Objective Helps. Agassiz would leave his pupils for days to gain what they could from objects. Afterward he would give instruction based on the student's own ob- servations. Great teachers seem to have uniformly pur- sued a somewhat similar course. This method is divine. < A pupil studies geology from the book ; when he comes to the rocks he has to begin again. Does his knowl- edge help or hinder ? The better plan is to begin with nature. Let the pupil make crude collections for geol- ogy, zoology, and botany ; he finds in these the keys to unlock the books. In geography, physics, and chemistry, let him construct, if necessary, simple apparatus to illus- trate the principles. In this way he forces the secrets from nature and from the books. One experiment made by the pupil himself is worth hundreds witnessed. VI. Outlines of the Subject. — After the subject has been carefully studied, the student prepares an out- line, showing the relations of the subdivisions, and also the relations which the subject discussed bears to other subjects. Outlines, properly used, are very valuable. 1. The Outline gives Comprehensiveness. Having HOW TO STUDY. 297 mastered the parts, the student now examines the subject as a whole. What are its latitude and longitude ? What are its boundaries ? What are the logical relations of the subdivisions ? The answers are embodied in the out- line. 2. The Outline aids Memory. Ideas are associated in their logical relation. Any link in the outline sug- gests all the other parts. Students who lack system will be found deficient in memory. Teachers who leave sub- jects scattered in fragments need not expect their pupils to retain permanently the things taught. Caution. — Do not make a hobby of diagrams. Though of great value when properly used, outlines may become an incubus. Details precede summaries. The outline is used for review. The teacher who begins with the diagram shows that he has failed to grasp a fundamental principle in teaching ; he begins at the top to build the tower. VII. Study is Hakd Work. — Wendell Phillips, it is said, is considering the propriety of classing hard study as one of the "lost arts." School-books have been so sim- plified and diluted, teaching has been so largely degraded to the trade of feeding children with spoons, parents have become so fearful that hard study will ruin the health of their fragile darlings, that there doubtless is danger that hard study may become a lost art. Let every educator and every parent ponder the following facts : 1. Hard Study is Healthy. Man was made to study. Great students have usually been long-lived and healthy. Proper food, plenty of sleep and exercise, and right habits will insure to the hard student vigorous health. Abominable diet, late hours, excessive novel-reading, dis- sipation, and lack of abundant open-air exercise — not 298 STUDY AND TEACHING. hard study — are the causes of bad health among stu- dents. I have never known a student who obeyed hy- gienic laws to be injured by hard study. " Many, far too many, of our school girls and boys, are ill- fed or over-fed, and their stomachs, rather than their brains, are over-worked. Many, far too many of our girls, in school and out, are dressed in ways that invite sickness and disease, and their bodies suffer far more than their brains ; but jaded stom- achs, congested livers, and obstructed circulations make heavy, neuralgic heads, and study becomes a process attended with weariness and discomfort. Tight-waisted dresses, bare arms, gauzy stockings, and thin-soled shoes have far more to do with the death of many a bright, studious girl than brain exercise." 2. Hard Study develops Manhood. Nothing else can take its place. Hard study is the royal road to manhood, as well as to geometry. The student must grapple with the problems and solve them for himself. This gives pluck and tenacity. It develops the feeling of mastery and in- dependence. 3. Boohs, Teachers, a?id Schools are Means. The end is culture and manhood. Good teachers and good books stimulate and direct effort, but do not relieve the pupil from effort. All our improved educational instrumental- ities and methods simply increase the facilities for work- ing out our own educational salvation. " Thinking makes the great man." Hard study is the royal road to man- hood and success. 4. Hard Study versus Amusement. " A life spent in practical education is the best means of exploding the foolish theories which make the staple of many treatises that assume to tell the teachers how to teach. The teacher's work is so practical that, when he does it best, he can hardly himself tell how he does it. I once thought I could make learning so entertaining that pupils ART OF SECURING ATTENTION AND STUDY. 299 could be educated as an amusement. In this view I was fortified by Eousseau, Locke, and Pestalozzi. I have since learned that such an education, if it were possible, would be a miserable prepara- tion for the stern realities of life. "While the teacher should win the attention and sustain the interest, he should keep in mind that amusement in education holds about the same ratio to toil that a lady's jewelry does to her substantial dress." (Prof. F. T. Kempee.) 5. Hard Study must be Encouraged. Oral teaching must be made to stimulate and direct effort, not displace it. Transparent and well-arranged books must be made to aid in the acquisition of real knowledge. Time must not be wasted in solving puzzles and answering conun- drums. Parents and teachers must encourage hard study. Only thus can we educate a race of brave, strong, inde- pendent men and women. CHAPTER IV. AET OF SECURING ATTENTION AND STUDY. Attention is the power of the mind to direct its own activities. It is the concentration of the mental energies upon one thing at a time. The art of teaching is based on the art of securing and holding the attention of the learner, and thus developing the habit of atten- tion. I. Educational Importance of Attention. 1. Attention is the Condition of Knowledge. With- out some degree of attention, nothing can be learned. The accumulated power of attention renders acquisition possible. 300 STUDY AND TEACHING. 2. Mental Groivth depends upon Attention. Mental power increases in proportion as the pupil acquires the power of exact, rapid, penetrating, and prolonged atten- tion. Imbeciles lack this power. 3. Perception and Memory depend upon Attention. Where there is no attention, we are unconscious of mental action, and hence recollection is impossible. The closer the attention, the clearer are our perceptions and the more tenacious our memories. Indistinct perception and poor memory are largely the results of the habit of inat- tention. 4. Teaching Power is determined by the Poiver to Secure and Hold the Attention. "Without this power, neither ability nor scholarship can avail. It is clear that the art of securing attention is a fundamental qualifi- cation of the teacher. Education is a failure unless it develops in the pupil the power of penetrating and pro- longed attention. II. Unfavorable Conditions. — As far as possible, whatever distracts attention should be avoided. The disciplined mind may work amid confusion, but children need every favoring influence in their weak efforts to give attention. 1. Boisterous Teaching distracts the Attention of those Studying. Teachers and pupils should speak in low or medium tones. We want energy, but not noise. Study to be quiet as well as earnest. 2. Punishing Pupils during School Hours seriously interferes with Attention. Only the most unskillful teachers distract the attention of the school by reproof or scolding or other punishments. " A time for every- thing." 3. Speaking to the Teacher diverts Attention. '* May ART OF SECURING ATTENTION AND STUDY. 301 I speak ? " " May I get a drink ? " " May I leave my seat ? " No sucli questions should be permitted. All necessary communications should he made by silent sig- nals. The first question must never be asked. For the second question, the hand is raised with the first finger extended ; for the third, with the first and second fingers extended ; etc. The teacher responds by an appropriate movement of the head. Better see that all such things are attended to during the recesses, and thus avoid these interruptions. 4. Watching Disorderly Pupils is most Damaging. The entire attention of the teacher is due to the class reciting. Only thus can he hold the attention of the pupils. Here is a serious difficulty. There is no remedy but in training the pupils to the habit of self-government. Place the disorderly where they will not need watching. Let your eyes and ears always be wide open, so as to take in the whole school. Watching the bad pupils will be- come unnecessary. III. How not to Secure Attention. — Attention is not secured by claiming it ; not by entreating it ; not by urging its importance ; not by force ; not by threats ; not by promises ; not by bribes. All such efforts are the subterfuges of the weak and the unskillful ; but they fail to long hold attention, and utterly fail to develop a habit of attention. The art of securing attention is pos- itive, not negative. IV. Kules for Securing and Cultivating At- tention. Eule I. Command attention by interesting the pupils. This is the fundamental means of securing, as well as of cultivating, the power of attention. The teacher must 302 STUDY AND TEACHING. have something good to present, and must present it in a suitable manner. Study the secret springs of inter- est. Keep curiosity and the thirst for knowledge always active. 1. Novel Objects. The child is all attention to novel objects. As primary teaching is necessarily objective, means of interesting pupils are readily commanded. In- finitely silly must be the teacher who does not use objects as the means of securing and cultivating attention. In nearly all school work objects may be used to increase the interest. 2. Stories. Children are wonderfully attentive to sto- ries, anecdotes, incidents, and lively descriptions. Each recitation may be made more attractive and more valuable by incidents, anecdotes, or something else in this line. Be brief, and make everything illustrate the lesson. 3. Adaptation. All knowledge, if timely, and adapt- ed to the capacity of pupils, may be made as interesting as objects and stories. Your language, your manner, your illustrations, and your methods must be suited to the advancement of your pupils. The knowledge must be yours, and must be fresh. 4. Mistakes. Tasks, repulsive lessons, and forced work are educational mistakes. They repel and repress rather than develop the power of attention. It is glad activity that gives culture. When study is made more interesting than play, pupils, unasked, give the utmost attention. By interest and management, not by force, the soul is reached, and glad effort secured. " Command the attention of young pupils by an animated manner, and by addressing curiosity and expectation ; of older pupils, by brevity and clearness of language, and by logical con- nection of matter." ART OF SECURING ATTENTION AND STUDY. 303 Eule II. "Win" attention by endless variety. Ayoid all routine, all monotony, all prosy explana- tions. Make everything real. Flash upon the class your information and your explanations. Win attention by presenting new and fresh knowledge. Prepare for each lesson. Create activity and win attention by constant surprises. Thus, while educating others, you will your- self grow strong and vigorous. Rule III. Attract attention by a good elocution. Don't talk much ; don't talk loud ; never scold ; and seldom repeat. Talk to the point, be in earnest, and keep in mind that " words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in pictures of silver." As the magnet attracts the needle, so does good elocution attract attention. Where the elo- cution is good, it is seldom necessary to ask attention. It is hard for any one to give attention to droning, inar- ticulate, monotonous, lifeless utterances. " 'Tis modu- lation charms the ear " and rivets the attention. " That I may attract attention, I must have attractive power that will draw the pupil toward me. I must have magnetism that will hold the pupil fast to me. I must have enthusiam that will fire my pupil with zeal for work. I must he able to sink myself from sight ; to transfer attention from myself to my sub- ject. If I have these four personal elements in my teaching, I shall get attention and hold it. If I have not, I must cultivate them." Rule IV. Compel attention by right class manage- ment. Each member of the class is held responsible for the entire lesson. Each one may be called on at any moment. Inattention is considered a serious disgrace. Questions are asked but once. Topic and question methods, indi- vidual and concert answers, written and oral work, are 304 STUDY AND TEACHING. duly intermingled. The pupils are learning, not merely reciting. Most minds are somewhat sluggish, and work well only under pressure. The skillful teacher incites without exciting ; presses without coercing ; instructs without repressing self -helpfulness ; inspires without con- fusing ; compels without forcing. Eule V. Favor attention by frequent change of position. If kept long in one position, pupils will become rest- less and inattentive. Now have them stand, now sit ; now have them work on the board, now explain ; now have them answer individually, now in concert ; now give a moment's exercise, or vary the position in some way, and thus make attention possible and pleasant. " Give attention a chance." Rule VI. Promote attention by vigilance. Use your eyes and ears. The entire class and the en- tire school must be seen and heard. All symptoms of in- attention must be noted at once and the remedies applied. Stupid teachers, who see but a part of the class or school, promote inattention. Sensible teachers will not continue the lesson for a moment without attention. The alert teacher promotes attention by always being wide awake. Rule VII . Cultivate attention by frequency of rep- etition. During each recitation the leading features of pre- vious lessons are required. Because they are required to use their knowledge continually, pupils learn to give close attention. Studying merely to recite is a fatal er- ror. The lesson of to-day is forgotten to-morrow. Now, nothing can be said to be well learned until it has been often before the mind. Then children delight to do ART OF SECURING ATTENTION AND STUDY. 305 that which they can do well. Cultivate attention by making each lesson a review of all previous lessons. Eule VIII. Stimulate attention by rewarding it. Always have something interesting and valuable to present. The teacher supplements both the book and child-experience. He is a great student. He constantly interrogates nature. His knowledge is always fresh and sparkling ; it is at once wider and more specific than that derived from text-books. He opens up to child-mind new beauties and new wonders. Curiosity is kept active. Every energy is aroused. The pupil grows strong as well as wise, and the power of ready and penetrating at- tention becomes a life habit. Eule IX. Encourage attention by showing that it is the key to success. Your own observation will furnish many examples. Each successful life is an example. Each pupil's expe- rience will illustrate the rule. 1. Newton. " The difference between myself and other men consists chiefly in the habit I have acquired of more completely concentrating my attention, and holding it longer upon a subject, than most men. Because I have acquired the power of intense and prolonged attention, I am able to accomplish what others fail to do." 2. Dickens. " The only serviceable, safe, certain, remunera- tive, attainable quality in every study is the power of attention. Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well. Whatever I have devoted myself to, I have de- voted myself to completely. This I now find to have been my golden rule." 3. Napoleon. " The mind is like a chest with many drawers : when one is opened, all the rest should be closed. I am able to dispatch a marvelous amount of work, because, with all the powers of my mind, I attend to one thing at a time. When I have finished 306 STUDY AND TEACHING. the work in one drawer, I close it and open another. "When I have finished and closed all, I can rest ; I can sleep at once, even on the battle-field." . V. Unwise Incentives to Study. — As a rule, prizes, individual emulation, rewards, punishments, and all such incentives, are unwise and generally injurious. The true teacher will never need to resort to such expedi- ents. The incentives embodied in the above rules will be found all-sufficient. "If prizes are ever offered, it should only he in cases where the pupil can not he reached by worthier motives, and as an ex- pedient to lift him to a higher plane. " I have known a few cases in which rewards, and even pun- ishments, were productive of good results; but such instances are exceptional. The rule is, that the fruitage of such motives is bad. Inflating the minds of children with ambitious prospects of becoming some ' great one ' is baneful and pernicious. Such in- centives turn the youth from the shops and farms and overcrowd the professions — results inimical to the stability and prosperity of the state. "The love of knowledge, the development of a true manhood, preparation for the highest usefulness, qualification for the great- est happiness, approval of the Creator — these are better, safer, nobler motives." (Prof. William Ieelan.) art of securing attention and study. 307 Topical Eeview. — Aet of Securing Attention and Study. Importance of securing attention. 1. Attention is the condition of knowledge. 2. Mental growth depends upon attention. 3. Memory and perception depend upon attention. 4- Teaching power is determined by the power to secure attention. Unfavorable conditions for securing attention. 1. Boisterous teaching. 2. Punishments. 3. Speaking to ihe teacher. 4. Watching disorderly pupils. Mow not to secure attention. 1. Not by claiming it. 2. Not by entreating it. 3. Not by force. 4- Not by urging its importance. 5. Not by threats. 6. Not by promises. 7. Not by bribes. 8. Not by punishments. Rules for securing and cultivating attention., 1. Command attention by interesting the pupils. 2. Win attention by endless variety. 3. Attract attention by a good elocution. 4. Compel attention by right class management. 5. Favor attention by frequent change of position. 6. Promote attention by vigilance. 7. Cultivate attention by frequency of repetition. 8. Stimulate attention by rewarding it. 9. Encourage attention by, showing that it is the key to success. Unwise incentives to study. 1. Prizes. 2. Individual emulation. 3. Rewards. 4. Punishments, etc. 308 STUDY AND TEACHING. CHAPTEE V. WORK FOR THE LITTLE ONES. Pestalozzi is credited with the first discovery of childhood. Every successful primary teacher makes the same discovery. As a result, many of our primary schools are becoming models of interest and adaptation ; means and methods are adapted to child-nature. As flowers unfold amid sunshine and showers, so children develop under genial influences. I. School Work should give Pleasure. — As motion is in the line of the least resistance, so education is in the line of the greatest pleasure. Not painful, but pleasura- ble, are the processes of development. The application of this pervading principle is working an educational revolution such as the world has never before known. The old education was painful and repulsive. Studies were considered beneficial in proportion as they were dis- tasteful. The new education inspires voluntary and glad effort. Adaptation and interest are cardinal. The old education consisted largely of unmeaning task-work, which tended to discourage and repress. The new edu- cation leads the pupil to discover and apply, and inspires boundless enthusiasm. II. Play is an Educational Process. — It is the wild spontaneity of child-activity. Properly directed, the child plays up to work. To thus direct play is the mission of the Kindergarten. This can be done largely in every family and every primary school. The play songs cultivate a love of music. The construction blocks lay a foundation for inventive drawing. The exercise plays develop strength and grace. The mother and the teacher WORK FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 309 who understand childhood will need few hints. There is a limitless field from which to choose. III. Hand- and Eye-Oulture. — The child is inca- pable of abstract study. He deals with the concrete. Ideas are developed through action. Besults are worked out. 1. Reading. The object is examined. The name is spoken and placed on the board. The pupils find the word on the cards, print it on the board, write it on their slates. Words are combined and read. Lessons are written or printed on board and slates. Words are spelled and sentences written. Pictures are drawn. Objects are collected and brought to class. Constant activity and endless change characterize preparation and recitation. Hand work leads up to mind work. The pupils read well because they understand what they read. 2. Drawing and Penmanship. The fact that every child loves to make pictures, indicates a great educational law. Drawing educates the hand, develops taste, aids in the acquisition of knowledge, and is of great practical value. It keeps pupils interested and busy. 3. Arithmetic. With small sticks, the numeral frame, weights, measures, etc., each pupil performs the opera- tions. The board and slate are used without limit. The children are delighted because they can do, as well as understand, the work. 4. Geography. With a board and some clay and sand, the continents, the divisions of land and water, etc., are constructed. Maps are drawn on slates and board. The globe and outline maps are made to do good service. The divisions of land and water are all made on the playground. A solid foundation is laid in actual experi- ence. 310 STUDY AND TEACHING. 5. Other branches equally engage the hand and eye. Indeed, hand exercise is the secret of success in pri- mary-school work. The little ones are overflowing with activity. Let this activity be so directed as to keep them interested and busy. At the same time let it be so directed as to lead to knowledge and culture. IV. Voice-Culture. — Speech and song are divine. All children delight in vocal effort. The teacher so man- ages as to make the vocal exercises educational. The child becomes an excellent reader, a charming conversa- tionalist, a sweet singer. The teacher takes lessons from the children while at play, and trains them to be equally natural and eloquent in the school-room. Every lesson is full of meaning and full of action. The Kindergarten has taught us invaluable lessons, true to nature. V. Body-Culture. — Play, spontaneous activity, pre- pares for work — determined activity. Play is the best exercise for children, yet calisthenics are indispensable. (1.) These exercises educate the body — give the children better command of the body. (2.) They are hygienic. By fostering a good circulation of the bipod, they make the brain a better instrument for mental effort. (3.) They promote order by working off the restless activity of childhood. (4. ) They tend to fit for citizenship. Pupils learn to act in concert, and thus prepare for the rhythm of society. They learn exact and prompt obedience to rightful authority, and are thus prepared for citizenship. These exercises need to be frequent and varied, calling into activity every muscle. They must be adapted to the strength of the pupils, and must be so managed as to de- light the children. VI. Action and Culture. — The following great educational principles pervade all primary work : WORK FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 311 1. All true education is self-education. 2. Personal and persistent effort is the condition of growth. 3. Child-culture consists largely of well-directed phys- ical activities. 4. The chief office of the teacher is to stimulate and direct child-effort. 5. Child-growth is simply the gradual, continuous, all-sided development of the original powers and tenden- cies of child-nature. The day for parrot-work, for cramming, for mere book-teach- ing, for stultifying and dwarfing, for lifeless, repulsive schools, is for ever past. Now our little ones begin their education with glad activity. They see, and bear, and taste, and handle. They feel, and choose, and do. They begin with nature and oral teach- ing, and from ideas are led to words, from words to definitions, from nature to books. They tread surely, because every step rests on the rock of personal experience. They move on cheerily, be- cause each lesson opens up new beauties. They grow strong, be- cause each step is a victory. " Good schools are the natural results of good teaching. They never come of good school-houses, or good courses of study, or good superintendence, or good discourses on the philosophy of education, taken alone. All these external means may be useful and necessary as conditions ; but good teachers, guided by a true method, constitute the efficient cause of all good schools. With a true method of work, a teacher possessing those inherited gifts which are the germs necessary to every proper human develop- ment, and that professional skill which comes only by study and experience, and possessing the proper means -of teaching, will be sure of molding his pupils into good citizens and successful indi- vidual men and women ; for he will cultivate in them the power of finding the truth, and the inclination to choose it after it is found." 312 STUDY AND TEACHING. Topical Eeview. — Wokk foe the Little Ones. School work should give pleasure. 1. Education is in the line of greatest pleasure. 2. Tlie old education was painful and repulsive. 3. The new education inspires voluntary and glad effort. Flay is an educational process. 1. Play is the wild spontaneity of child-activity. 2. Work is determined activity. 3. The child, properly directed, plays up to work. Hand- and eye-culture. 1. Kindergarten work. 2. Primary reading. 3. Drawing and penmanship. 4- Objective arithmetic. 5. Objective geography. 6. Other branches. Voice-culture. 1. All children delight in vocal effort. 2. Make the vocal exercises educational. Body-culture. 1. Calisthenic exercises give command of the body. 2. They are hygienic. 3. They promote order. J).. They tend to fit for citizenship. Culture by action. 1. All true education is self -education. 2. Effort is the condition of growth. 3. Child-adture begins in physical activity. 4. The teacher directs and stimulates effort. 5. Child-growth is the gradual development of its powers. The day for parrot- work is for ever past. 1. JVoiv the little ones begin with nature and oral teaching. 2. They see, and hear, and taste, and handle. 3. Tliey feel, and choose, and do. J},. They work up to ideas, words, definitions, books. 5. They grow strong and happy because each step is a victory. THE OBJECTIVE POINTS IN EDUCATION. 313 CHAPTER VI. THE OBJECTIVE POINTS IN EDUCATION. How to make the most of one's self — is not this the purpose and problem of education ? The end of educa- tion is not to teach pupils to know and use books, but to know, and make right use of, themselves. Education in its broadest sense means development. It is the evolution of every human power. As a science, it deals with the laws, means, and processes of develop- ment. As an art, it deals with the application of educa- tional means to educational ends. I. Well-directed Effort is the condition of all de- velopment. The child is endowed with the powers of thought, feeling, and action. Each power of the soul is self-acting, and grows only by self-effort. Teaching is the art of stimulating and directing the self-activity of the child. All education is necessarily self-education. II. Knowledge is Mental Food. — Food and ex- ercise are as necessary to mental as to physical growth. Knowledge is the stimulus which excites to mental effort. The appetite craves food, and in the presence of suitable food the entire digestive apparatus acts ; food is convert- ed into muscles ; muscles are used ; the result is physical power. The soul longs for knowledge ; in the presence of suitable knowledge, every faculty of the soul is roused to action ; the child knows, feels, chooses, acts ; the re- sult is increased mental power. III. The teue Objective Point in Education is the Development and Culture of the Mind. " In teaching, it is not the communicating of knowledge which is the great work ; it is rather the training of the child to find 14 314 STUDY AND TEACHING. out knowledge for himself ; it is educating the pupil to become a thorough student. Once make him sharply observant, closely at- tentive, exact in his recollection, and clear in his reasoning, and secure that all this shall be the fixed habit of his mind, and you need not concern yourself about giving him knowledge : his whole course will be full of self-instruction and self-acquisition. Use the branches not so much for the knowledge gained as for the study, the self-developing, self-disciplining effort they require ; and make your teaching a wise, direct, and patient effort to teach the pupil how to study, and to aid and inspire him to become a perfect student." (Kellogg.) iv. moeal cultuee is peeeminently the alm of all Education. " The ultimate end of all education is to lead men and human society toward their highest moral destiny. Education must be based, not on utilitarian considerations, but purely on the con- siderations of humanity. Education can not create anything in the pupil, can not put anything in him from without ; it can only develop into consciousness the powers that are in him, by arous- ing him to self-activity. Education finds its aim in the formation of character, in self-emancipation, in self-government. Character- building is the only ultimate aim of all education." (Fichte.) V. Kuinous Eeeoes. — With the masses, education is mere teaching, teaching is communicating knowledge, and communicating knowledge is seeing that the pupil studies the hook. Most teachers have imbibed the same degrading notion, and hence labor simply to increase the pupil's stock of knowledge. Hence, the more studies, the more books, the more recitations, the more answers committed, the better. " We sometimes hear it said : ' I want my child educated, that he may not have to work as /have to work.' A very poor rea- son for educating the children ! Labor, of itself, is not degrading. THE OBJECTIVE POINTS IN EDUCATION. 315 We should educate, that our children may be capable of intelli- gent work, whether of the brain or hands. An ignorant man puts forth great efforts, machine-like. He has no skilled power ; to create that power is the object of education. Here is a pile of sand: the man merely of muscle may remove it, and will grumble because he receives but $1 per day ; the man of skill converts the sand into beautiful vases, and receives $10 per day. The child, if educated as he should be, will not have to work as his uneducated parent ; but he will not despise labor. If edu- cated, he can think, and he will not work as the ignorant do." The thoughtful teacher will labor to correct these errors, and teach the masses to realize that knowledge is a means and not the end. But no effort will be spared to render knowledge more and more instrumental in ad- vancing the highest physical, mental, and moral good of the race. VI. The Future is full of Promise. — Enlightened public sentiment is steadily elevating the educational ideas of the masses. Knowledge is beginning to be considered a means. Books and lessons are more and more consid- ered as educational instrumentalities. The practical or bread-winning power is beginning to be considered a means. The strong tendency is to consider a vigorous and noble manhood the real objective point in all edu- cational effort. At no distant day, only such men and women as are competent so to direct and stimulate child- effort as to secure development and culture, will be per- mitted to enter the school-room as teachers. 316 STUDY AND TEACHING. CHAPTER VII. PRINCIPLES PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION AND THE ART OF TEACHING. * I. Fundamental Principles. 1. The body and the mind are inter-dependent. 2 . Education is a growth. 3. The mind in all its faculties is self-acting. 4. By systematic and well-directed effort each power of the soul is educated. 5. The teacher stimulates and directs effort, but all education is self-education. 6. The teacher, to take a single intelligent step, must understand the plan of child-mind and the plan of the subject taught. 7. In teaching, the matter and the method must be adapted to the capacity of the learner. 8. At every stage, contact with the entire circle of science is necessary to complete and harmonious develop- ment. 9. Educational effort should be in the line of least re- sistance — i. e., of greatest pleasure. 10. At every step in education, moral, intellectual, and physical development should receive due attention. 11. General Principles of Education. (Brooks.) 1. The primary object of education is the perfection of the individual. 2. The perfection of the individual is attained by the har- monious and full development of all his powers. * These principles are merely stated here ; in " The Science of Hu- man Culture " and " The Art of Teaching " they are derived, examined, and applied. EDUCATION AND TEACHING. 317 3. The intellectual powers develop naturally in a certain order, which order should be followed in education : perception, mem- ory, imagination, conception, judgment, reason. 4. The basis of this development is the self-activity of the child. 5. This self-activity has two distinct phases : from without inward — receptive and acquisitive ; and from within outward — productive and expressive. 6. These two phases, the receptive and productive, should go hand in hand in the work of education. 7. There must be objective realities to supply the condition for the self-activity of the mind. 8. Education is not creative ; it simply develops existing real- ities and possibilities. 9. Education should be so modified and adapted as to develop the different tastes and talents of the pupils. 10. A scheme of education should aim to attain the triune result — development, learning, and efficiency. III. Psychological Principles relating to Teaching.* 1. In education, culture is worth more than knowledge. 2. Exercise is the great law of culture. 3. The teacher should aim to give careful culture to the per- ceptive powers of the child. 4. The teacher should aim to furnish the memory of the child with facts and words. 5. The memory should be trained to operate by the laws of association and suggestion. 6. The power of forming ideal creations should be carefully cultivated. 7. The mind should be gradually led from concrete to abstract ideas. * " Normal Method of Teaching," by Edward Brooks, is a valuable work in which these principles are elaborated and applied. 318 STUDY AND TEACHING. 8. A child should be gradually led from particular ideas to general ideas. 9. A youth should be taught to reason first inductively and then deductively. 10. A learner should be gradually led to attain clear concep- tions of intuitive ideas and truths. IV. Principles pertaining to the Order of PRESENTING TRUTH. (BROOKS.) 1. The second object of teaching is to impart knowledge. 2. Things should be taught before words. 3. Ideas should be taught before truths. 4. Particular ideas should be taught before general ideas. 5. Facts, or particular truths, should be taught before prin- ciples, or general truths. 6. In the physical sciences, causes should be taught before laws. 7. In the physical sciences, causes and laws should be taught before the scientific classification. 8. The elements of the inductive sciences should precede the deductive sciences. 9. The formal study of the deductive sciences should precede that of the inductive sciences. 10. The metaphysical sciences should be the last in a course of instruction. V. Principles pertaining to the Processes in Harmonious Teaching.* 1. Primary instruction should proceed from the known to the unknown. 2. Advanced instruction may sometimes proceed from the un- known to the known. 3. Primary instruction should be given in the concrete. 4. Advanced instruction should be more abstract. * James Johonnot, in " Principles and Practice of Teaching." Some of the principles are slightly modified. EDUCATION AND TEACHING. 319 5. Primary instruction should be synthetic and analytic, fi. Advanced instruction should be both analytic and syn- thetic. 7. Primary instruction should be inductive. 8. Advanced instruction should be inductive and deductive. 9. Primary instruction should proceed from the practical to the theoretical. 10. Advanced instruction should proceed from the theoretical to the practical. VI. Principles pertaining to Courses oe Study and Methods of Teaching. (Johonnot.) 1. All primary ideas of the material world must come through the senses. 2. The senses should be trained and made acute by systematic object-teaching. 3. Attention is best secured by proper and related object les- sons. 4. Perceptive knowledge should be made the basis of primary instruction. 5. Memory is best cultivated by forcible, repeated, and re- lated perceptions and ideas. 6. Subjects appealing mainly to the reason and judgment be- long to the advanced course of instruction. 7. Ideas should precede words. 8. Instruction should proceed from the known to the un- known. . 9. Exercise should be left to the pupil. 10. Each process of instruction should include full perception, distinct understanding, clear expression, and, where possible, the passing of thought into action. PAET VI. CLASS MANAGEMENT. CHAPTER I. — Principles relating to Class Management. II. — Lessons and Class "Work. III. — General Class Methods. IV. — Auxiliary Class Methods. V. — Questionable, Erroneous, and Antiquated Class Methods. VI. — Art of Questioning. VII. — Golden Hints to Teachers. PART SIXTH. CLASS MANAGEMENT. " A Class is a Number of Pupils of Similar Standing- and Attainments grouped for Common Work. Grouping multiplies the teacher's efficiency by- twenty, and utilizes those potent forces — sympathy, emu- lation, and competition." The problems relating to class management are of pro- foundest interest. For their solution the centuries have done much. Much may be learned of the masters, from Socrates down. But, with all the lights of the past, and all the helps of the present, each one, from necessity, must work out these problems for himself. The teacher is an artist, not an artisan. In what follows, the effort is to develop principles rather than rules, and to create better ideals rather than to teach specific methods. The teacher should be the master of methods, not the slave. His mind should mingle with that of the pupil, and he should breathe a new life into the soul of the learner. Do you think such a teacher will ever be found standing before his class, book in hand, trying to teach verbal defi- nitions and listening to verbatim recitations ? 324 CLASS MANAGEMENT. CHAPTER I. PRINCIPLES RELATING TO CLASS MANAGEMENT. I. The Interested Attention of all must be Se- cured. — The interested attention of each pupil during the entire recitation is the first condition of success in teaching. You may be able to solve the hardest problems and write the ablest books, but if you have not the power to secure and hold the attention of your pupils, you can not teach. ,11. Each Pupil must be held Responsible for each Answer. — Each question or topic should be dis- cussed silently by each member of the class. Any one who fails to object to an erroneous answer is held as agreeing with it. This principle individualizes the pupils, compels attention, fosters independent thought, and se- cures accuracy. It utterly discards all mere routine methods, so productive of inattention, listlessness, parrot answers, and dullness. III. The Pupil must Answer in his own Lan- guage. — Rarely should the pupil be permitted to answer in the language of the book or of the teacher. From the earliest stages* the pupil must be trained to translate every- thing into his own language. Only thus can we be cer- tain that the subject is understood. This principle will lead to true language-Culture and thorough scholarship. IV. The Teacher must never do for the Pupil what he can Manage to have him do for Himself. —Education results from self-exertion. Culture comes from well-directed personal effort. The best teacher helps his pupils the least, but manages to have them help themselves the most. PRINCIPLES RELATING TO CLASS MANAGEMENT. 325 V. All Assistance should be given during Bec- itation. — The entire time of the teacher is needed to conduct the recitations and manage the school ; there- fore it is better for the pupil to prepare the lesson un- aided. In class, the necessary assistance can he given to twenty as well as to one. All needed instruction can be given during the recitation, leaving the teacher free dur- ing rests and before and after school to look after the higher interests of the pupils. Few will question either the soundness or the importance of this principle. Only novices work the problems for their pupils. VI. Train the Pupil to be Honest, Indepen- dent, and Thorough. — All pretense should be dis- couraged. The pupil should be stimulated to indepen- dent effort, both in preparing and reciting, and should be encouraged to refuse assistance when at all able to achieve the victory for himself. This principle can hard- ly be made too emphatic. VII. The Pupil, not the Teacher, should do the Work. — The violation of this principle is a common but pernicious error of the profession. Leading ques- tions, such as involve the answer or hint words, finishing the answer when the pupil hesitates, repeating the an- swer after the pupil, solving all the difficulties as soon as they present themselves, are a few of the ways in which too many teachers defraud their pupils. The pupils, and not the teacher, should do the reciting. VIII. Manage to reach the Pupils individually during each Eecitation. — The certainty of being called upon is a most effectual stimulus to preparation. When- ever a class becomes so large that this principle can not be observed, it should be divided. The skillful, energetic teacher, in most subjects, can manage admirably a class 326 CLASS MANAGEMENT. not exceeding thirty, and will reach each one repeatedly during each recitation. IX. Oeal and "Wkitten Exercises should occupy about Equal Time. — With young pupils the oral must predominate. With all the advanced grades much writ- ten work is needed. The ability to give concise, clear, correct, and well-written answers is a desideratum. The wise teacher uses the blackboard almost constantly. Much written work may be brought to the recitation on slates or paper. Country schools too often neglect the written work ; hence the. common inability to write a creditable letter or business paper. X. System, Vigor, and Vivacity must charac- terize Class Management. — Only systematic effort produces desirable results. The utter want of system will account for the shamefully low products of so many schools. Then vigor and life are necessary in order to maintain an unflagging interest and elicit the best efforts of the pupils. XL The Hearts of both Teacher and Pupil must be in the Work. — The disregard of this principle is painfully prevalent. Failure is almost certain when either the teacher or the pupil has no heart for the work. Love of the work is a primary condition of success. CHAPTER II. LESSONS AND CLASS WORK. Educational results worked out by the thought and experience of educators are made to tell in the class. Guided by great principles, with well-defined objects in LESSONS AND CLASS WORK. 327 view, the teacher awakens thought, directs effort, concen- trates mental activity, and trains the pupil to achieve results. I. Objects of Class Woek. — The immediate con- tact of the minds of teacher and pupil, stimulating and training to systematic and persistent effort, the correction of faults, and the building up of right habits, are the general objects of class work. The following are some of the special objects : 1. To train the Pupil in the Art of Study. How to study is an art to be learned. That mother who said to the teacher, " Train my boy to prepare the lessons, and I will hear him recite them," displayed great wisdom. But she evidently did not know that a properly conducted recitation is the best means of training the pupil how to study, and also of stimulating him to prepare for the recitation. 2. Examination of Written WorJc prepared by Pupils. With young pupils this should never be neglected. Good work should be commended. 3. To test the Extent of the Pupil's Preparation. There can be no excuse for poor lessons. Thorough preparation must be secured at all hazards. The cer- tainty that the preparation will be thoroughly tested is a powerful incentive to study. The pupil's knowledge of the subject may be tested by topics, by questions, or by requiring a written outline. 4. To train to the Habit of Clear, Concise, and Con- nected Expression. Pupils should recite by topics as well as discuss the lesson. Merely answering questions is not enough. "Written answers and composition are admirable means of cultivating accurate and ready expression. 5. To arouse Interest, cultivate a Love of Study, and 328 CLASS MANAGEMENT. train to Investigate. This is vastly more important than the knowledge communicated or acquired. 6. To impart Information. The teacher supplements the text-book, and literally feeds the hungry minds of his pupils. 7. To direct the Work of the Pupils. When under intelligent direction the pupil accomplishes many times as much as when left to grope his way. 8. To lead the Pupil to apply the Things Learned. Mere isolated facts are almost worthless, yet much of the current teaching gives the pupil little more. The living teacher and class work are needed to lead the pupil to realize that all the sciences are one hierarchy, and to train him to classify and use the knowledge acquired. II. Length of Recitations. — The length of the reci- tation must depend on the character of the school and the age and advancement of the pupils. Short, lively recitations are better than long, dull ones. The attention can be secured and the interest maintained only for a limited time. To continue the recitation longer will prove an injury. The Limits. The widest experience in all countries has satis- fied educators that the best results are secured within the follow- ing limits : (1.) Primary school, from 10 to 20 minutes ; (2.) Gram- mar school, from 20 to 30 minutes ; (3.) High school, from 30 to 40 minutes ; (4.) College, from 40 to 60 minutes. In country schools no recitation should he less than ten nor more than thirty min- utes. No effort should be spared to secure sufficient time to make each recitation effective. III. Assigning Lessons. — Teachers often greatly err in the assignment of lessons . Age, capacity, and oppor- tunity are alike ignored. Regardless of the difficulties, so many pages are assigned. Figures can not express LESSONS AND CLASS WORK. 329 the evils resulting from this stupid practice. " Show me the lessons assigned, and I will tell you the merits of the teacher." To assign lessons judiciously requires unlim- ited care, sound judgment, and accurate knowledge. General directions may be given, but the art can only be acquired by experience. 1. The Lesson must he adapted to the Class. Not to the two or three bright pupils, or the two or three dull ones, but to the body of the class. Additional work, such as reports, may be given to the bright pupils, and only the minimum amount of work required of the dull ones. This elasticity enables the. teacher to do the best for each pupil, even in large classes. 2. Assign Pages as well as Subjects. The old school- master assigned pages, and the modern teacher assigns subjects ; but the coming teacher will assign definite les- sons in the text-books in connection with the subjects. The mere theorist would have you assign subjects only ; but the practical worker steadily assigns specific book work as well as subjects. 3. Assign Short Lessons. You can then count on thorough preparation. Besides, the pupil will have time for work outside of the book, and in class you will have time for instruction, drill, and review. The young physician gives strong medicines in large doses, but the old physician gives mild medicines in small doses. So it is with teachers. The inexperienced teacher will take a class through the Third Reader in a single quarter, while our best schools take two years for the same work. The object is not to rush " through the book," but to develop all the powers of the soul. The acqui- sition of valuable knowledge is both a means and a result. 4. In assigning the Lesson, teach the Pupils how to Prepare it. With young pupils this is peculiarly impor- 330 CLASS MANAGEMENT. tant. While the work must be directed by the teacher, his great duty is to initiate the pupils into the ways of doing it for themselves. A little time spent in giving the necessary instruction will create interest, incite to cheerful study, and secure successful preparation. IV. Tkeatment op the Ukpkepaeed. 1. Encourage Always. Heartily approve good work, and show the failing ones that they too may succeed. Nothing should be done to discourage the pupil. He can and will try. 2- Ascertain the Cause of Failure. You can then judiciously seek a remedy. In school management wc have no specifics. Each case needs special treatment, and all general directions are merely suggestive. 3. Have Pupils understand that you expect Good Les- sons. This is a powerful motive to most pupils. They grieve to see your look of disappointment when they fail, but they are made happy by your approving smile when they succeed. 4. Impress the Importance of Diligent Study. Each one works for himself, not for the teacher or the parent. Good lessons are the beginning of success in life. Fail- ure is a serious matter to the pupil, the parent, the school, and the world. 5. In Chronic Cases of Failure, the Pupil must be made to feel the Loss. This can be done in various ways : (1.) By commending diligent pupils. The shortcomings of the negligent are thus placed in sharp contrast. (2.) By excusing from class. The recitation is the privilege of the diligent, and the unprepared forfeit this privilege. (3.) By reducing to a lower class. Such pupils must not he permitted to become an incubus to their fellows. (4.) By excusing from school. After every pos- sible expedient has failed, it is better to let the pupil rest a term or two. GENERAL CLAN'S METHODS. 331 Never force Pupils to Study. Detaining or whipping pupils to make them study is a relic of ancient barbarism. General- ly the teacher rather than the pupil deserves the punishment. Do you adapt the matter and the method to the capacity of the pupil? Do you infuse life and energy into everything? Do you manage to have each pupil feel the pleasure of achievement? Do you make study more interesting than play? If you do not, can you afford to punish pupils for not studying ? All the powers of the soul develop when study is a real joy. Glad activity is the great secret in education. Use Force to overcome Bad Habits. The idle, the negligent, the careless, the stupid, and the wayward must be reached. Punish- ment in some form is a necessity; only let it be made plain that the pupil is punished for idleness and disobedience. I have no sympathy with wishy-washy management. Some things must be done. The pupil must study. Force must be used if necessary to overcome bad habits. Secure earnest study by wise manage- ment. CHAPTER III. GENERAL CLASS METHODS. Glass Work stimulates and directs Effort. The fruitful mind of the teacher broods over the struggling mind of the pupil — arousing, guiding, instructing. The learner is trained to wrest the secrets from nature and books. Mental power is developed and right habits are formed. This is teaching. Glass Methods vary as Subjects and Teachers vary. The method is determined by the subject, the class, and the teacher. The end to be reached is culture by means of mastering subjects. The safe rule is to employ such 332 CLASS MANAGEMENT. methods as will best enable you to effect the desired re- sults. General Class Methods are used in all subjects, and are common to all good teaching. Founded in educa- tional principles, they are essentials in the art of teach- ing. Such are the Socratic, the Topic and Question, the Discussion, and the Conversation methods. The Lec- ture method has some claims to recognition under this head. 1. The Socratic Method. — 1. Definition. By skill- ful questioning the pupil is led to discover truth for him- self. Subjects are examined from the standpoint of the learner. The teacher stimulates and directs, but never crams. Pupils are encouraged to present their own thoughts. If correct, the teacher deepens and widens these views by suggestive illustrations ; if incorrect, the absurdity is shown by leading the pupils to discover the legitimate consequences. Thus the burden of observa- tion and research is thrown upon the learner, who, at every step, feels the joy of discovery and the conscious pleasure of assisting the teacher. Such teaching results in development, growth, education. 2. Illustrations. The following free translation of a conversa- tion between Socrates and one of his pupils is a good example of the Socratic method : Meno. " Socrates, we come to you feeling strong and wise ; we leave you feeling helpless and ignorant. Why is this ? " Socrates. "I will show you." Calling a young Greek, and making a line in the sand, he proceeded : " Boy, how long is this line?" Boy. " It is a foot long, sir." Socrates. " How long is this line? " Boy. " It is two feet long, sir." GENERAL CLASS METHODS. 333 Socrates. "How much larger would be the square constructed on the second line than on the first line ? " Boy. " It would be twice as large, sir." Under the direction of the boy, Socrates constructs the two squares. Socrates. " How much larger than the first did you say the second square would be? " Boy. "I said it would be twice as large." Socrates. " But how much larger is it? " Boy. " It is four times as large." Socrates. "Thank you, my boy; you may go. — Meno, that boy came to me full of confidence, thinking himself wise. I told him nothing. By a few simple questions I led him to see his error and discover the truth. Though really wiser, he goes away feeling humbled." The above is an object lesson. To illustrate the Socratic meth- od of teaching abstract truths, another example is given : A Model Lesson. "Socrates would convince Alcibiades, in opposition to materialistic views, that the mind is the man. He abstains from laying this down as a proposition to be proved, and offers no connected argument. He begins by asking whether he who uses a thing and the thing used are not altogether differ- ent; and then, Alcibiades being reluctant to answer positively, he asks again more specifically. " Socrates. A currier, does he not use a cutting-knife ? is he not different from the instrument he uses? " Alcibiades. Most certainly. " S. In like manner the lyrist, is he not different from the in- strument he plays on ? "A. Undoubtedly. " S. This, then, was what I asked you just now. Does not he who uses a thing seem to you always different from the thing used? " A. Very different. " S. But the currier, does he cut with the instrument alone, or also with his hands? 334 CLASS MANAGEMENT. " A. Also with his hands. " S. He, then, uses his hands ? U A. Yes. " S. We are agreed, then, that he that uses a thing and the thing used are different ? " A. We are. " S. And in this work he use3 also his eyes? " A. Tes. U S. The currier and lyrist are, therefore, different from the hands and eyes with which they work ? "A. So it seems. " S. Now, then, does not a man use his whole body? "A. Unquestionably. " S. But we are agreed that he that uses and that which is used are different. "A. Yes. " S. A man is, therefore, different from his body ? " A. So I think. " S. What then is the man ? " A. I can not say. " S. You can say at least that the man is that which use3 the body? "A. True. " S. Now, then, does anything use the body but the mind? 11 A. Nothing. " S. The mind is therefore the man? — A. The mind alone. 1 " 3. Use of the Socratic Method. Though older than Socrates, this method is modern ; it is, in a high sense, the method of Pestalozzi and the new education. Its special use is in giving original instruction. In primary work the Socratic is the dominant method. In all grades of school work it holds a prominent place. The teacher is an instructor, and teaching is presenting a subject or object of thought to the mind in such a manner as to lead it to think., to reason, or to gain knowledge. GENERAL CLASS METHODS. 335 4. Advantages. Pupils discover truth, for themselves, solve their own problems, master their own difficulties, and become courageous and strong. Impressions made are lasting ; the knowledge thus acquired can be used. Mere school-keepers, rote-teachers, quacks, shams, and fossils will never adopt this plan of teaching ; but, as teachers become familiar with the science of education, and skilled in the art of teaching, they will necessarily use the Socratic method in giving original instruction. Questioning is better than telling. II. The Topic and Question Method. — 1. Defini- tion. The subject is examined by topics, and acquisi- tion tested by questions. Pupils are trained to tell con- nectedly their own thoughts in their own language. Pointed questions are interjected at every step to hold the attention of the class, direct effort, and test thoroughness. 2. Use. This method is made* the basis in class work. Other methods supplement this. The teacher, whenever necessary, asks sharp questions. Each member of the class is held responsible for all the work. Thus the close attention of each one is secured, and shallowness and pretense are exposed. 3. Danger. Class work may degenerate into mere re- citing, and teaching may be excluded. Exclusive topic work is fatal to vigor and thoroughness. The topic method needs to be used sparingly in primary teaching. Lazy teachers find the topic method an admirable means of shirking work. They hear the recitations . 4. Advantages. Subjects are examined systematically, and pupils learn the art of consecutive discourse. When judiciously used and constantly supplemented by other methods, the topic method may rightly be made the basis of class work. 336 CLASS MANAGEMENT. III. The Discussion Method. — 1. Definition. In short and pointed speeches the pupils define and main- tain their positions. Objections are urged and answered. Pupils learn to yield gracefully when convinced. The teacher directs the discussion, and closes it at the right moment. 2. Use. Discussion elicits intense interest, calls forth the best efforts of pupils, and leads to accuracy and clear- ness. In some form, and to some extent, this method may be used in all schools. 3. Dangers. Time may be squandered in desultory talk ; the disposition to dispute rather than investigate may be fostered ; and feelings may be wounded by sharp retorts and personal allusious. The wise teacher will guard against these evils, and will use the discussion method sparingly and wisely. 4. Advantages. 'The discussion method tends to de- velop vigorous thought and independent expression. As iron sharpens iron, so discussion sharpens mind. Edu- cationally, the discussion method stands very high. In these mental conflicts the utmost power of the pupil is put forth. He acquires cogency of thought and vigor of expression. He learns to respect the positions of others, and at the same time manfully maintain his own. There is no better way to cultivate independence, self- assertion, liberality, and the habit of treating an opponent courteously and fairly. The discussion method supple- ments the Socratic and the topic methods. It tends to break up monotony, to dissipate insipidness and stupidity, and to bring into contempt all sophistry and shallow pre- tense. From the primary school to the university, this method may he used with incalculable advantage. Let the discussion method GEXERAL CLASS METHODS. 337 predominate in our schools and colleges, and teachers will cease to he called narrow, bigoted, tyrannical. Wide culture and a clear head will be found necessary in order to decide points, direct discussions, give information, and sustain the interest. Mere school -keepers do not dare to permit discussions ; many a college professor would lose his position within a month. But competent educators who use this method will grow with the work, and, like their pupils, become courteous ladies and gentlemen, as well as independent and powerful thinkers. Give us less cramming, less artificial training, and more rugged development. The great want of our schools is growth. The world needs oaks, not wil- lows. The discussion method is preeminently the method to malce men. IV. The Conversation Method. — 1. Definition. The teacher presents his views, and leads the members of the class to do the same. The style is conversational. Each one is free to ask and answer questions. The teacher should be well prepared, and should work for re- sults. This was the method of the Great Teacher. The perfect model lessons may be studied as reported by Matthew and Luke. 2. Use. This method supplements the Socratic in giving original instruction, and is especially suited for the oral work in all schools. Professional instruction, for the most part, is given by this method in normal schools and normal institutes. Many instructors in theological, med- ical, law, and technical schools use it to great advantage. 3. Dangers. Teachers may become loquacious ; pupils may ask silly questions ; or side issues may absorb the time. The teacher needs to be full of the theme, and his few remarks should be full of information and pith. The pupils need to be so impressed that no one will dare to trifle. 4. Advantages. The teacher seems to merely lead in 15 338 CLASS MANAGEMENT. the investigation, and his remarks seem to be sponta- neous. The pupils feel that they are doing the work, and each one realizes the pleasure of original discovery. This is true teaching, and the result is real education. 5. Illustration. The following conversation between an insti- tute instructor and the teacher-pupils admirably serves our pur- pose: Question. Why should we teach ? Answer. That others may gain knowledge. Q. Why should others gain knowledge ? A. That they may have a wider means of enjoyment and use- fulness. Q. In order to enjoy their knowledge, what must children do with it? A. They must use it. Q. In order to use their knowledge, what must they do ? A. They must think. Q. Why have the children as well as the teacher to think ? A. In order that their knowledge may do them greater good. Q. Why not let the teacher do all the thinking? A. It would not improve the children. Q. What must be used in thinking ? A. The mind. Q. What does every child's mind possess ? A. Certain faculties. Q. What are faculties of the mind ? A. Powers which the mind possesses to do certain things. Q. In order that children may use these faculties — may think — what must be done with the faculties ? A. They must be cultivated. The children must be led to use them. Q. How may this be done ? A. By teaching object lessons ; thus taking the children to Nature — the source of knowledge — and allowing them to com- pare, reason, and generalize for themselves. Then let them ex- press in their language the results of their investigations, being GENERAL CLASS METHODS. 339 careful to have their expressions accurate. This kind of work makes the children independent. V. The Lectuke Method. — 1. Definition. The teacher clearly, tersely, and systematically presents the subject; the learner listens intently, firmly fixes in his memory the leading points, and at his leisure ponders and digests the lecture. The lecturer outlines the subjects, suggests the fields of re- search, indicates the line of thought, gives much information, and stimulates to effort. If the students, by long and earnest study, make the lecture their own, great good results. But nowhere in this country has the strictly lecture method given entire satisfac- tion. Even in colleges and universities, in order to render it efficient, it has been found necessary to have oral examinations every two or three days, and written examinations as often as once a month. The lecture method is utterly out of place in elementary schools. "Wherever tried, it proves an ignominious failure. Even in our colleges it often becomes a training process for inattention, listlessness, mischief, and dissipation. If the teacher is full of the subject and possessed of power, these evils need not follow. Success depends upon the instructor, the class of students, and the subject treated. " Class teaching is a device to economize time and labor, and to utilize the forces which are found inseparable from group ; but it does not sink the individual in the group. Each must be a3 well cared for as though the instruction was to him alone. This is often overlooked. The class is addressed as a whole, and if there is a fair amount of attention the teacher is satisfied, which is a fatal mistake. The class must not be dealt with as a com- pound, but as made up of individuals. It must be dealt with as a skillful gardener deals with his garden, where each plant has the culture it needs, to the manifest advantage of the whole." (" Class Teaching.' 1 ) 340 CLASS MANAGEMENT. Topical Keview. — General Class Methods. Introduction. 1. Class work should stimulate and direct effort. 2. Class methods vary with the teacher, the subject, and the class. The Socratic method. 1. Definition. By skillful questioning, the pupil is led to discover truth. 2. Illustrations. Socrates and Mcno ; Socrates and Alcibiadcs. 3. Use. In giving original instruction and in exposing error. J).. Advantages. Questioning is better than telling. Pupils dis- cover. The topic and question method. 1. Definition. The subject is examined by topics, and acquisition is tested by questions. 2. Use. This method is made the basis in class work. 3. Danger. Class work may degenerate into mere recitation. Ij.. Advantages. Subjects are examined systematically. Pupils ac- quire the art of connected discourse. The discussion method. 1. Definition. The pupils define and prove their positions. 2. Use. Discussion calls forth the best efforts of the pupils. 3. Danger. It may foster disputation rather than investigation. 4. Advantage. It develops vigorous thought and self-assertion. The conversation method. 1. Definition. Facts and views are stated and questions are asked and ansivered by pupils and teacher. 2. Use. To stimulate and direct original investigation. 3. Danger. Time may be wasted in mere talking. 4. Advantage. The pupils feel that they are doing the work. The lecture method* 1. Definition. The teacher clearly, tersely, and systematically pre- sents the subject. 2. Use. For advanced work. 3. Abuse. Its use in the lower schools. 4. Advantage. It inspires and directs effort. AUXILIARY CLASS METHODS. 341 CHAPTER IV. AUXILIARY CLASS METHODS. The general class methods cover all the ground, and are the methods used by efficient instructors. Besides these, the skillful teacher calls to his aid various expedi- ents which we may call auxiliary methods. Of approved auxiliary methods, we call attention to the following : I. The Writing Method. — Whatever plan may be pursued, much written work should be required. The board, the slate, and the paper are important educational aids, and should be fully utilized. The insipid and over-sensitive teacher, who shrinks from a little crayon dust and the life and hum of vigorous class work, should be speedily promoted. The class-room is no place for the nervous, the fussy, or the invalid. To awaken interest and direct the energies of youth, requires enthusiasm, power, energy, work. The means for written work should always be at com- mand. From the primary school to the college, much class work should be written work. The teacher who ig- nores the writing method needs to learn the ways of edu- cation more perfectly. II. The Outline Method. — After a subject has been mastered in detail, it is reviewed in outline. The outline aids memory and enables the learner to grasp the subject as a whole. It leads to the mastery of essen- tials and the omission of burdensome details. President Brown asks and answers the vital question : " Do we not teach too much? I do not mean that our courses of study are too extensive ; but do we not teach too much of any one subject? We give the mass without the thought, the essence. 342 CLASS MANAGEMENT. We solve problem after problem, we commit definition after defi- nition, we parse word after word, we translate sentence after sen- tence, and do not realize that there is any relation the one with the other. It seems to me, that if we would learn principles sys- tematically rather than so much, we would have more knowledge at our command. If we could see the thought as developed in any subject, just as we should and must see the thought in reading — and not only see the thought in one subject, but be able to follow it through every branch — then our knowledge would be system- atic." The outline method, when wisely used, tends to secure the results referred to above. Caution. Avoid mere outline work. Your pupils will starve if fed on skeletons. To begin with diagrams, to teach from diagrams, and to depend upon diagrams, are fundamental educational errors. The Place of Outlines. — Subjects are first presented syn- thetically, then analytically. We begin with the concrete and work up to classes, definitions, rules, principles. We begin with par- ticulars and work up to diagrams. Modern text-books rightly place the outline at the close of the subject. III. The Reporting Method. — One or two mem- bers of the class are appointed to report on specific topics connected with the lesson, or previous lessons. The teacher will see that these reports are brief, well pre- pared, and well presented. The reports occupy a small part of the recitation. They should be neither too long nor too frequent, nor must they supplant the regular work. They furnish extra work for bright pupils, and tend to relieve inequalities in classification. These re- ports serve well for review, but the chief advantage is in training pupils to work up subjects and present the re- sults of research. AUXILIARY CLASS METHODS. 343 IV. The Becipeocal Method. — The class is divided into groups of two or more each, and these in turn act as pupil and teacher. For large classes, this is a valuable artifice, as it greatly multiplies individual work. In nor- mal work, it is found to be admirable for practice teach- ing. The wide-awake teacher may use the reciprocal method sparingly, but must never rely upon it. Nothing can take the place of individual teaching. V. The Conceet Method. — The members of a sec- tion or of the entire class answer together. To overcome timidity, to quicken the interest, or to fix a fact, this method may be used sparingly. With young pupils, about one fourth of the recitation may be conducted in this way. But, as the pupils advance, it will be used less and less. In some subjects concert work affords a valu- able drill. It may be advantageously used to a limited extent in all classes, but especially in oral work. Danger. The exclusive concert method is a sure cure for study. Concert teaching is showy but shallow, and is favored by "fuss and feather" teachers. The honest teacher will use the concert method sparingly. Other approved class methods are omitted, as there is danger of perplexing the young teacher. The orator, -while speaking, never thinks of the principles of elocution, or the intonation of his voice. The artist seems inspired, hut hard work is the source of the inspiration. "While teaching, the educational artist seldom thinks of principles or methods. Having mastered hoth, he intui- tively pursues the method hest suited to his purpose at the time. He is the master of all methods, but the slave of none. 344 CLASS MANAGEMENT. CHAPTER V. QUESTIONABLE, ERRONEOUS, AND ANTIQUATED CLASS METHODS. I. Questionable Class Methods. — Some methods not wholly bad are modestly classed as questionable. "We strongly advise against such methods. Use only sound methods. 1. Turning Doivn is wrong in principle and unsatis- factory in practice. This method lingers in remote dis- tricts, but is rarely used in good schools ; in fact, it de- serves to be classed with antiquated methods. True emu- lation must be secured by other and better means. 2. Daily Marking is a relic of the old education, and is an incubus and a mistake. Unphilosophical, it tends to mislead teacher and pupil. It wastes precious time and gives no equivalent. As a rule, pupils should not be marked oftener than once in two weeks. To this rule there are exceptions. No marking is the other extreme. 3. The Exclusive Question and Answer Method is more than questionable ; it is pernicious. The teacher ceases to be an instructor, and becomes a mere interroga- tion point. The children are kept in leading-strings and literally starved. Text-books constructed on this method should be consigned to the moles and bats. Any teacher suspected of this method should be court-martialed, and, if found guilty, should be at once dismissed from the ser- vice. In a past age school-keepers were permitted to ask questions from the boofc, and pupils were required to an- swer in the language of the book. The modern teacher closes the book and constructs his own questions, instruct- ing as well as questioning. In the modern school, the ERRONEOUS CLASS METHODS. 345 learner studies the subject and constructs his own an- swers. 4. Any Exclusive Method is Bad. A violin with a single string, a piano with but one key, and a teacher with but one method, are an unmusical trio. Like the musician, the teacher should command the entire key- board of his art. The slave of a method should be eman- cipated before he is permitted to enter the school-room. II. Erroneous Class Methods. — Their name is legion. To this category belong all methods that violate well-established educational principles. 1. The Parrot Method. The pupil commits the les- son, and recites it verbatim. Pursuing this method, the Chinese have made no progress in twenty centuries. This, the worst of all methods, is a favorite with mere school- keepers. 2. The Cramming Method. Thorough digestion is as essential to mental as to physical growth. Cramming is fatal to digestion. Child-mind assimilates knowledge slowly. Mental food requires to be adapted to the capa- city of the learner, both as to quantity and quality. Per- fect digestion promotes growth, and gives us strong men arid women ; cramming produces mental dyspepsia, and gives us learned weaklings. 3. The Drifting Method. System conditions efficiency. The teacher who meets his class without a plan must fail. Well may men and angels weep to see the vast herds of drifting teachers. Without chart or compass, they are blown hither and thither by every breeze of fancy or wind of caprice. Unfortunate pupils ! The true teacher ma- tures well his plans, and works to them. III. Antiquated Class Methods. — Pod augers, wooden mold-board plows, old washing machines, and 346 CLASS MANAGEMENT. antiquated class methods will doubtless receive due at- tention in the "curiosity shop" of the coming Dickens. We can only give samples. 1. The One-at-a-Time Method. The old schoolmaster tried to hear his pupils one at a time, thus squandering nine tenths of his time. Classification has increased the teacher's power twenty fold. 2. The Consecutive Method. The old schoolmaster, at a later period, called on his pupils in regular order. He was sometimes called "Old Next," because, when a word was misspelled, or a question missed, he would shout, "Next ! next ! next !" This method was found to be a sure cure for attention. 3. The Machine Method. The old schoolmaster asked the questions in the book, and assigned the next lesson. Sometimes he made the class take the lesson oyer. A machine that could ask questions would serve about the same purpose. 4. The Ciphering Method. The pupils "ciphered," and the old schoolmaster worked the "sums" for them. The big boys would cipher all day, and would take the hard "sums" to the master, who would often work hours on a single "sum." Conditions of Peogeess. — Most of the erroneous and anti- quated methods referred to in this chapter were in common use within the memory of persons still living. Their disappearance and the substitution of better methods are striking evidences of educational progress. That we may continue to make steady and rapid progress, we must act in accordance with well-defined principles. 1. The Achievements of one Educator or one People must bo made common property. 2. Bad Methods, like Poisons, should be Labeled. Teacher-life is short and child-life is precious. Unnecessary experimenting is ART OF QUESTIONING. 347 criminal. When theory and experience determine a method to be bad, let it be laid aside for ever. Methods approved by tho thought and experience of the race are safe. 3. The Teacher must keep himself en Rapport with the Edu- cators and Educational Movements of the World. Educational associations, teachers 1 institutes, school visitation, educational journals, and educational books furnish ample means. The art of teaching is based on the science of education. In view of the infinite interests involved, how profoundly we ought to study tho immortal being committed to our guidance! "We ought to mas- ter the laws of human development, and become familiar with the means of human culture. "We should make our own the achieve- ments of the educational world. Then will we be able with cer- tainty to apply educational means to educational ends, in accord- ance with educational principles. Then will our methods be necessarily good, because founded in law. Then will we be able to produce results of which the mass of our teachers, even now, scarcely dream. CHAPTER VI. AET OF QUESTIONING, I. Principles underlying the Art of Questioning. 1. Questions must be adapted to the Capacity of the Pupil. (1.) "What is it ?— For children. (2.) How is it ?— For boys and girls. (3.) Why is it?— For youth. (4.) Whence is it? — For manhood. The matter, manner, and form of questioning should be adapted to the age and development of the learner, and to the nature of the subject. * This subject is fully discussed in the "Art of Teaching." The out- line is given here to show the bearing of the art of questioning on school management. The productions of several authors have been freely used in this outline, but chiefly those of James EL Hoose. 348 CLASS MANAGEMENT. Three stages of development should be recognized : early childhood, youth, and beginning maturity. Teaching questions, especially, should conform to the obvious laws of mental suggestion and association. 2. Questioning is Better than Telling. (1.) The learner is led to discover for himself. (2.) The learner is trained to do independent work. (3.) The learner is incited to greater mental activity. 3. Questioning is a great Mental Force. (1.) It directs effort. (2.) It awakens thought and stimulates activity. (3.) It leads to close observation. (4.) It trains the pupil to analyze and synthetize. 4. Questions should follow Each Other in a Logical Order. (1.) The questioner must have a well-defined object in view. (2.) The question must logically lead to its evolution. 5. Questioning carried too far is Injurious. (1.) It confuses and bewilders. (2.) It fosters a dependence on the questions. II. General Statements pertaining to the Art of Questioning. 1. Questioning implies two Parties: (1.) The teacher, who understands, and is prepared to assist the learner ; (2.) The learner, who does not understand, and who needs assistance. 2. The Efficient Instructor is Master of the Art of Questioning. (1.) He constructs his own questions. (2.) He adapts his questions to the learner and to the subject. 3. As to Subject Matter the Question is : (1.) What is this or that ? or, (2.) How is this or that ? or, (3.) Why is this or that thus or so ? or, (4.) Whence is this or that? ART OF QUESTIONING. 349 4. The Teacher must Remember that the Pupil gains a Knowl- edge — (1.) Of the objective world by sense perception ; (2.) Of the subjective world by conscious perception ; (3.) Of the relation world by thought and imagination ; (4.) And tbat all knowledge is reproduced by a well- trained memory. 5. Wlien the Learner is unable to Advance he may with Pro- priety aslcfor Aid. The prerequisites on the part of the teacher for profitable questioning are a thorough knowledge of a subject and its relations ; a clear concep- tion of the important points of a subject, and of its difficulties ; some knowledge of the general laws of mental action, and of the special laws of suggestion and association ; and a knowledge of the condition and peculiarities of the learners. III. Objects of Questioning. 1. To properly direct the efforts of the learner. 2. To incite the pupil to think for himself. 3. To lead the pupil to discover truth for himself. 4. To arouse the dull and startle the inattentive. 5. To bring out the important details of the subject. 6. To test correctness and to correct errors. IV. Questioning- in Class Management. 1. In general the question should be propounded to the entire class. 2. Give a moment for each one to think and raise hand. 3. Call on any one in the class for a part or all of the answer. 4. Each member of the class must be held responsible for each answer. 5. The instructor should listen attentively and patiently to each answer. V. Questions fob Written Examinations. 1. Give questions involving principles and the application of principles. 350 CLASS MANAGEMENT. 2. Give questions requiring definite answers. 3. Give questions involving the pupil's general knowledge of the subject. 4. Avoid technical questions and puzzles. 5. Be liberal and just in marking the answers. VI. Objectionable Questions. 1. Leading questions. " The world is round, is it not? Yes." 2. Questions that indicate the answer. " Did Columbus dis- cover America? " 3. Questions of the alternate form. ''Is the world round or square? " 4. Questions that quote part of the answer. " Arithmetic is the science of what? " 5. Questions that suggest the answer: (1.) By language; (2.) By emphasis; (3.) By inflection; or (4.) By the expres- sion. VII. Questions to be Avoided. 1. Avoid questions that include too much. 2. Avoid pointless or silly questions. 3. Avoid " Mil-time " questions. 4. Avoid pert questions, merely designed to display your sharpness. 5. Avoid pedantic questions, merely designed to display your learning. 6. Avoid all haphazard questions. All questions should be clear and definite, both in thought and lan- guage. Teaching questions may be suggestive ; testing questions should neither involve nor suggest the answer. Teaching questions should be put slowly ; examination questions may, on many subjects, be put rapidly. Teaching questions may be answered by a class collectively ; testing questions should usually be answered by individuals. VIII. Answers. — The answer should be — (1.) To the poiut ; (2.) Clear; (3.) Direct; (4.) Concise; (5.) Definite; (6.) Complete; and (V.) Original. GOLDEN HINTS TO TEACHERS. 351 CHAPTER VII. GOLDEN HINTS TO TEACHERS. I. The Seven Laws of Teaching. (President Gregory.) 1. Know thoroughly and familiarly whatever you would teach. 2. Gain and keep the attention of your pupils, and excite their interest in the subject. 3. Use language which your pupils fully understand, and clear- ly explain every new word required. 4. Begin with what is already known, and proceed to the un- known by easy and natural steps. 5. Excite the self-activities of the pupils, and lead them to discover the truth for themselves. 6. Require pupils to re-state, fully and correctly, in their own language, and with their own proofs and illustrations, the truth taught them. 7. Review, review, review, carefully, thoroughly, repeatedly, with fresh consideration and thought. These laws underlie and control all successful teaching. Nothing need be added to them ; nothing can be safely taken away. No one who will thoroughly master and use them need fail as a teacher, provided he will also maintain the good order which is required to give free and un disturbed action to these laws. II. Preparation of Lessons. (President Greg- ory.) 1. Prepare each lesson by fresh study. Last year's knowledge Las necessarily faded somewhat. Only fresh conceptions warm and inspire us. 2. Find in the lesson its analogies and likenesses. In these lie the illustrations by which it can be made to reveal itself to others. 3. Find the natural order and connection of the different facts 352 CLASS MANAGEMENT. and truths of the lesson. A jumbled mass of materials does not make a building, nor does a jumble of disjointed facts make up a science. 4. Seek for the relations of the lesson to other lessons already learned, and to the life and duty of the learners. The vital force of truth lies in its relations. It is the passage of the electric fire along the distant connected wires which makes the telegraphic apparatus important. 5. Use freely all aids to gain the truth, hut never pause till the truth gained has been thoroughly digested in your own mind, and its full meaning and importance have arisen upon you as a vision seen by your own eyes. 6. Study the lesson till its truths and facts take shape in easy and familiar language. The final proof and product of clear thought is clear speech. III. Peactical Kules to be Taught to Pupils. 1. Stand or sit erect. Stand while reciting. 2. At signals, move promptly, quickly, and quietly. 3. Give your entire attention during the whole recitation. 4. Be courteous to your teacher and fellow pupils. 5. Answer in your own words. 6. Answer in complete sentences. 7. Eaise your hand when you (a) can answer the question ; (5) disagree with an answer; (c) wish to criticise; (d) wish to ask a question. 8. Never speak without permission. 9. Speak in a medium tone. Speak distinctly and energeti- cally. 10. Never prompt. Be honest and independent. IV. Conditions of Success. (Prof. B. S. Potter.) 1. Earnestness from a deep interest in the work. 2. Knowledge from actual experience. 3. Aptitude to teach, enforced by a mastery of the art of teaching. 4. System both in teaching and managing. GOLDEN HINTS TO TEACHERS. 353 5. Ability to detect and correct one's own failures. 6. Hard work from a thirst for knowledge and a love of teach- ing. V. Seckets of Success. (Prof. W. P. Nason.) 1. The teacher must be able to seize and impress the princi- pal points in the lesson. 2. The teacher must hold the interested attention of the class till all have mastered the point under consideration. 3. Difficult and important points must be frequently reviewed. 4. Each member of the class must be kept interested and busy. 5. General class drill should constitute a part of the recitation. 6. "Work, and manage to have your pupils work, with enthusi- asm and energy. 7. Talk to the point, talk well, but avoid too much talking. VI. A Model School. ("Visitor.") 1. Principles. (1.) Each study was divided into subjects in their natural order ; each subject into its logical division ; each division into the steps of its development ; each step into lesson- steps ; each lesson-step into lessons, each containing but one new idea, and so simple that the teacher could give all the necessary illustrations and instruction. (2.) In the primary and intermediate classes no facts or prin- ciples were given to commit to memory as a tasTc; memory sim- ply recorded the use, in a variety of exercises which directly or indirectly referred to the senses. (3.) Every lesson was thoroughly understood and applied be- fore the next was presented to the attention. (4.) No time was wasted in trying to illustrate or explain what the pupils, on aocount of age or lack of experience, were unable to understand. (5.) In advanced classes the principles of generalization were deduced from primary and intermediate practice. 2. Practice. (1.) Close classification, in which pupils of the same degree of advancement only were placed in the same class. (2.) The lessons were given in a brief, pointed, and methodical 354 CLASS MANAGEMENT. manner, with no extra words to obscure the sense. In every case, when possible, the pupils repeated the illustration of the teacher with the objects in their own hands. (3.) The text-book was used in class to furnish exercises for a review rather than as a manual of instruction. (4.) No lesson was recited that the preparation did not in some way exercise the judgment in discriminating and comparing, culti- vate neatness and taste in penmanship, and correctness of orthog- raphy or punctuation, or require skill in the logical order of ar- rangement on the slate or blackboard. (5.) In recitation the teacher had nothing to say by way of assistance. Pupils were required to ask questions as often as to answer them. (6.) Short and prompt recitations, the time being from ten to thirty minutes. (7.) Nearly double the usual time was given to the primary and intermediate grades ; consequently not so much time was re- quired in the advanced grades to make the same progress. 3. Results. As a result of the above system, habits of per- sonal industry in the school-room were secured in a remarkable degree. No special system of discipline was required ; the pupils apparently had no time for mischief. Every recitation was an eminent success or a positive failure ; no blundering, no helping, no make-believe. Self-confidence was based upon actual ability and not upon self-concession. VII. Effects of Method. (J. W. Eichardson.) There is a prevailing opinion existing in the minds of a certain class of educators, that methods are of little importance. Many go further than this, and believe that to make our acts conform to a method is to give them a mechanical character, which de- prives them of all appearance of being the products either of ge- nius or of a free intelligence. Such opinions are especially mischievous in our educational affairs, as they encourage educators to think little of the philoso- phy of education, or of those general principles on which alone can be founded either a true science or art of teaching. Every GOLDEN HINTS TO TEACHERS. 355 intelligent act implies a knowledge of its end from its beginning. All ends produced by human agency are produced by tbe use of some means. Success in attaining ends depends on two tbings — on tbe use of tbe rigbt means, and on using tbem in tbe right way. Tbe way of using means, or of performing our acts, is called method. Those who have no definite methods to use have no definite ends to obtain. But all teaching worthy of the name has its known ends to accomplish. Teaching occasions knowledge, development, and method. Whenever tbe mind exerts its power in a rigbt manner upon ap- propriate objects of thought, it becomes conscious of two results. One result is the possession of new knowledge; tbe other is an increased facility in the exercise of the powers by whose activity knowledge is acquired. Tbe facility is mental training. The fac- ulties are trained by their rigbt use in doing what they would ac- quire the power of doing. . . . The third result produced by a method of teaching is found in the method of thinking or study it communicates. Not much knowledge or mental discipline can be obtained by the longest courses of study now taught in our schools ; but a good method of teaching will always present a good plan of study, and occasion that discipline of mind which will en- able it to use tbe plan in the further pursuit of knowledge after the pupil has left his school. "Teachers have their individuality, which shows itself in greater or less degrees in their school-room practice, while apply- ing philosophical methods of teaching. This individuality is ex- hibited in the way that one teacher illustrates a point differently from another; in the way be speaks; in tbe way he looks; in the way he thinks, it may be ; in the way in which his questions are conceived ; in the impromptu expedients which he devises ; in what in general is called 'his way of doing things.' This individ- uality of the teacher is known as manner. Misapprehension of tbe true province of scientific methods of teaching has led many to apply the term to any peculiar experiment or expedient which may be selected, which things are, in fact, but examples of man- ner.' 1 (James H. Hoose, " Methods of Teaching.") PART VII. EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUA- TION. CHAPTER I.— School Examinations. II. — Masking Gkades. III. — School Records and Repobts. IV. — Geaduating System foe Elementaey Schools. PART SEVENTH. EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. Examinations, records, promotions, reports, and graduation are important factors in school management. Enthusiasts chafe, and visionaries theorize, but the philo- sophic educator finds these expedients as valuable as they are necessary. Machinery implies friction, and without machinery achievement is impossible. The time has come, however, for a calm and critical reexamination of the entire subject. Many abuses and some hideous practices must be corrected ; the drudgery must be reduced to the minimum ; teachers must be trained to subordinate ma- chinery to culture ; but all attempts of well-meaning sentimentalists to pooh-pooh necessary agencies out of school work will prove harmless. CHAPTER I. SCHOOL EXAMINATION'S. A school examination is a good servant, but a bad master. When rightly managed, good results are ob- 360 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. tained ; when unwisely managed, it becomes a cruel in- strument of torture. Unwise management, abuses, and extremes have created prejudice and opposition. When the abuses have been corrected, the objections will dis- appear, and examinations will be welcomed by both pu- pils and teachers. I. Objects of Examination". — Why do we examine ? Simply to supplement good teaching. Some special ob- jects deserve mention. 1. To stimulate Pupils to master Subjects. Smatter- ers dread examinations, but thorough scholars welcome them. When the subject is once mastered, the pupil is always prepared for examination. The certainty that the work will be examined, and examined thoroughly, is a powerful but legitimate stimulus to effort. 2. To incite Pupils to Iceep Knowledge ready for Use. Examinations test mental power and the mastery of prin- ciples. Pupils are stimulated to frequently review sub- jects ; thus their knowledge is deepened and widened. 3. To secure Valuable Data for Promotions, Records, and Reports. To base the pupil's standing wholly on ex- aminations is a great educational blunder, but to disre- gard examinations is a greater one. "Education should be a training to promote insight, power of thought, and facility in acquiring knowledge. Perception, not memory, should be cultivated ; and as the student can advance only by his own endeavors, he should be led through such a course of labor and original thought that he may come out an independent thinker, as well as a thorough scholar, in such branches of education as he has inclination for. To obtain such a training, examinations should be means, not ends." II. What should the Examination be ? — Not killing to both body and mind ; not an instrument of tor- SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS. 361 ture ; not a grinding slavery to teachers and pupils ; not a stimulus to cramming ; not a discouragement to study. 1. As to Matter. The examination should be con- fined to what the pupil ought to know, or ought to be able to do. No puzzles, nor questions designed to exhibit the examiner's knowledge, are admissible. 2. As to Method. The examination should be a test of the ability and acquirements of the pupil, not of his power to memorize. Does the pupil really understand the subject ? Has he the ability to express well what he knows ? "With the view of ascertaining these facts, the examination should be conducted. 3. As to Questions and Topics. The examination must be made searching and thorough. The questions should be pointed and clear, requiring brief and definite answers. Principles, plain problems involving principles, essential definitions, leading features, and work to be done are the points to be pressed. Caution. — Avoid unimportant details, dates, and technicalities ; avoid puzzles, catches, and everything ambiguous. Let every question be clear, concise, and to the point. Avoid all questions that merely test verbal memory, or show the smartness of the examiner. 4. As to Preparation. Examination should be so arranged as to foster genuine study and discourage all cramming. Pupils soon learn that nothing counts in real examinations but a thorough understanding of the subject, and that special cramming for examination will always manifest itself to their injury. ISTo lesson should be studied or recited with reference to examination. Pu- pils should become so absorbed in their work that when ex- aminations do come, each is delighted to tell what he knows. 16 362 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. Mistakes. — All cramming and hurried preparation for exam- inations are ulcers indicating disease; the teaching is wrong; the examination is wrong ; the system is wrong. The reconstruc- tion of such schools must be radical and complete. Instead of educating, they stuff ; instead of developing, they dwarf. III. When" shall we Examine ? — Not at stated times, or so frequently as to oppress pupils and teachers. Whenever the teacher is satisfied that it will do good, he should examine the class. Pupils properly taught are always prepared, and hence need not know when an examination will occur. Eegular examinations at the close of the month or quarter would better be abandoned; the evil more than counterbalances the good. At some time, during each period of from four to six weeks, each class should be carefully examined. As no time is fixed, there is no hasty preparation or feverish anticipation. Too frequent examinations burden the teacher and dis- turb the regular order of work. IV. Oral and Written. — How shall we examine ? Shall we make it oral or written ? I answer, let the oral and written be combined. In good teaching, each lesson is a review and an examination. Oral and written work occupy about equal time. An examination differs from a recitation in omitting instruction, and simply testing the pupil. With large classes, the written work is the principal test ; but, with ordinary classes, the oral, equally with the written examination, is used. This combination is better every way ; it relieves the tension, and affords each pupil a guarantee of fairness. V. Length of Examinations. — Written examina- tions should be brief. Five questions may be made as good a test as fifty. Lengthy examinations wear out the pupils, and grading the papers wears out the teachers. MARKING GRADES. 363 The effort is necessarily severe, and the time should he correspondingly short. The average length of examina- tions may well be reduced one half, and this will remove a leading objection to examinations. VI. Examinations foe Pbomotion and Geadita- tion. — The examinations should undoubtedly constitute one of the conditions of promotion or graduation. Is it the most prominent condition ? I think not. The reci- tation standing of the pupil is the estimate of all his class work during the month or term. Let this be multiplied by four, the average of his examination grades added, and the sum. divided by five. The result is his class standing, and can hardly be otherwise than a fair estimate of the pupil's standing ; but, in case of doubt, let the pupil be further tested in a private oral examination. Such a course is so eminently reasonable and just as to disarm all opposition. CHAPTER II. MARKING geades Simplicity should characterize school mechanism. The teacher and the pupils must be left untrammeled. Spontaneous and glad effort is the law of growth. In so far as mechanism enhances spontaneity, it is desirable ; whenever it fetters, or cramps, or represses, it should be modified or thrown aside. Marking is considered a mechanical necessity in every well-ordered school, and, when judiciously used, is a wise educational expedient. At longer or shorter intervals 364: EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. nearly all successful teachers, in some way, mark the achievements of their pupils. I. Objects op Marking. — Every act of the teacher should have a well-defined object. The objects of mark- ing are : 1. To Stimulate Effort. The true teacher is delight- ed with success and grieved by failure. By words, and looks, and marks he expresses his pleasure or pain. The aim of the pupil in studying should be to know, yet the recorded approval of the teacher is a strong incentive to effort. 2. To Indicate the Achievements of the Pupils. The teacher will thus be enabled to do the best for his pupils. It is not wise to trust to memory always. Even the ora- tor finds notes helpful. To the teacher they are indis- pensable. 3. To Unable the Teacher to Make reliable Records and Reports. Teachers are changed, pupils are promoted, and courses of study are completed. Parents and school officers justly expect trustworthy records and reports. Careful marking furnishes necessary data. II. Criteria for Marking.— Marking is a difficult art. Effort, attainments, and growth are to be estimated, and the comparative results are to be expressed in figures. At best, the percentages are but approximate judgments. 1. Effort deserves the Fullest Recognition. Let each step which the pupil masters by earnest effort be noted, that he may realize his progress. Many a hard-working- pupil becomes discouraged and loses heart because he can not perceive that he improves. As soon as he becomes conscious that he has accomplished a little, he will redou- ble his efforts to accomplish more. Determined effort de- serves all possible encouragement, because it points to MARKING GRADES. 365 boundless possibilities. Well-directed and persistent ef- fort ultimately wins. 2. Originality and Independence deserve Special Rec- ognition. The pupil is encouraged to work his problems in his own way, to present his thoughts in his own lan- guage, and to form and express his own views upon every subject. All glib parrot reciting must be discouraged. 3. Real Attainments must receive Due Credit. — Suc- cess is tangible. The pupil masters principles and read- ily applies them. He steadily grows stronger as well as wiser. Marks should as nearly as possible show his achievements and his relative strength. How to Mark. — (1.) Duly weigh effort, originality, and at- tainments ; mark in view of all. (2.) Study your pupils ; if you err, let it be in the pupil's favor. (3.) Be not an unfeeling mark- ing-machine ; your mission is to encourage and help. (4.) Be impartial ; mark favorites below, rather than above, and unfortu- nates above your estimate, rather than below. Your feelings may bias your judgment ; you need to make due allowance for uncon- scious aberrations. III. Frequency of Marking. — Once a week does well. For most classes, once in two weeks is sufficient. Many teachers find once a month satisfactory and alto- gether sufficient. Pupils never know when they will be marked. If the mark is low, the teacher redoubles his efforts ; the pupil is encouraged, and tested again and again ; if finally merited, a higher mark is inserted in place of the low mark. Teaching versus Marking. — (1.) Marking-machines belong to a past age. Few schools can now bear the incubus of daily marking. (2.) Daily marking exerts a baleful influence. Pupils are stimulated to study to recite, rather than to know. (3.) The 366 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. business of the teacher is teaching, not marking. Daily marking wastes much of his energy. No marking is better than daily marking. (4.) Marking must never interfere with teaching, but must be done at such moments as the teacher is free. IV. The Scale of Marking. — By common consent, from 1 to 100 has been adopted as the best scale. 1. 90 to 100 denote excellent. These grades should be given only in cases of decided merit. Unmeaning and careless marking does great injury. Flattery is sin. 2. 80 to 90 denote good. These grades indicate de- cided satisfaction on the part of the teacher. 3. 60 to 80 indicate passable. No effort should be spared to bring each pupil up to this standard. 4. Below 60 means unsatisfactory. Poor marks should rarely be permanently recorded. Use your utmost re- sources to secure interest and work. Test the pupil again and again. Wait days and even weeks before finally re- cording a grade below 60. Eemaeks. — (1.) Pupils may or may not be permitted to see the register. Usually it will be found better not to have the pupils see it. (2.) In all reports to parents, the words excellent, good, passable, and unsatisfactory are given, and not the figures. The same course is pursued whenever pupils are informed of their grades. (3.) The exact figures are for the teacher and his succes- sors. (4.) Written and oral work are marked on the same basis. (5.) No marking and daily marking are extremes to be avoided. The thoughtful teacher will not mark his pupils, as a rule, more frequently than once a week, nor less frequently than once each month. (6.) The pupil is not marked on a single answer or a single recitation, but upon a series of answers and a succession of recitations. (7.) A clear head and an honest heart are essential to successful marking. (8.) Honest work must be secured at any cost. SCHOOL RECORDS AND REPORTS. 367 CHAPTER III. SCHOOL RECORDS AND KEPORTS. I. Form. — For ungraded schools the records and re- ports must be in the simplest possible form, involving lit- tle labor and less skill. Most school registers now pub- lished are so well arranged that no teacher need fail to keep a correct record. The blanks usually furnished for reports explain themselves, so that mistakes in filling out are inexcusable. II. Value. — Records and reports, properly kept, aid in many ways. 1. They help the Teacher. Since conditions and re- sults must be recorded and reported, the teacher is stim- ulated to do his best. Slipshod work is discouraged. Moreover, the teacher having the records before him is better prepared to do his pupils justice ; and, because of the permanency of the record, he is far less likely to do injustice to any pupil. 2. Records are a Great Aid to the New Teacher. Barbarians make no records. Schools without records are in a barbarous condition, as the new teacher has no- thing to guide him. Well-kept records enable the new teacher to begin where his predecessor left off. 3. Records aid School Officers. County superinten- dents and school-boards may readily determine the condi- tion of a school, and take intelligent action with reference to it, if the records are complete and reliable. Without such records, official action is likely to be blind action. III. The School Register. — For ungraded schools one book is sufficient. Most registers are arranged for the following purposes : 368 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 1. Enrollment. The names and ages of pupils, the times of entrance, and parents' names are carefully record- ed each term. In case of withdrawal or removal, the time and its cause should be noted opposite the name of the pupil. 2. Attendance. The roll may be arranged alphabeti- cally, and the teacher may call the names. This is the approved plan in small schools. In large schools, num- bers may be assigned to pupils, each calling his own num- ber ; or, the division leaders may name absentees. The latter method has decided advantages. The teacher calls " Division A." The pupils belonging to this division rise, and the leader reports the absentees. Divisions B, C, and D, in like manner, are called in turn. The teacher marks each absentee on the roll. In this way, the roll of any school may be called in less than one minute. In all cases, absentees alone are marked ; no mark means pres- ent. The attendance roll is called at the close of each half-clay session. 3. Tardy Roll. This roll may be called at the begin- ning of each half -day session. The — mark means tardy ; when explained satisfactorily, the — is changed to + , but the record is permanent. 4. Class Rolls. These rolls show the recitation and examination grades and the class-standing of the mem- bers of each class. The average of the class grades in the branch, multiplied by four and added to the average writ- ten-examination grades, and the sum divided by five, will give the class-standing for the month, term, or year. 5. Reports. All reports should be recorded in the register. The register should always contain blanks for this purpose. 6. Programme. The programme should also be re- SCHOOL RECORDS AND REPORTS. 369 corded in the register, which should contain blanks for this purpose. The register should be preserved with as much care as the ledger of the merchant. The new teacher will find recorded in it the real condition of the school, and the data he needs in organizing. IV. Teachers' Eeports. — These should be such as impose the minimum of extra labor. Faithful teachers of ungraded schools are always overworked. 1. Monthly Report Cards to Parents. JSTo grades are placed on these — simply the words, excellent, good, pass- able, poor. A foot-note explains that " excellent " means from 90 to 100; "good," from 80 to 90; "passable," from 60 to 80; "poor," below 60. These reports will include deportment as well as scholarship. Times absent and times tardy should also be reported. In no case should these reports be made oftener than once a month. 2. Quarterly Reports to School-Boards. In these reports are given the total enrollment, the average atten- dance, the average class-standing of each pupil, and such other items as the blanks call for. To require these re- ports monthly is a useless imposition upon teachers. The laws should be so changed as to require only quarterly reports to school-boards, but monthly reports to superin- tendents. 3. Reports to County Superintendents or County Com- missioners. A full report, containing items mentioned in the report to the school-board and such other items as may be required in the blank furnished, should be made at the close of each month to the county superintendent. In addition to the regular reports, special reports may be required at any time. Some superintendents now wisely require monthly reports from teachers, and thus keep themselves fully informed at all times as to the condition 370 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. of the schools under their charge. Only thus is efficient county supervision possible. 4. Enforcement. — Statements that these reports have been made should condition the payment of salaries. When reports are required at the close of a quarter, the salary for the last month of the quarter should be with- held until the reports are made. V. Eepoet of County Supekintendent. — This should be made annually to the State superintendent and to the county school-board, consisting of the presi- dents of the several school-boards of the county. It should be printed in pamphlet form. This report may embrace : 1. The Names of Teachers. Address, wages, and grade may be given ; also the class to which each one belongs in the institute. 2. The Catalogue of Pupils. This should contain the names of all pupils enrolled during the year ; the division to which the pupil belongs will be indicated by the let- ter A, B, C, or D after the name. One page may be de- voted to each school. 3. Names of Graduates. Pupils completing the ele- mentary course of study should be published as elemen- tary-school graduates. 4. Financial Stateme?it. The report should exhibit all moneys received and paid out for school purposes by each school. 5. Miscellaneous. This report should give the course of study and such general information as will tend to advance the educational interests of the country. Cost and Value. — Printing is cheap ; the cost of printing such a report would be insignificant, and its value would be great. It would establish a school system for the county. Each pupil would know his place in the line of advancement. All the GRADUATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 371 teachers of the county would learn to work to a plan. As much interest would he taken in graduation from the district school as is now taken in graduation from higher institutions. The whole people would be interested. The utter confusion and waste now hanging as an incubus upon our country schools would be removed. CHAPTER IV. GRADUATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.* ~No single educational measure can accomplish much. The systematic combination of all the essential agencies is necessary to great results. We have emphasized School Instrumentalities, School Organization, School Govern- ment, School Courses of Study, School Programmes, How to Study, and Class Management. Graduation is now presented as the crowning feature of our public-school system. I. Advantages of Graduation. — These are many and great. 1. Graduation will greatly increase the Dignity and Efficiency of Elementary Schools. A well-defined course of study becomes a necessity. Untold thousands, who would otherwise not dream of such a thing, will be stim- ulated to complete the course. System will be made to pervade school work. The people, seeing the results, * Alexander M. Wade successfully used a system of graduation in Monongalia County, West Virginia, the first class graduating in 1876. Mr. Wade claims to have originated graduation as applicable to country schools, and his claim seems to be well founded. 372 EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND GRADUATION. will begin to esteem the common schools at their true value. 2. Graduation will necessitate Thorough Teaching and Thorough Supervision. If it accomplishes no more than this, the system will be rich in valuable results. 3. It will revolutionize our Educational System. " I give it as my deliberate conclusion, drawn from observation, that the introduction of the graduating sys- tem into the common schools of the country, under the management of an efficient superintendency, will produce as great a revolution in our educational system as that produced upon travel on land and sea by the application of steam." (Wade.) 4. It will compel Method and Progress in Elementary Schools. " All education should be conducted with method ; a rational progress, toward a definite end, is the secret of success in every undertaking. " There ought to be a beginning, a regular order of progress, and an end to the elementary course of instruc- tion. A graduation system is admirably calculated to in- fuse system and progress. " I suggest that authority be given to prescribe a reg- ular course of elementary instruction, to be generally fol- lowed in the schools, with provision for the examination and graduation of all pupils who satisfactorily complete it." (State Superintendent W. K. Pendleton.) II. Written Examinations and Grades. — A few weeks before the close of the schools in the township, the county superintendent will furnish each teacher with a list of fifty questions, covering the elementary course. Two Saturdays will be devoted to the written examina- tion. The papers of each candidate for graduation will GRADUATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 373 be bound separately, and graded by the teacher. These papers, with a certified statement of the class-standing of each applicant, will be forwarded to the county super- intendent. III. Examining Committee. — This committee may be the same as for the examination of teachers and insti- tute classes, consisting of the county superintendent and three professional teachers. The State superintendent may appoint one, the county superintendent one, and the normal institute association one. This plan gives dig- nity and unity to the work, and insures thoroughness. It is evidently far more satisfactory than the plan of hav- ing the superintendent do all the work. IV. Examination by Townships. — The municipal township is now made the unit, for school purposes, in some States, and educators with one voice demand that it be made such in all the States. The schools of a township are thus placed under one management, opening and clos- ing at the same time. The Friday on which the schools of one township close may be devoted to the examination. In another township the following Saturday may be used. Thus the schools of two townships may be closed each week without interfering with the regular school work. V. Graduation Days. — The largest convenient building in the township will be needed for these exer- cises. The morning will be devoted to a public examina- tion of the candidates by the committee. The afternoon will be devoted to the graduating exercises. Nothing else can so interest the entire community. The people must have tangible results. VI. Elementary-School Diploma. — The diploma will be beautiful but unpretentious. With it will be con- ferred the degree, Elementary- School Graduate. The 374 EXAMINATIONS, RECOKDS, AND GRADUATION. diploma will be signed by the teacher and the county superintendent, and will entitle the pupil to admission to any high school without further examination. VII. Alumni Association. — This will be a perma- nent organization, embracing all the elementary-school graduates in the township. The association will meet annually on graduation day, and will give a public enter- tainment on the evening of that day. At each meeting members will be elected to deliver orations, read essays, and declaim at the next meeting. VIII. Annual Catalogues. " Each school occupies one page in the catalogue. The name of the school, the name of the teacher, num- ber of youths entitled to attend, number of youths on teacher's roll, daily average attendance, daily per cent, of attendance, branches taught and number of pupils studying each branch, the names of graduates and under- graduates — all these points of interest are presented in the report of each school. No volume of the same cost, except the Bible, is so interesting to the families of a county as the book that contains the names and grades of the children attending the public schools." (Wade.) Eemaeks. — Without a well-planned course of study, compe- tent teachers, and efficient county supervision, a graduating scheme for elementary schools will prove a farce ; wherever tried under favorable circumstances, it has proved immensely popular and highly beneficial. We do not favor hobbies and hobbyists, but we certainly find here a key to the elevation of country schools. IX. GRADUATION IN THE HlGH SCHOOL. — Two courses are every way desirable, each embracing the work of two years. 1. Junior Course. This course embraces the work of the first and second years in the high school. Upon its completion the student will receive the junior high-school GRADUATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 375 diploma, A large proportion of the students will be stimulated to complete the course. Otherwise, few would attempt it. 2. Senior Course. The third and fourth years in the high school are included in this course. The high school diploma, with the degree, High-School Graduate, should entitle the student to admission to any college, without further examination. Kesults. — Give us a central high school in every township. Let the principal of this school be ex officio principal of all the ungraded schools in the township. Give us an able county super- intendency. Give us a wisely adjusted system of graduation, ex- tending from the elementary school to the university. Give us these with the accompanying agencies, and you will witness educa- tional progress such as the world has never seen. Wkitten Examinations. — As an expression of the general feeling, we take the following from the " Pacific School Jour- nal " : " It is time to utter a word of solemn protest against our present system of written examinations. Nine tenths of the fault found with our schools may be traced to the bad habits, mental and moral, engendered by a system which has become an almost universal substitute for intelligent teaching. It is not too much to say that in our large cities, in particular, there is a strong ten- dency to make our teachers mere machines and their pupils unre- liable poll-parrots. One result of the system has been an utter abandonment of thorough intellectual training; and the moral results are tenfold worse than the mental. The temptation to deceive the teacher, to communicate, to impart information, or receive help, is irresistible. Does not this thing call for a remedy? Is it not time for a radical revolution ? Is it right that our chil- dren should be stupefied, dwarfed mentally, and debased morally ? These queries demand a reply. There must be some better way of testing a student's progress. Whatever it is, anything is better than this ; nothing can be worse." I PART VIII. PR 0FES8I0NA L ED UCA TION. CHAPTER I. — Professional Education of Teachers. II. — Normal Schools — Management and "Work. III. — Management and Work oe Formal Institutes. IV. — Township Institutes. . Y. — The Coming Teacher. PART EIGHTH. PR 0FE8SI0NA L ED UCA TIOK CHAPTER I. PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OE TEACHERS. All intelligent persons teach, but educators are pro- fessional teachers. In the list of professions, that of teaching is justly placed among the first. I. Teaching compared with other Professions. — The physician needs to understand the body ; the teach- er must understand both mind and body. The lawyer needs to understand government and law ; the teacher must be able to govern, and have a fair knowledge of law in addition to his knowledge of body and mind. The minister needs to understand man's moral nature and its development ; the teacher must understand man's entire nature, and know how to develop it. Teaching is the most difficult as well as the most responsible of all the professions. " Teaching is developing, exercising, stimulating, inciting and exciting, fostering — blowing a spark until it develops a flame. Teaching develops strength of mind, as exercise develops muscle ; 380 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. teaching is kind, gentle, not puffed up with self-importance, but full of that charity which suffereth long. Nay, teaching is an exemplification of that charity so highly commended as greater than all, and above all. The grandest avocation of the human race is that of teaching; and the grandest, best man on earth is he who comes nearest to this ideal type of a perfect manhood, as exemplified in the Great Teacher." II. Professional Education a Necessity. — No one is permitted to practice medicine or law without a professional education. The blacksmith is not permitted to tinker a fine watch. To select green boys and girls to tinker immortal minds is the extreme of folly. "In another generation, for a youth to undertake the manage- ment of a school without previous training, will be con- sidered a greater burlesque than for a schoolboy to offer to plead in the Supreme Court, or to take charge of an ocean steamer." For our educators, preeminently, we need men and women of culture, mature judgment, ex- perience, and most careful special preparation. III. The Teacher must understand Child-Mind. — This statement is axiomatic. 1. Mind is that upon which the Teacher operates. His work is to interest, direct, mold, and develop mind. How can he do these things without a knowledge of its na- ture, its capacities, and its laws of activity ? In all other occupations, he who does not understand the nature of the material upon which he works is considered a fraud. The farmer must know the nature of soil and its adapta- tions. The smith must be familiar with the peculiarities of the metals he fashions. How much more is it necessary that the teacher be familiar with the nature of the mind ! "Did teachers, as a class, have clear views of mental organiza- tion, they would tolerate no rigid Procrustean methods in their PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. 381 school-rooms. They would not set a like task for each one of a large class of boys or girls, and expect each to prepare and recite it with nearly equal precision. They would discern the difference of adaptation for special studies among their pupils, and be enabled to administer rebuke or encouragement with telling discrimina- tion. They would, in fine, be able to educate, to lead out and train, what there is of faculty and talent in a boy, for the practi- cal uses of his future. This view attaches high responsibility to the teacher's office, but it is far from unreasonable." 2. Mind is that which is to be Developed. Education is development. Teaching is awakening the power to perceive, and feel, and think, and act. To accomplish this, an intimate acquaintance with mind is essential. 3. The Powers of the Mind have their Natural Order of Development. Not to understand this order is to grope in the dark, and misdirect the energies of childhood. Ignorance here is the source of incalculable educational waste. 4. Knowledge is Mental Food. In order to properly impart instruction, the teacher must understand the na- ture of the mind. Educational principles and methods of teaching are based upon the laws of mind. The nature of attention and the art of securing it ; the nature of perception, memory, imagination, and thought, and how to cultivate these powers; these are things the teacher must understand, in order that he may adapt matter and method to the wants of his pupils. IV. The Teacher needs to be familiar with the Science of Education. — Education is the science of human development. Its principles are based on a knowledge of human beings and their environments. The thought and experience of the race culminate in this, the grandest of all scieDces. All true art is based upon sci- 382 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. ence. The art of teaching is no exception. Little but blunders and failures can be expected from teachers igno- rant of educational principles, and without skill in their application. V. The Teacher should be an Aetist. — Patient and Persistent Effoi't conditions Skill. The physician and the lawyer, the architect and the merchant, spend long years of toil before reaching important positions. Surely no less should be required of teachers ; thorough education, the best professional instruction, practice teach- ing, and months spent with skillful teachers, are reason- able requirements. None but artists, qualified to inspire and rightly direct child-effort, should be intrusted with child-culture. VI. Skill in School Management. — This is an im- portant qualification of the teacher. Knowing how is the secret of managing power. To produce and sustain order, to secure well-directed effort, and to train to the habits of self-government and self-effort, require talent and skill of the very highest order. To commit this work to immature, inexperienced, uncultured boys and girls is monstrous. The management of many of our schools is such as to make angels weep. VII. "Why do we employ Incompetent Teachers ? — Inexperienced boys and girls can not educate ; they don't know how. Yet half of all our schools are in the hands of the uneducated and the inexperienced. Why do people waste their money, and waste the precious years of childhood, by employing persons to teach who can not educate ? who merely ask questions and nothing more ? One who has every means of knowing answers : " The schools are had enough ; they have the machinery, and it is all running, but they grind no grist. Well, I went into a class NORMAL SCHOOLS— MANAGEMENT AND WORK. 383 and sat awhile, and could not help hut feel sad at the hopeless case. Here was a young woman of seventeen or eighteen years of age, with no mental development, set to develop fifty young children. She did not and she could not." " But how do you account for the fact that the people allow these things ? " "I can not account for that, except that they do not know there could he any better work done." " What I object to," said " The Doctor " (who is at the educa- tional mast-head), "is that these people do nothing besides hear the lessons of the day ; consequently, the boy is no higher as a man, or the girl as a woman, at the end of the day. They do know more about Kamtchatka, it is true, but that will not save them." VIII. The Demand for Educated Teachers is steadily increasing. — The difference between a quali- fied teacher and a mere school-keeper is becoming widely understood. Intelligent communities, at any reasonable cost, seek to secure and retain efficient educators. Local retrenchment and venal favoritism by stupid school-boards should discourage no one. The general tendency is in the right direction. Efficient teachers steadily move to the front. How to secure such teachers for all our schools is the great question of our time and of all times. CHAPTER II. NORMAL SCHOOLS — MANAGEMENT AND WORK.* A normal school, as the term is used in the United States and other countries, is a school established for the training of teachers. Its aims are specific and profes- * The article of Professor Edward Brooks, in a recent number of the "Pennsylvania School Journal," was made the basis of this chapter. Because of the many changes, quotation-marks are omitted. 384 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. sional, and in these it differs from the seminary and col- lege. The specific object of the normal school is to give culture and learning, not for the benefit of the student, but that it may be used in the education of the masses. Such a conception of the object and functions of a nor- mal school is fundamental, and determines the nature of its organization, its course of study, and its methods of teaching. A Normal School is Sui Generis. — The efficient teacher must have — (1) a knowledge of the branches to be taught ; (2) a knowledge of the mind ; (3) a knowl- edge of the methods of so inducing efforts as to develop all the powers of the soul ; and (4) a knowledge of the art of school management. Hence a school for the full qualification of teachers embraces two distinct courses of study : one in which the nature of man and of knowledge are made the object of study ; the other in which the laws and methods of developing the powers of man, and im- parting knowledge to other minds, are considered. These two courses are properly distinguished as the Scholastic Course and the Professional Course; and the normal school is the only institution in which these courses are necessarily combined. I. The Scholastic Course. — The teacher must pos- sess knowledge in order to impart it to others ; he can not teach what he does not know. He also needs to have his own powers cultivated, for the power it gives him to think, to originate and modify methods, and to influence and control his pupils. In other words, the ideal teacher should be a person with well-cultured powers and a liberal education. It is thus apparent that thorough scholastic training lies at the foundation of a teacher's education. The normal school must therefore require of its pupils a NORMAL SCHOOLS— MANAGEMENT AND WORK. 385 thorough training in the branches of a scholastic course of study. The following reasons for this position are thought to be conclusive : 1. A Present Necessity. It was formerly held that the normal school should not attempt to give this scholastic training, but should restrict itself to the work of the professional course ; that any attempt to impart instruction in the branches of knowledge was a departure from the legitimate function of a normal school, and an infringement upon the domain of other institutions. This opinion was held, not merely by those who were not in sym- pathy with normal-school work, but also by some of the leading normal-school men in the country. It has been found, however, in the practical working of these schools, that the young people who presented themselves for professional instruction were not properly prepared in the branches ; and the normal schools were thus compelled to do scholastic work whether they desired to do so or not. Whatever, therefore, be the true theory of normal- school instruction, experience has proved the present necessity of such a scholastic course; and the normal schools of the country to-day, almost if not entirely without exception, have provided for the scholastic training of their pupils. 2. A Permanent Necessity. Such a course is deemed not only a present practical necessity, but an essential part of the true theory of normal-school education. The instruction required by teachers in the branches is, in many respects, different from that which is obtained at our academies and colleges, and perhaps dif- ferent from that which a correct theory of these institutions would indicate as best suited to the interests of their pupils. 3. The Scholastic Instruction must he more thorough in Nor- mal Schools than in other Institutions. A teacher should not be merely a student of, but a master in, the branches which he is called upon to teach. Teachers should not have merely a general knowledge of a subject, but they should know it completely in its details. Such a requirement renders the instruction of a normal school necessarily thorough. No superficial work should be allowed. 17 380 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. All playing on the surface of things must be prevented ; every branch should be studied through and through. It is not suffi- cient that the subject be touched with the mental fingers; there must be a firm and complete mental grasp. A standard of scholar- ship like this must be required, even if fewer branches can be studied. It is better that teachers be masters of a few branches than that they should be smatterers in many branches. The motto of normal-school education should be, that it is hotter to know much of a few things, than to know a little of many things. It is a question whether such thoroughness is desirable in that general course of study designed to prepare a person for the ordinary duties of life. , It certainly is not attempted in other institutions ; and it would not pay them to drill over and over in arithmetic, and grammar, and geography, in order to give that thoroughness necessary to the teacher of these branches. 4. The Methods of Work are necessarily Different. First: the branches in the normal school should be studied in their rela- tion to the mind of the pupil. There should be continued effort to call the attention of the student to the relation of the several branches of knowledge to the faculties concerned in their acquisi- tion and evolution. The object for which he is acquiring knowl- edge is to instruct and cultivate the minds of his pupils ; and to do this intelligently, he must know the relation between the mind and the material used in giving it culture and instruction. Second : the scholastic instruction in the normal school should be intensely analytic. In attaining discipline and knowledge, the ordinary student cares not so much about the road he travels as the end he reaches; but in acquiring knowledge to impart to others, we should know the steps leading to the acquisition, the relation of one fact and truth to another and to the mind, and the order of presenting subjects to the learner. Third : the scholastic instruction in the normal school should also be synthetic. The teacher must not only open the way by analysis, but he must be able to lead the pupil through this route by the steps of synthesis. Fourth : the scholastic instruction of the normal school should be philosophical. To the teacher, a knowledge of the principles NORMAL SCHOOLS— MANAGEMENT AND WORK. S87 upon which a science is founded is of especial importance. In other avocations and professions, it may often he sufficient to know the forms and rules of language, or to be practically familiar with its use ; hut the teacher must understand the principles of language as well. Special care must therefore he taken to train pupil-teachers to perceive the logical threads which hind a science together, and to heget in them a habit of philosophic thought ; it should be required that all their discussions, explanations, authors, etc., shall be thoroughly systematic and logical. 5. The Instruction must be eminently Practical. Knowledge is of use to us partly as it can be applied to practical purposes ; facil- ity of application is an object of education as well as clearness of apprehension. The teacher must train his pupils, therefore, to do as well as know, and he should be skilled in this practical part of education also. The normal school must, therefore, see that its pupils are well skilled in practice. This point can not be made too prominent in normal instruction, for there is a natural tendency on the part of those who have been thoroughly trained in the principles of the sciences to make their instruction too the- oretical. Carried away with the beauty of the principles of a study, they naturally neglect to give that training in methods which gives practical skill in their application. The normal school must, therefore, be careful to supplement the theoretical side of instruction with the practical side in the preparation of the teachers for our public schools. Conclusion Beached.— So far as these methods can be introduced into other institutions, so far they can pre- parepupils to enter the normal school, and to pass imme- diately into the professional course. At present, they do not thus prepare their pupils ; and it is a question wheth- er it would not be a disadvantage to them to attempt to give this preparation. Colleges can not afford it, for they must give their time to the ancient languages and the higher branches of science. The common schools do not do it, and, in the nature of things, can not do it. We 388 PKOFESSIONAL EDUCATION. have no system of academies established for such work. The office of the private school, in giving general culture or fitting for college, is so entirely distinctive that it could not meet this demand if it desired to do so. In view of these and other considerations, we conclude that a scho- lastic course in our normal schools is a present and a permanent necessity, an essential element of the normal- school work. II. The Professional Course. — The scholastic course must be supplemented by a professional course ; and at every step these courses must be interwoven. The professional course is regarded as the characteristic fea- ture of the normal school. It is the central idea of the institution, that from which it derives its inspiration. To this course everything else is made contributory. Learn- ing to know elsewhere, the pupil enters this course to learn to teach. Knowledge acquired elsewhere is brought here and examined, not alone from the standpoint of the student, but also from that of the teacher. The question is no longer, How shall I acquire ? but, How shall I im- part f Students enter this course to learn the laws and methods of culture, the relations of the different branches of study to the mind, and the methods by which knowl- edge should be imparted and the mental faculties devel- oped. It is the keystone of the arch, which gives power, and strength, and completeness to the entire work. The professional course of the normal school includes three distinct departments : elementary psychology and the sci- ence of human culture ; the art of teaching ; and the art of school management. 1. The Science of Human Culture is the systematic presentation of the principles, processes, means, and meth- ods of human development. In the normal school, the NORMAL SCHOOLS— MANAGEMENT AND WORK. 389 body and soul are studied as one organism. Embodied spirit is considered in its relation to the body, and the body in its relation to the soul. Each faculty of the soul is studied as to its nature and laws of action, and as to the time, means, and methods of its development. Psychol- ogy is necessarily the basis of the science of human cul- ture. In the elementary course, only the plain rudiments are studied ; but, in the advanced course, the investiga- tion is thorough and critical. A professional education without this department is like the play of "Hamlet" without Hamlet. " Onesidedness has been the vice of all systems of education." The earnest study of man as a complete unit, whose powers are to be developed simulta- neously and harmoniously, will give us a true system of education, as well as true educators. 2. The Art of Teaching. A knowledge of the plan of the subjects taught, as well as the plan of child-mind, conditions intelligent teaching. In the professional course, the branches are critically examined from the standpoint of the teacher. Methods of instruction are made to conform to the principles developed in the science of education. The teacher learns to adapt each subject and each lesson to the capacity and wants of his pupils. To him, teaching becomes the art of adjustment. All past experience and all thought are laid under contribu- tion. The history of education, the results of individual and national experiment, and the methods of great edu- cators, are profoundly studied and practically utilized. 3. Art of School Management. School instrumental- ities, school organization, school government, and school work are discussed under this head. Success depends largely on a mastery of these subjects. The philosophi- cal and practical study of school management is a desid- 390 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. eratum to the professional teacher. The time given to this subject in normal schools is by no means too great. III. Theee Classes of Teacheks. 1. The Self-made Teacher. All good teachers are self-made, but those who work up, unaided by the ex- perience of others, are such in a peculiar sense. One teacher out of a hundred, with great natural aptitude, ingenuity, and energy, may succeed by his own unaided efforts. The ninety and nine will remain plodders. The teacher who can not avail himself of the advantages of the achievements of the ages deserves our profound sym- pathy ; he who will not deserves our contempt. 2. The Self-helpful Teacher. By the help of edu- cational journals ; by attending institutes, and counsel- ing with their fellow teachers ; by visiting other schools ; by heeding the criticisms of friend and foe ; by study- ing educational works ; by keeping out of all ruts ; and by hard work and constant self-criticism, many may be- come excellent teachers. In fact, many of our best teach- ers belong to this class. Ten years of determined effort on this plan, under favorable circumstances, ought to make accomplished teachers. Unfortunately, but one teacher in a hundred is endowed with the gift of final perseverance ; the ninety and nine drift. 3. The Trained Teacher. Under the guidance of skill- ful instructors, education is studied as a science, and teaching is practiced as an art. With the light of all ages and all lands, with skill acquired under the direc- tion of master workmen, with the confidence and enthu- siasm inspired by earnest study, and with a familiarity with the best educational methods, the trained teacher begins at the point reached by the self-helpful teacher after long years of experiment. From the first the NORMAL SCHOOLS— MANAGEMENT AND WORK. 391 trained teacher is efficient and successful. Nor does lie acquire skill at the expense of others, to the irrepara- ble injury of scores of young immortals. The trained teacher is always self-made and self-helpful. The normal school incites him to effort, furnishes him with the ne- cessary instrumentalities, and directs his labors. IV. Normal Schools must be State Schools. Law, medicine, and techincs pay ; hence, law, medical, and technical schools may safely be left to private enter- prise. War, preaching, and teaching do not pay ; hence, to secure military officers, preachers, and teachers, mili- tary, theological, and normal schools must be sustained at the public expense. Unless endowed, no collegiate institution, nor theological seminary, nor normal school can now be made efficient. The General Government sus- tains our military schools. States, individuals, associations, and the churches endow colleges and theological sem- inaries. The normal school is established for the benefit of the whole people, and is essential to the success of the public schools. In fact, the normal school is an essential part of the public-school system, and its support by the State is simply a necessity. It is an outgrowth of popu- lar education, and not only is it the best possible agency to meet the growing demand for qualified teachers, but it is the only agency that can be depended upon. V. Chair of Didactics. — The establishment in the great institutions of America and Europe of a chair for the professional education of teachers, marks a new de- parture in education. Colleges and universities are con- servative and exclusive. The professors are absorbed in their subjects, to the exclusion of methods. Thus it re- sults that, as to methods, our public schools are far in advance of our colleges. In this case the reform must 392 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. come from within. The maintenance of a chair of didactics is destined to revolutionize college methods. Such stu- dents as elect teaching will go out trained for their work, and prepared to fill the best positions. While normal de- partments haye necessarily and always proved failures, the plan now pursued in the universities of Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and other States promises to be eminently suc- cessful. Teaching is made to rank with theology, law, and medicine. College graduates should no more under- take to teach without special preparation, than to practice law or medicine without special preparation. Teaching is an art to be learned. Teaching is a profession to be acquired and practiced. The recognition of these facts by our higher institutions marks an immense advance. So-called Normal Schools. — Many poor second- or third-rate academies, dubbed normal schools, are doing what they can to bring all normal schools into contempt. They are conducted by persons destitute of the letter and the spirit of normal work. The academic work is superficial, and the attempt to do professional work is a ludicrous sham. The managers of such schools need to be baptized into the spirit of the new education; and the schools must be so revolutionized as to make the pro- fessional education of teachers the warp and woof of their work. Fossils and dead-beats must give place to live teachers ; men and women who grasp the situation, and are able, by example, by precept, and by training, to lead the teacher-pupils up to a higher educational life, must direct the normal-school work. MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. 393 CHAPTER III. MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. A Normal Institute is a Short-Term Normal School. — The normal school is the great agency for pre- paring skillful teachers, but the large body of our teachers do not enter normal schools. The county normal institute embraces in its organization all the teachers of the count)^. The work is necessarily abbreviated and concentrated, but the normal institute brings normal methods and pro- fessional enthusiasm home to all our teachers. An Educational Eevolution is Imperative. — An army 400,000 strong is now charged with the educa- tion of our 16,000,000 youths. More than one half of this army are mere school-keepers, without any special pre- paration for teaching. That more than one half of our school-children are in the hands of the utterly incompe- tent, is an astounding fact. Some far-reaching and all- pervading agency which will effectually reach the entire body of teachers is demanded. We must have organiza- tion, and well-defined plans of work, and executive pow- er. In the eternal fitness of things, the normal institute comes to the front as the required agency. The schools and colleges give culture. Normal schools train many teachers, but the normal institute absolutely reaches all, and thus supplements all other agencies for the elevation of teachers and teaching. A Prominent Educational Factor. — The old county institute served its purpose, and its days are num- bered. The normal institute, though still in its infancy, is assuming mammoth proportions, and is destined to be- come a permanent part of our educational system. Its 394 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. present crude and systemless condition simply marks a transition. But the time has come when the normal institute must be made a model of system and efficiency, including as it does our entire body of teachers, affecting as it does untold millions. No means for its perfection should be spared. We need normal institutes — (1) to train our 200,000 untrained teachers ; (2) to keep trained teachers bright ; (3) to foster a professional spirit ; (4) to deepen and widen and direct the interest felt in popu- lar education. The Work of the Normal Institute. — The work of the normal institute may be stated in a few words : (1) to improve schools by teaching the teachers what to study and how to study it — what to teach and how to teach it ; (2) to train teachers to systematize their knowl- edge, and present subjects in the most attractive and effec- tive form ; (3) to lead teachers to adapt instruction to the capacities and wants of the pupils ; (4) to instruct and train teachers in the art of school management ; (5) to lead teachers to profoundly study child-nature and the science and art of human culture. Organization of Normal Institutes. — The ques- tion of paramount importance is, How may we so organize and manage the work as to make normal institutes in the highest degree efficient ? The best thought and widest experience are needed for the solution of this problem. Educators tend to unanimity on the following points : 1. Each State must maJce Normal Institutes a Part of its Pub- lic-School System. Several States now require a normal institute of from two to four weeks to be held annually in each county, under the general directions of the State superintendent. With- in a decade, every State in the Union will, it is predicted, have a system of normal institutes. MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. 395 2. The Teachers of a County should be divided into Groups or Classes according to Attainments and Success. For all purposes, four classes are found to give the best results. The school law of the State should authorize such classification. 3. A well-digested Course of Study is Essential to Success. Three years of hard work should entitle the successful teacher to admission to the ranks of professional teachers. 4. Matter and Methods should receive about equal Attention. The subjects selected should be such as will meet the immediate wants of the teachers and their pupils. "While much information may be acquired, the chief good comes from learning how to study and how to teach. Only a few subjects should be selected. " Every practical teacher knows how important it is to lay well the foundations of learning; to constantly carry back the learner to fundamental truths ; to link new acquisitions to the old." One subject mas- tered is better than a smattering of many. No attempt should be made to go over an entire branch. Certain topics are mas- tered. The teachers learn how to study as well as how to teach. 5. The Management should be as perfect as in the Best Schools. As far as possible, institutes should teach by example the art of school management. Course of Study and Programme for Normal Institutes. — After years of study, observation, experi- ment, and consultation, the following scheme is submit- ted : I. Classificaton. — The teachers are grouped into four classes : 1. Class D. In this class we place those who have not taught, and those who hold third-grade certificates. 2. Class C. Such as hold, or are entitled to hold, second-grade cer- tificates we place in Class C. It is understood that a careful examina- tion on the work required of Class D conditions admission to Class C. Graduates of high schools, and undergraduates of colleges and normal schools, though not having taught, may be admitted to Class C upon ex- amination. 3. Class B. Teachers holding first-class certificates, and graduates 396 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. Q OPS « PS © I Q § Op Ph .02 £ £ <2 £ ~-2Ph g ** 5 ■ 'O | 3 -a . t> >> 3 H >■ a) h a 1 PS & 8^1 "S Ph ^ <1 -a a N -g O 9 '-s 3 . io a 4j o « ja S --« a o cj .3 CM r-i o o O O O o 5 1 o .2 a M q •2» -S § «* 2 2 -§ g I § _ § fe5 a .2 o ,3 r~ (y qj «j ^M W o « „ u ° i» ,£> t- 2 I ° oj ,3 O © H ■O "9 "2 ftflS 3 3 2 £ 3 CO PS PS £ 32 •a P'O S3 <1 W H .-> H a - u 1=1 crj -d | a OQ o 02 . a -a a a a P-i metic mar a Hist. a a .2 o a o « > s Arith Gram U.S. a >> — Ph o o — ■ o a o o o o .-3 . fe.a a p, • Ph ° 9 I "2 «• ■a J J 3 Ph Ph CO a ■« to 5 O O 3 -S tj nj Sao. 9 1 CD ■9 .'-1 3 » . 3 < cfMJ£ 3 W o-w m S 1 a to CO "S 1 3 3 fe*.£ ^ »5 P3 J2 < O bo-p a c -ft <■« ft a be 1 M to p 2_a ft . 5S( > «'ScE'a t --" £s|©>* ft |£g£*a-B-2^ 6?t# ft^a .s S2gg»j J^^ p a> ^ O 0) «^-.g ft ^ C^ © O c3 "rt e'Sjl o ^0-3 w 5. - - [S a ~ ■§ ft .£; « r, O •- a'£ r K ■" o £s S I ft l|li § . &l KJ.2S.S' .go m *- 9 d r* ft bo "'oh .-£3 a .2 oh MOD'S *"a Si— c o o c t, o .a •as "gas-aa g2 .2»a<2o si » H is^ ■ofcJ. -2.2 §■&££ ss-g- s 39$ PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. of normal schools and colleges, will compose this class. Before admission to this class, however, the teacher must pass a critical examination upon the work required of Classes C and D, and must have had at least one year of successful practice in teaching. 4. Class A — Professional Teachers. Those having at least two years of successful experience as teachers, after a rigid examination on the work required of Classes B, C, and D, will be admitted to the ranks of professional teachers. The danger of admitting unworthy persons to this class must be determinedly guarded against. This class will do profes- sional and advanced work in the institute, and will constitute the corps of assistant instructors. Such as are needed for special work will be paid. II. Work during the Institute. — The course of study is arranged for a four weeks' institute. In case the time is two weeks or six weeks, the number of lessons given in each subject can be proportioned accord- ingly. Classes D, C, and B ought to spend four weeks ; two weeks may be sufficient for Class A, and even one week will do great good. III. Work during the Year. — The course of study provides hard work for each class during the year following the institute. The Meth- odist Church, by requiring definite and hard study of young preachers for a period of four years, has doubled the efficiency of her ministry. A similar course will immeasurably elevate the teacher's profession. It will compel a forward movement all along the line. Every teacher will neces- sarily become an earnest student. Subjects will be thoroughly examined, both from the standpoint of the pupil and that of the teacher. This plan will increase tenfold the value of the institute. Our teachers will grow, will become strong and cultured men and women — fit models and capable leaders. Teaching, in all its departments, will become a profession. IY. Examining Committees — Committees of professional teachers, appointed by the county superintendent, will examine all candidates for admission or promotion. After examination, the applicants are admitted to the classes which they are entitled to enter ; at the beginning of the second annual institute, the classes are examined on the work assigned for the preceding year, and such as arc found worthy are promoted. Teach- ers who fail to advance during two successive years should be excluded from the institute, and should not be granted license to teach. Thus, all teachers may be compelled to move up or move out. The county superin- tendent, in all cases, must approve or disapprove the reports of committees. Y. Certificates and Diploma. — All persons admitted to Class D re- MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. 399 ceive the D Institute Certificate ; tho:-;e admitted or promoted to Clas3 C receive the Institute Certificate; those admitted to Class B receive the B Institute Certificate ; and those promoted to Class A receive the Institute Diploma with the degree Professional Teacher. VI. Class A. — By three years of hard work and hard study, the faith- ful teacher becomes entitled to enter the highest class ; but he never • to be an institute worker. Professional teachers, like ministers and physicians, meet from year to year for professional work. As this class embraces the professional teachers both of the public and private schools, and as it invites to its sessions school officers, ministers, lawyers, physicians, etc., it becomes the focus of educational life and the radiating center for educational reforms. Members appointed report on live educa- tional topics ; these reports are discussed. Important educational ques- tions are discussed and plans of work agreed upon. Each year courses of lessons will be given in advanced subjects, and during the year these subjects will be studied. Arrangements will be made for a course of five or more lectures in each school-house ; tickets for the course to be sold, say for fifty cents, and the proceeds devoted to increasing the library and apparatus. By a system of exchanges, the professional teachers may thus infuse into every community interest and culture. The resulting benefits are incalculable. Organized effort is invincible. Instruction in Normal Institutes. — 1. Subjects and Methods should receive about Equal Attention. The teacher must know the what as well as the how. He will not be able to learn much in four weeks, but he may learn how to master subjects for himself, and how to criticise and correct his own methods. The institute furnishes the key, and the teacher wins success by inde- pendent effort. 2. Theory embodied in Practice is Best. What we do, rather than what we say, produces a lasting impression on other.?. If we could have methods in teaching illus- trated by actual teaching, if we could have excellent teachers in the institutes who would teach a few subject-; in a model and normal manner, it would do incalculable good. What you teach, brother institutor, teach thor- 400 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. oughly ; do not attempt to cover much ground, but let your matter and methods be such as to make those whom you instruct strong and self-helpful. 3. Educational Psychology must be made the Basis of Institute Work. Only profound ignorance of the philos- ophy of education can account for the management of many normal institutes. Teachers work on the surface and become mere copyists. Ungrounded in principles, they have not within themselves the means of growth. Ceasing to advance, in two or three years they become the stunted monuments of arrested growth and educational folly. Where institutes are wisely planned, a few easy lessons in elementary psychology and methods of culture are given to the D class. A few chapters in a suitable book are assigned for study during the first year. Other lessons are given to classes C and B, and other chap- ters are assigned for study during the second and third years. What are the results? (1.) An intense interest in the study of mind ; (2. ) A mastery of educational principles ; (3.) A boundless enthusiasm in the art of human development ; (4.) Independence and originality ; (5.) Accelerated and unlimited growth. 4. Outlines of Institute Worlc. All attempts to out- line detailed institute work are absurd enough. If in- structors are so ignorant as to need these outlines, they will scarcely be able to use them to advantage ; and to ef- ficient instructors such outlines are as useless as they are intolerable. It is infinitely better to use the regular text- books, and assign subjects and pages. Good teaching is worth more than whole encyclopsedias of outlines. ■ 5. School of Observation. A model school, embracing classes in the first and second readers, is of great value. Here the management of children and primary teaching MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. 401 in their best forms are exhibited. This is strictly a school of observation. The members of the institute will be ex- cused from their classes to spend two or three hours each week in the model school. 6. Practice- Teaching. As in the normal school, prac- tice-teaching must be confined chiefly to the regular class work. Each class is divided into groups of about five each ; each group constitutes a class, the members in turn acting as teachers of the class. Matter and method are criticised. Though extremely limited, such practice proves highly beneficial. 7. Lecturing versus Teaching. The normal institute is eminently a school, and not a debating society or a lec- ture club. The pouring-in or cramming process is the worst possible for the institute ; it is so utterly unlike the actual work of the school-room. One or two vigorous conversational lectures each day are every way desirable. One able evening lecture each week is indispensable. But teaching, real teaching, is the staple in well-conducted normal institutes. WOEK OF THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT. — It is the duty of the superintendent — 1. To work up the institute, securing a full attendance. 2. To manage the finances. 3. To supervise boarding arrangements. 4. To appoint examining committees and direct the examinations. 5. In council with the professional teachers, to secure a conductor. 6. In council with the conductor, to secure assistant instructors. 7. To teach two or three classes daily. 402 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. 8. In every way to aid the conductor, but seldom to act as conductor. Qualifications and Duties of Institute Con- ductoks. — Normal institutes by the score are murdered annually by well-meaning but unsuitable conductors. Some lecture their institutes to death ; some bring on a fatal dullness ; some lack the judgment or the nerve to secure efficient assistants ; others kill by miserable man- agement. 1. The Conductor should he a Master Workman. The demand is for men of action, men of ability ; men who are successful teach- ers, who know how to organize, how to teach, and how to man- age schools to the best advantage ; men of experience in actual work in country schools, who know their wants and how to sup- ply them. 2. The Conductor must possess great Organizing and Directing Poicer. He must be systematic in all that he does and in what little he says. He needs the organizing power of a great general — to organize the first half-day, and be ready for work in the after- noon — classes having been formed and lessons assigned, signals and movements practiced and explained until all understand them. The superintendent will see that all the teachers are present the first morning. Vigorous and permanent school organization and management must be taught practically. 3. The Institute Conductor will have Exclusive Control of the Instruction. In council with the superintendent and the assist- ants, he arranges the programme and directs the work. Usually, the conductor will have charge of the professional work, and will be assisted by the county superintendent. 4. The Conductor should usually be a Non-resident of the County. New ideas and new vigor may thus be infused into the county, year by year. Besides, jealousies and the charge of favor- itism may be avoided. Like teachers and county and city super- intendents, institute conductors should be selected with refer- ence to qualifications, regardless of county or State lines. If ever MANAGEMENT AND WORK OF NORMAL INSTITUTES. 403 normal institutes come to grief, it will doubtless be on account of inefficient conductors. The Normal Institute and the ISToemal School. (Supt. J. M. Greenwood.) — " The normal institute can never take the place of the normal school, any more than militia drill can take the place of "West Point. " Years are required to master the branches and understand edu- cational methods. A deep philosopy underlies the whole system of education. It is manifest that all this can not be acquired in four weeks. Normal schools are usually supplied with first-class instructors, master workmen. Normal institutes are too frequent ly conducted by instructors minus all necessary qualifications Normal-school work is thorough work, well finished and rounded normal-institute work is hasty work, spread over much territory more suggestive than reflective, and necessarily very imperfect So, although we count normal institutes an invaluable educational means, to think of allowing them to take the place of our normal schools would be as ridiculous as to allow a single course of lec- tures to take the place of the regular university work." Adapted to all States. — The scheme for normal in- stitutes here sketched is believed to be suited to all the States. While the plan must be modified to meet local conditions and wants, the essential features, it is thought, will remain the same. After the publication of this scheme in the "American Journal of Education," I was gratified to find it widely endorsed by educators. Principal J. W. Shoup gives the following itemized suggestions as to the application of the plan to the Iowa institutes : " Let there be prepared a graded coui*se of instruction, run- ning through three years, on the basis of a four weeks' session. Each institute could then be divided into four classes : those doing the first year's work, those doing the second year's work, those do- ing the third year's work, and those doing advanced work. Let those who have taken the first year's work be carefully examined on it 404 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. at the opening of the second institute, by a board of examiners consisting of the county superintendent, the conductor of the in- stitute, and a third person appointed by the State superintendent. In case the applicant obtains an average of eighty per cent, or more, let him receive a certificate to that effect, which certificate should admit him to the second year's work in any county in the State. Let him be examined on the second year's work as on the first ; at the opening of the third institute, and in case his examination is satisfactory, let him again receive a certificate admitting him to the third year's work in any county in the State. This third year's work should complete the common-school studies, includ- ing a thorough course in didactics ; and when applicants have completed it, and sustained a satisfactory examination as in the former years, let them be granted professional certificates, which shall be honored in all parts of the State ; the county superintend- ents merely endorsing them when teachers move from one county to another. These certificates should be permanent, as are the diplomas of doctors and lawyers. " This plan would, I think, have many advantages over the plan, or rather the lack of plan, now in vogue. We would not need a new course of study each year as now, but a good course once adopted would last for any desired length of time. It would bring about uniformity in our work, and would at once establish a uni- form standard of grade among our teachers in the different coun- ties of the State. It would be a strong inducement for teachers to complete the course, since by so doing they would receive a proper recognition. They would attend more regularly than now, knowing that they must sustain an examination at the beginning of the next session on the work of the grade. It would soon make teaching a profession, as it would establish a class of pro- fessional teachers. It would mark out definite work for the con- ductors, and, instead of scattering as they now do, they would have a definite object in view and work for it." Most of the States are steadily and earnestly striving to perfect their systems of normal institutes. Almost everywhere encouraging progress is being made. MANAGEMENT OF TOWNSHIP INSTITUTES. 405 CHAPTER IV. MANAGEMENT OE TOWNSHIP INSTITUTES. Teachers are earnest men and women. They seek to educate the people as well as the children. The town- ship institute is an excellent means both for professional and popular culture. The potency of system alone is needed to make the township institute an immense edu- cational force, directly affecting the teachers and the people. I. General Plan. — The institutes may be held monthly in the district school-houses of the township. On Friday evening, a live lecture or a stirring discussion will interest the people and the teachers, and do great good. Saturday will be devoted to professional work. A literary entertainment on Saturday evening is every way desirable. The specific plans can be arranged during the normal institute. II. The Conductor. — The professional teachers and the county superintendent, during the normal institute, elect an institute conductor for each township. The same conductor will usually serve during the school-year. To change conductors monthly, though sometimes advisable, renders the institute much less efficient. The county superintendent will fill all vacancies. The conductor appoints the assistant instructors, essayists, and debaters, arranges the times and places of meeting, and presides at all sessions of the institute. While the work must be done chiefly by the teachers of the township, one or more good teachers from other sections will add to the interest. Whenever possible, the county superintendent will of course be present and take a prominent part. 406 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. ■ ■i a >. a il ^j 73 o cl a -a o -C to" 'a ■£ O -si ►J «=; X) -4 o .a =1 O 33 a "E « a <5 8 a •s'a a o "a „• -a o COT3 C3 O O Chi s 1 EH o .a C3 a a §■6 to m tea « 9 a m bcS PJ tt.S a o h H 3.2 E& H 03 a co "3 S &C4 ScQ a o o ^3 b •M Hi s W 1/3 6 g H H 3 « H PS fc) o CD O £& CO co ^ a tt,a a a "£« *.& «§§, _. ^ S © "3 bn Cm o . co ■s s !-5 t« o O -Soa 2b a. a' a o OS , oj tra a tJ 5 a fc =* a o ►3 a CO 'u s a d *n a ■a u o o « 1 ■s co bn b !-I H H-! < •s a i s" a a '•3 a OS g 1 bo a cli s> & • ■gOD g'bo o.a a a a a o ,a O H 3 H "p. a "ca a 2^ a'o OS a p. o 'cl a is §a CD o a, r^ O >'a o o H CO p<° . S i< a 3<3 d O [3 © m' 5 a to o a "rt © 11 o a o C . C3 co tJSJ2 a g 1^ p. CO u c2 © a <«-a a a o 8 ta >a , S .S a "S a g a o a ■s a a PH * o SOD a CD m III • s ZH? M CO 1-2 a S fc a ■sl-g a .2 1 a eg o .a o gb O © ©3 > ^^ "2 « 51 a btJO a a ^ 'en cc© *S a >,co en «a SB 0% •2 3 "S a rn © Sn 5) 3 1 | ^a c3 "«T3 a a «|j C3 to o o -a Ph B H) o W A< P-t CO O ^ a © o <1 o E o 1 ■c p. CD U bo o a a > 5 02 u a 1 | be a •3 C3 a.S <1 O © b o CO M H MANAGEMENT OF TOWNSHIP INSTITUTES. 4-07 III. The Peogramme. — During the normal insti- tute, the superintendent and the professional teachers of the county arrange a programme for the winter campaign. The work will be about the same in each township. The number of meetings will vary in different counties ; in most counties, six meetings are advisable. The accompa- nying programme gave excellent results in actual use. Though strictly elementary, it is suggestive. The con- ductor and superintendent may make such changes as seem necessary, in order to adapt the general programme to the wants of the several townships. IV. Entertainment. — The teacher of the district where the institute is held will play host or hostess ; the several teachers who attend will be his guests. The people of the district will gladly entertain the visitors, but the teacher must make the arrangements some days before the meeting. These meetings may be made real soul- feasts, both to the teachers and to the citizens of the district. V. County Superintendent. — Whenever possible, the county superintendent should attend these meetings. They enable him to accomplish double the good he other- wise could. He reaches at once the teachers and the people. An efficient superintendent will not rest till he secures a good working institute, in each township of his county. VI. Pioneer Work. — In counties where normal in- stitutes are not held, or where the superintendent lacks organizing power or shirks work, the teachers of each township must take the matter in hand. Any one may call a meeting, at which the campaign may be planned. Teachers can not afford to neglect this work. Let no live teacher wait for others to move. 408 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. Ghaded-School Institutes. — The teachers of graded schools hold semi-monthly institutes. Except in cities, they should also attend the township and normal institutes. City teachers seldom voluntarily attend institutes or educa- tional associations, and rarely read educational journals or study educational works. At present, the city schools are far in ad- vance; hut a quarter of a century of systematic effort will assur- edly place the rural districts in the lead. Very soon teachers who do not work in normal and township institutes, and who ignore educational literature, will certainly be permitted to enjoy the sweets of private life. CHAPTER V. THE COMING TEACHER.* I. His Position. — The old schoolmaster belongs to the past. The modern teacher marks the transition from the old to the new. The coming teacher will fill an hon- ored position among the illustrious of the earth. With noble mien, he will stand in the arena of thought and action, the peer of the statesman, the clergyman, and the philosopher. II. What he will be. — The coming teacher will be a superior man or woman, physically, mentally, and morally. 1. He will he a Splendid Type of Physical Manhood. His erect form, buoyant step, graceful movements, musi- cal voice, powerful and well-poised nervous system, exu- berant spirits, and enduring strength will fit him to * To a report of Hon. Newton Bateman, State Superintendent of Illi- nois, I am indebted for much in this chapter. I read the report several years ago, when first published, but have not seen it since. THE COMING TEACHER. 409 direct, to manage, to instruct, and to inspire. Teaching is thought to be easy work ; hence the tendency to fill our ranks with weaklings and invalids. Fatal mistake ! No other profession requires such robust health, such bound- ing spirits, such nerves of steel. The nations are begin- ning to learn this lesson. The coming teacher will take his place with the soldier and the athlete as a splendid type of physical manhood. 2. The Coming Teacher will possess Mental Power and Vigor. He will be the peer of the editor, the states- man, the minister, the lawyer, and the physician. He will lead his pupils up to a grander, higher life. In all the movements of society, he will be a prominent actor. He will profoundly study men and affairs as well as books. He will ponder well the great problems of humanity, and he will so educate his pupils as to render them of the greatest possible value to society and to themselves. Teaching requires talent of the highest order. Too long have theology, medicine, law, and commerce absorbed our best men ; too long has the error prevailed that any one can teach children . Society should demand her most gifted men and women for the school-room. 3. Thorough Scholarship and Broad Culture will characterize the Coming Teacher. To good natural abili- ties he will add learning, culture, and discipline. He will know vastly more than text-books, and will be able to lead his pupils into broader and richer fields of thought. He will know how to introduce practical knowledge of almost every kind into the subjects of study. To call him a teacher whose scholarship is rudimentary, shallow, and nebulous, whose knowledge is elementary, crude, and scanty, and whose notions are narrow, bigoted, and erroneous, is the worst of misnomers. The time is at 18 410 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. hand when ignorant pretenders must be excluded from our noble profession. The coming teacher will possess breadth of learning and breadth of culture. He will be master of the subjects taught, independent of the text- books, and capable of the most searching analysis and the clearest synthesis. 4. The Coming Teacher will be a Person with Sound Principles, Pure and Nolle Impulses, and a Stainless Character. They who mold our youth, and whose mis- sion it is to inspire love for everything that is pure and right, must themselves be pure and true. All the vicious, all canting hypocrites, all whose impulses are low and selfish, must be excluded from the brotherhood of teachers. Here we must have genuine men and women, such as have hearts full of love for God and man, such as will, by every word and act, help their pupils to become strong to resist the wrong and do the right. The coming teacher, with these sterling traits, will do more to elevate our race than all other reformers combined . 5. The Coming Teacher will he an Educational Artist. He will be a profound student of child-nature, as well as of the educational thought and experience of the race. The great educational principles, "Mind and body are interdependent "; " The soul is self-acting "; "Educational growth results from well-directed effort "; " The self -activ- ity of child-mind, stimulated and directed by the teacher, results in development "; " To take an intelligent step, the teacher must understand the plan of child-mind, as well as the plan of the subject taught," etc., will enter into the warp and woof of his mental economy. As an artist, he will be guided by these principles. He will teach things, principles, thoughts — not mere words and book- formulse. He will train the pupil to be observant and THE COMING TEACHER. 41 1 self-reliant, and to use judgment as well as perception and memory. Under his plastic hand, the entire nature of the child — physical, mental, and moral — will bud, and blossom, and bear fruit. The grandest, noblest manhood will be the product. Our race will enter upon the sub- lime phases of human possibilities, foretold by poets and philanthropists. Then will be realized universal educa- tion and universal brotherhood. III. HOW TO SECURE EDUCATIONAL ARTISTS. — Phil- ip thanked the gods that Alexander was born when he could have Aristotle for a teacher. Every child has as much right to skilled instruction as the son of a king. The world's great want is educational artists. The world's great work is to provide efficient teachers for the masses. 1. The Teacher's Position must be made more Desirable. None but the worthy must be permitted to enter this profession, and society must be educated to hold in high esteem the self-sacrificing and hard-working school-teach- er. The people must learn to honor, and trust, and co- operate with these brave men and women. 2. The Teacher's Position must be made more Secure. No other vocation is now so precarious. For all sorts of reasons, or for none, the teacher is "turned off." The common-school teacher is literally a wanderer. Is it sur- prising that competent teachers seek other fields of labor ? When all this shall be changed, and when the people shall learn to spare no effort to secure and to keep the best teachers, our most gifted youth will gladly fit themselves for educators. 3. Teaching must be made more Remunerative. Ex- cepting California, no State or country adequately remu- nerates the common-school teacher. Short terms and low wages are fatal to efficiency. Ten dollars less per 412 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. month decides the average school-board to employ an inferior teacher. So long as we pursue the ruinous policy of exacting a dollar's worth of work for fifty cents, just so long will we fail to secure efficient teachers. Talent commands its price. Adequate compensation is absolutely essential in order to secure the most worthy men and wo- men for our teachers. Henry "Ward Beecher, in speaking of teachers and salaries, says : " There is no profession so exacting, none that breaks men down so early, as that of faithful teaching; and there is no econ- omy so penurious, and no policy so intolerably mean, as that by which the custodians of public affairs screw down to the starva- tion-point the small wages of men and women who are willing to devote their time and strength to teaching the young." 4. Positions must be made dependent on Merit. Fa- voritism and nepotism are the bane of the profession. They literally drive the most worthy out of the profes- sion. The selection of a teacher upon merit is the excep- tion. The modest and worthy teacher gives place to the dolt who happens to have an influential uncle or a rich brother-in-law, or who belongs to a popular church or to the dominant political party. This crime against the race demands a speedy and radical remedy. The indig- nation of outraged humanity should be visited upon the guilty perpetrators of these frauds. School-boards must be held to strict account. Necessary safeguards must be provided. He who votes for a teacher from favoritism must be branded as a public enemy ; and unscrupulous place-hunters must be expelled from the brotherhood. 5. The Best Means for educating Teachers must be •provided. The coming teacher will usually be a grad- uate of a normal school ; hence these institutions must be THE COMING TEACHER. 413 made every way worthy. Normal institutes must be maintained to stimulate continued growth. Our educa- tional literature needs to be vastly improved and extended. The coming teacher will not only be familiar with the educational achievements of the past, but also with the current educational thought and movements. IV. The Coming Teacher will be a Man among Men. — He will boldly lead his pupils and the people up to a higher life. He will dare to teach vital truths, and will not shrink from pushing them to their results. 1. The Coming Teacher will not le a mere Place-filler. " So long as the teachers as a body will not advance from the low place of being in-pourers of facts, so long will the salaries be low, and their position among men wanting in dignity. The clergy, years ago, had a far more command- ing pulpit than now ; ministers expressed themselves freely upon all subjects ; yielding to popular clamor was a fatal mistake. Teachers have yielded to pressure from without and timidity from within, and have set up a low ideal of what their office really is. The teachers of the present are largely place-fillers merely; and the people have become satisfied with the machine men and women — the fact-tellers. The teacher is appointed by politicians ; he holds his place by the consent of politi- cians. These facts may be unpleasant to state, but the real condition of things is well known to all who ob- serve." (Kellogg.) 2. The Coming Teacher will work a Revolution. " What should be done to remedy this state of affairs ? Is there a remedy ? We believe most sincerely that there is a remedy, and that it lies with the teachers. Some may expect we shall counsel the teachers to unite and form 'protective associations,' etc. Nonsense! If edu- 414 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. cation is the good thing that it is said to be, why not employ that ? Educate your pupils and the people con- cerning education. Emerge from the chrysalis state of employing yourselves in pouring out a dose of facts each day, and begin to teach. Let your influence be felt out- side of the school-room. Begin to hold educational meet- ings. If three persons believe in education, they will want to get together and tallc about it ; if they believe in it, they can get others to believe in it, and not till then." V. The Mission of the Coming Teacher. — Our best school systems are now comparatively inefficient be- cause of the incompetency of teachers, and our best sys- tems are full of defects. 1. T/ie Coming Teacher will perfect our School Sys- tems, so as to secure the highest results at the least ex- pense. Only teachers are qualified to perfect our educa- tional plans. The outlines of the coming system are now well defined, and our educators, with singular unanimity, support the proposed measures. 2. TJie Coming Teacher will revolutionize our School Methods. After all that has been done, the majority of our schools are wretchedly taught. But the coming teach- er, even now, is at work in favored localities, and is doing bravely and well the work of revolutionizing the school methods. It may take generations, but ultimately the coming teacher will find his way into every district. 3. The Coming Teacher will Teach. " What is teach- ing ? " In the technical sense it is not easily defined. If a man imparts knowledge, he teaches. If he gives intel- ligence, he teaches. If he tells a truth not before known, he teaches. If a man guides and directs in the pursuit of knowledge, he teaches. If he counsels, if he admon- ishes, he teaches. In all these senses, the privilege is not THE COMING TEACHER. 415 very great ; the field is not very inviting. Some man, confined to narrow limits and stinted observation dur- ing the long years of his heavy life, is suddenly favored with a change. The sunlight of intelligence falls upon his vision. A world before unknown is open to his view. The towering Alps, with their peaks of eternal ice and snow, fill his mind with conceptions too wonderful to remain locked up in one small brain. It is a privilege for him, in his turn, to call his neighbors and friends around him and depict this union of the earth and sky, to tell the wonders of the gems that hang sparkling from their summits. It is a privilege for him to teach. " The child that walks for the first time through the menagerie, comes home with the canvas of his memory densely cov- ered with lions, and tigers, and elephants, and monkeys, and ostriches, and animals of all kinds, and birds of a great variety of feathers, on which his own imagination gazes as the picture of the world when the ' lion and the lamb shall lie down together'; and he calls his fellows around him, who are soon persuaded that he is the * little child' who ' shall lead them.' This kind of teaching is a privilege to Mm. But these are examples of teaching only in the general sense. "To witness young thoughts springing up, new facul- ties developing the tendrils of the mental vine reaching out to fasten themselves on surrounding thought, the gather- ing up of mental strength, the accumulation of mental wealth, and to be instrumental in such a work — this is a privilege. To inspire and direct, and be the guiding architect in building up a noble character, and fitting it for immortality and the happiness of the blessed, is & privi- lege pregnant with eternal delight." (" New York Jour- nal of Education.") PART IX. SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. — Vital Educational Principles. II. — Perfection of School Systems. III. — Conditions of Educational Progress. IV. — School Supervision. V. — Waste Labor in Education. VI. — Educational Reforms. PART IX. SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. VITAL EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND THEIR APPLI- CATION". I. Truth Reached by one People should be Ac- cepted by All. — Truth is cosmic. " Seize upon truth where'er it may be found " is the key to progress. The press, steam, and electricity have made the nations one family ; the achievements of an individual or a nation at once become the property of the race. Thus it oc- curs that institutions are born in a day, and the world's progress is startling. This principle is now the accepted policy in science, art, and practical life ; its thorough introduction into the educational work is a prime factor in human elevation. Illustrations. A quarter of a century ago, Minnesota was the home of wild men and wild beasts; now Minnesota is a great State, with a school system equal to the best. The school system of Japan, though scarce a decade has passed since it was founded, compares favorably with the school systems of Europe and America. 420 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. II. Education is an Investment, not an Expense. — Money judiciously expended for educational purposes pays the largest dividends. A truly educated people are always a prosperous and happy people. Education pays. Only the ignorant and vicious grumble about judicious school taxes. Only stupid people want cheap teachers and cheap edu- cational instrumentalities. III. Educators should Direct the Educational Work. — Experts direct in every department of practical life. Engineers plan our railroads, architects construct our buildings, physicians direct the healing art, lawyers man- age legal matters. The knowledge and skill acquired by long years of devotion to a special work count. The folly of employing preachers to construct railroads, and lawyers to prescribe for disease, is only exceeded by that of leav- ing everybody or anybody to direct educational work. The educational work demands the best talent and tbc widest experience. That experts should plan and direct every step here, is infinitely more important than that we should have skilled en- gineers and physicians. Never will the best educational results be reached until this principle predominates. IV. Schools and Teachers should be Eemoved from Local and Partisan Meddling. — Our public schools occupy common ground. Here Jew and Gentile, Christian and Infidel, Catholic and Protestant may unite. The development of man physically, intellectu- ally, and morally belongs to our common humanity. Partisan or denominational interference with our public schools is unpardonable. This principle is beginning to be recognized. Onr schools are more and more removed from the interference of partisan elec- PERFECTION OF SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 421 tions and local disturbances, but the time has not yet come when we dare even indicate the results of the complete application of this principle. V. Oue School Systems must be so Planned and Adjusted as to Produce Unity and Harmony. — Sys- tem secures economy, harmony, and efficiency. Our edu- cational institutions, public and private, are but parts of one great whole. We have as yet but fragments and ag- gregations, not systems. Adjustment is needed every- where. The work of public and private schools must be agreed upon. All elements of discord must be elimi- nated. The five principles here enumerated are far-reaching and all- pervading. When our school work shall be ordered in accordance with them, we may expect our children to be rightly educated, our school funds wisely and honestly expended, and our systems to be the best in the world. CHAPTER II. PERFECTION OF SCHOOL SYSTEMS. The application of these principles in a single direction must suffice. Details here would be out of place. To the people of a State, two courses of work are possible: they may follow either the tinkering or the commission plan. The Tinkering Plan ignores the results worked out by other States and nations. Every one deems himself competent to tinker the school system of his State. 422 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. Legislators " cut and try " ; amend and repeal ; advance here and retrograde there. They try everything im- practical and absurd. Tinkering has given most States a "thing of shreds and patches," instead of an efficient school system. The Commission Plan reverses all this. Experts di- rect all successful movements in practical life ; the com- mission plan simply applies this principle to the educa- tional work. Weary with tinkering, our people demand school systems embodying all the perfections reached by the thought and experience of mankind. By selecting our most experienced educators as a commission to plan and direct this work, the desired results may be reached. I. State Board of Education. — The commission chosen to perfect and direct the school system of a State will constitute the State board of education. It would be well to have in this board leading educators, chosen from each Congressional district. The number should not be less than twenty. The State superintendent should be ex officio president of the board, and should nominate the members of the board, subject to the approval of the State senate. A State board, thus constituted, would be a perpetual educational commission, and its mission would be the perfection and direction of the school system of the State. II. Duties op the State Board. 1. To suggest Improvements. Familiar with the educa- tional work of all ages, as well as with the current move- ments in all States and countries, the board would be able to present wise laws, and to present them in the best shape. Crude and costly experiments would be avoided. In time, a school system of approximate perfections would be developed. PERFECTION OF SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 423 2. To construct and adjust Courses of Study. This is professional work of the highest importance, and should always be left to the most competent educators. 3. To appoint and remove County Superintendents. The board, composed of responsible and competent edu- cators, might be relied upon to give each county a thor- oughly efficient superintendent. 4. To select Text-Books. We must have persons of unquestioned integrity and ability to select our text- books. No tribunal could be formed more competent than a State board of prominent educators ; left to such men, the selection of superior books would be a matter of course. III. Plan of the Future. — The adoption of the commission plan in some form is merely a question of time. Ultimately, educators will direct the educational work. Happy those States and countries that have the wisdom to commit the educational work to competent educators ! * IV. The Commission Plan favored by Educa- tors. — Intelligent friends of popular education realize the failure of our so-called school systems to produce re- sults commensurate with the expenditures. Many dis- cern the cause of failure and the remedy. Educators of the State of New York recently addressed the Legislature as follows : "Business principles must be brought to bear on education. There are thirty thousand teachers employed ; there are eleven millions of dollars expended ; hence economy demands that the * " The Best System of Schools for a State," by Superintendent J. H. Smart, of Indiana, and " The American System of Education," by Dr. W. T. Harris, of St. Louis, should be studied by all who aspire to understand and improve our school systems. 424 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. most efficient plan be adopted for the selection, employment, and payment of the teachers, so that the children will get the full value of this vast sum of money. After a conference with men from all sections, we make the following suggestions : "1. That you enact a law whereby the Senate, on the recom- mendation of the Governor, shall elect a ' State Board of Educa- tion,' consisting of at least twenty able educators, to serve six years without pay, their expenses only being paid. "2. This board to have the direction of the educational affairs of the State. " 3. This board to determine courses of study for the public schools of the State. " 4. This board to appoint the State superintendent with one or more assistants. " 5. This board to appoint and remove county commissioners. Term, six years. " 6. This board to direct the institute work, etc., etc. "Finally, we ask that you will not neglect your duty to the children. Is it too much to ask the Legislature of the State to adopt as one of its mottoes, ' Come, let us live for the children ! ' " The educators in nearly all the States speak with equal emphasis. "We plead for the children and the race. Our law-makers must hear ! CHAPTER III. CONDITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. Progress is the Spirit of Civilization. — The world's educational progress during the present century- is even more wonderful than its material advancement. At the beginning of the century, education was regarded as the privilege of the few ; now, the duty of providing CONDITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 425 for universal education is unquestioned. Then, no nation had a public school system ; now, every civilized state sustains free schools. Then, school buildings were hovels ; now, the school-room is a palace. Then, school furniture, school apparatus, and school-books were shockingly crude and scanty ; now, these instrumentalities are marvels of beauty and skill. Then, the old schoolmaster was the butt of ridicule ; now, the teacher begins to take rank as a leader among men. The Old and New Education. — In two or three decades, our new education will become the old. Our favorite systems, methods, and appliances will seem crude. Marvelous as has been the progress, especially during the last half century, still grander and vaster developments await well-directed effort. To-day the masses of our race are barbarians. In the most enlightened of nations the millions are but semi-barbarous. Our mission is the ele- vation of the race. Stupendous work ! Error is fleeting ; truth endures. In so far as we reach truth, we build for the future. Truth alone benefits man. He is the great- est benefactor who eradicates most error and establishes most truth. In view of boundless possibilities, we turn to the pressing interrogation, What are the conditions of continued and accelerated educational progress ? I. Better Physical Conditions is the First Con- dition of Educational Progress. — The soul is em- bodied. The organism through which the mind works needs to be healthy and vigorous. People need time for culture. Human life should not be a mere struggle for existence. Greater physical vigor and more leisure lie at the foundation of human elevation. We venture some suggestions. 1. To malce our Bodies fit Instruments of the Soul is 426 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. a Sacred Duty. Good parentage, careful rearing, and hygienic living are simply imperative. The duty of phys- ical health and vigor should be inculcated around every fireside, taught in every school-room, pressed by every journal, proclaimed from every platform, and thundered from every pulpit. 2. Temperance is a sine qua non. Temperance is self- control, the subjection of the animal to the man. Tem- perance tends to health and leisure. Intemperance is the curse of our race, and must be removed. We specify : (1.) The Liquor Traffic with its Train of Evils must he Prohibited, The cost is fearful. In our country and Great Britain, the direct and indirect cost of alcoholic drinks exceeds the cost of food and clothing. Worse, the liquor traffic brutalizes, destroys physical vigor, burns out manhood, and leaves the body a fit dwelling-place for fiends. (2.) The Tobacco Traffic with its Benumbing and De- grading Effects must be Abolished. We need not argue. The startling facts stare us in the face. The liquor traffic and the tobacco traffic must go. Abolish these, and you change seas of human woe to mountains of human joy. You double the physical vigor of the race. You save time and money enough to feed, clothe, and give a college edu- cation to every child in the land. Alcohol and tobacco must go ! (3.) The Body must be made the Servant of the Mind. To pamper the body and starve the soul is the most idiotic of crimes. The body serves for a day and is shuffled off ; the mind goes on for ever. To live for luxury and lust is to subject the man to the brute, and to exchange an eter- nity of happiness for a fitful dream. Obedience to the physical and moral laws of our being gives vigorous bod- ies — fit servants for immortal souls. CONDITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 427 Right living is inexpensive, and gives at once health and time for culture. This is no Utopian dream, but simple common sense. To make educational progress and the elevation of the race possi- ble, we must begin at the foundation, and better the physical con- ditions of the masses. II. A Higher Educational Ideal is the Sec- ond Condition of Educational Progress. — Human achievement never surpasses its ideal. A low ideal bars grand results. Lofty ideals inspire and lead to greatness. 1. The Educational Ideal of the Masses is Utilitarian and Material. "Will it pay ? Will it enhance material prosperity ? This low ideal hangs like an incubus over all educational work, rendering progress impossible ex- cept as the ideal is elevated. 2. The Ideal of the Masses as to Higher Education is Erroneous. "Education unfits for ordinary life ; educa- tion renders the people discontented ; education makes people ashamed to work ; education causes college boys and girls to become lazy." Such notions, though com- mon, are false and misleading. 3. To produce a Nobler Manhood is the True Educa- tional Ideal. Let the masses once realize that education is the development and training which renders a man of most value to himself and the race, and fits him for the highest happiness of which he is capable — let a noble manhood become the popular educational ideal, and a stu- pendous change will take place in our educational work. III. Wise Agitation is the Third Condition of Educational Progress. — Agitation is cosmic ; agitation keeps pure the ocean and the air ; agitation is the process of purifying and elevating society. To effect results, the agitation must be well directed and persistent. Educa- tors may learn many a lesson from politicians. Every 428 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. State should have a well-digested platform, looking to steady educational advancement. The planks will he changed to meet the demands of the State and the times. IV. Ideal Educational Platform. First Flank. Resolved, That only persons who have demonstrated by experience their fitness to teach shall he employed as teachers. This plank is sound, and will endure for all time. Ability to teach can only be tested by teaching. The aspirant may for a few months assist a skillful teacher in a graded or ungraded school. The compensation will be practice and criticism. The practice may be secured in normal and training schools. A school is for the benefit of the pupils. It is certain that no one can teach who has not practically learned the art. This plan justly excludes un- tried persons from the brotherhood of teachers, thus protecting childhood from bungling experimenters. Second Plank. Resolved, That the position of % the efficient teacher shall be made reasonably permanent. The policy of changing teachers quarterly or yearly, or of having a female teacher in the summer and a male teacher in the winter, is simply ruinous. Good teachers are driven out of the profession, and half the money expended is wasted. The loss to the pupil can not be estimated. "While teaching continues to be the most precarious of all occupations, educational progress will continue to be seriously retarded. Third Plank. Resolved, That efficient teachers shall receive fair salaries. The mass of our teachers are meanly paid. High-sounding speeches about education, and the meager salaries paid teachers, are shameful contrasts. The salaries of teachers should assuredly compare favorably with the remuneration of other occupations re- quiring equal skill and labor. This is fair. Then we will be able CONDITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 429 to retain in the profession talent and efficiency. Putting positions up to the lowest bidder, making salaries the same regardless of qualifications, and reducing salaries below the cost of intelligent living, are blots upon our civilization. Fourth Planh. Resolved, That county superinten- dents must be successful teachers, and must possess a State certificate, or its equivalent. The superintendent plans and directs, and hence must be a leader. As such he must be a master workman and familiar with the details of the work ; hence must be chosen from the ranks of professional teachers. A judge must be a man learned in the law ; how much more should the superintendent be a skilled educator! To appoint or elect superintendents from merely par- tisan or personal considerations is monstrous. Fitness must deter- mine the choice. ' Fifth Planh. Resolved, That school officers and teach- ers, from State superintendent down, must be chosen on account of fitness. We must have ability and fitness in all departments of the- school work. Place-hunting, favoritism, partisan influences, and denominational preferences must be rebuked. "The case is a rare exception," says a leading educator, " where teachers and school officers are not chosen by political influences, or by denom- inational preferences, or by personal feeling. If they are good men and women, it is accidental. A rascally state of things for the nineteenth century." Sixth Planh. Resolved, That teachers and friends of education must organize, and must vote, regardless of party affiliations, for men and measures favorable to edu- cational progress. V. Conclusions.— Ideas must become acts. Our educational associations are rich in ideas, but the conver- 430 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. sion of ideas into acts seems to be a lost art. These as- sociations often remind us of the "ten thousand men that marched up the hill and then marched down again. " Momentous interests call educators together to consult and determine ; they should go forth to achieve. A work- ing platform would augment the value of educational as- sociations a thousand fold. A political educational party, or a political temperance party, is an inexcusable blunder. What we want is that the friends of human elevation act as one man, and work for results. In public and pri- vate, in the caucus, at the polls, and in the legislature, the united and concentrated efforts of the friends of edu- cation will tell for human good. Organized and well- directed effort succeeds. A bold and determined policy may frighten weaklings, but it will command the respect and support of men and women. CHAPTER IV. EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION. The marvelous progress in education is largely' due to organized supervision. Everywhere the educational ad- vancement of a state or a nation is in the ratio of the efficiency of its supervision. "Without supervision the tendency of all work is to drift to the lowest level. The poorest work that can draw its money drags down the rest to its level irresistibly, when there is no higher au- thority to measure results and pronounce upon them. With competent supervision all work tends to struggle up EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION. 431 to the highest level of attainment. The best work is con- tinually held up before the workmen. The best methods, the best results, are made the standard." The rapidity with which States sustaining thorough supervision come to the front is the unanswerable logic of events. Links oe Supervision. — Our American system of schools embraces the following : I. National. — In the report of the national Commis- sioner of Education, as in a mirror, one may see reflected the actual status of education — its organization and re- sults — not only in the United States, but in all parts of the world. II. State. — The State superintendent of public in- struction has charge of the apportionment of the State school fund, the organization of educational institutes, the collection of statistics, and a general supervision over the common schools, so far as the execution of the State laws is concerned. III. County. — The county superintendent or commis- sioner has the supervision of the schools of the coun- ty, and works under direction of the State superinten- dent. IV. Township. — The principal of the recognized township central high school is ex officio superintendent of all the schools in the municipal township, and works un- der direction of the county superintendent. V. City. — Superintendents of the city schools have jurisdiction over systems of schools organized indepen- dently of county supervision, under the immediate direc- tion of the State superintendent. With this five-fold system of supervision perfected, the course of American education will be right on- ward. 432 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. COUNTY SUPERVISION. System, energy, and thorough supervision are the es- sential elements of success. They are nowhere so in- dispensable as in the school work. Supervision is even more necessary in the rural districts than in cities, as the teachers in general are less experienced and change more frequently. I. The County the Unit. — For the purposes of su- pervision, the county is wisely made the unit. (1.) The school work is thus made to harmonize with the other in- terests of the State. (2.) The work in most counties is sufficient to engage the entire time of a worthy educator. (3.) In populous counties, it is better to employ one or more assistants than to divide the counties. Subordinate township supervision is the right solution. The county plan gives vastly better results than district or indepen- dent township supervision. (4.) The school work of the county is unitized. Experience as well as theory points to county supervision as permanent because best. II. The Name. — County superintendent, county ex- aminer, and county commissioner are all used. The work is substantially the same, whether performed by a super- intendent, a commissioner, or an examiner. Superinten- dent is the title used in twenty States, and should be uni- formly used. III. Status of County Superintendents. — The county superintendency should be an employment, not an office. It should be strictly professional, and similar to city superintendency. Making it an office involves great difficulties. Superintendents should be employed and dismissed on precisely the same basis that teachers are employed and dismissed. EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION. 433 The correctness of this position will hardly be ques- tioned. According to this plan, those best fitted for the work, regardless of sex, sect, party, county, or State, can be employed. The superintendent will then be untram- meled. I can see no other way in which county super- vision can be made fully satisfactory. IV. Employment akd Eemoval. — Here we find the cause of failure or the key to success. Five plans are be- ing tried. In fourteen States the people elect ; in three, county courts appoint ; in three, the State superintendent or governor appoints ; in three, the State boards of educa- tion elect and remove. 1. Election by the People, as in the employment of teachers, is the worst possible plan. In no State does it give satisfaction. The menace of a popular election is fatal to the highest efficiency of the superintendency. 2. Appointment by County Courts is decidedly objectionable. Karely do we find such tribunals competent or free from partisan or personal bias. 3. Election by the School Officers of the Townships gives Mod- erate Results. The directors in Pennsylvania, and the trustees in Indiana, elect. Though not always the best, passably good selec- tions are generally made. In most States, the best available plan seems to be election by the presidents of the several school boards. 4. Appointment and Removal by the State Superintendent, with the Consent of the Governor, has much to commend it. 5. Employment and Removal by an Efficient State Board of Education is doubtless the best possible Plan. Such a board will be composed of leading educators, representing all parts of the State. The professional standing of the members of the board guarantees the selection of the most competent persons, and the summary removal of the inefficient. The board would not be restricted by county or State lines. As in the selection of teachers, qualifications, and not residence, should determine the choice. This plan impresses us with the force of an intuition. It could 19 434 SYSTEM AND PROGEESS IN EDUCATION. not fail to give each county a first-class superintendent. All the conditions of success — competency, efficiency, permanency, and independence — would be secured. V. Teem of Employment. — Four years is probably the most desirable term. A good superintendent should be retained at least two terms, and a poor one should be dismissed at once. The longer a good superintendent is retained, the better. As with teachers, frequent changes preclude success. In four States the term is four years ; in three, three years ; in twenty-one, two years ; and in two, one year. Short terms are objectionable for several reasons ; obviously because first-class educators will not accept the position for a short term, and because the time is too short to work out plans. VI. Salaeies of Supeeintendents. — The salary should be such as will command the entire time and energies of able educators. To direct the school work of a county requires as great ability as to govern a State or to command an army. The salaries paid must be suf- ficient to command such ability. A good superintendent is invaluable to the county ; an incompetent one may do much injury. Here, as elsewhere, judicious expenditure is the true economy. VII. Qualifications of County Supeeinten- dents. 1. The Superintendent must be a TJiorough Scholar ; otherwise he is not competent to determine the scholarship of teachers, or to examine schools. 2. The Superintendent must be an Efficient Teacher; other- wise he is incapable of criticising, instructing, and directing oth- ers. To appoint to this work an ignoramus, or to appoint a law- yer, a clergyman, or a doctor, is a serious blunder. A skilled teacher is needed to direct teachers. EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION. 435 3. The Superintendent must oe Practical ; and, besides this, lie must possess great organizing and managing power. 4. The Superintendent must have Vigorous Health and Untir- ing Energy ; otherwise he is unfit for a work requiring constant travel and great physical and mental labor by nigbt as well as by day. 5. The Superintendent must possess true Moral Worth; oth- erwise he will fail to give a high moral tone to the teachers and schools of the county. 6. The Test of Competency must be a State Certificate or a Professional Diploma. No one should be eligible to this position who has not taught successfully for at least three years. The State superintendent or the State board should examine and com- mission superintendents. " The real superintendent needed is one who can so inspire the teachers that school shall be a living thing, and not a clanking and otherwise groaning machine." Duties of County Superintendents. — As the head of the school system in his county, the superintendent vitalizes and directs all. His duties are onerous, and upon their faithful discharge depends the educational progress of the county. I. Financial Duties. — The financial management of our schools is of paramount importance. The work must be so directed as to secure efficiency without burden- ing the people. Wise foresight and system, the utmost economy, care to avoid losses, and the judicious expen- diture of money, are some of the items demanding the attention of a vigilant superintendent. While in most States the finances are intrusted to others, the superin- tendent can largely direct the financial policy of his coun- ty, and thus advance the school interests. More and more, legislatures are disposed to commit the supervision and direction of the school finances of the county to the su- perintendent. 436 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. II. Popular Duties. — The people must be educated, and interested in the school work. Through the press, by lectures, and through the normal and township insti- tutes, the superintendent may do a great work. The teachers, the ministry, and all other active friends of edu- cation are his coadjutors. He not only works hard him- self, but also organizes and directs all the educational forces. He makes popular education a reality. III. Official Duties. — The superintendent instructs school officers, decides disputed points, and sees that each officer discharges his duties. Here he meets difficulties that test him to the utmost. Unless blessed with good judgment and possessed of much practical knowledge, failure is inevitable. IV. Statistical Duties. — An industrious county su- perintendent is needed to procure and tabulate full and accurate statistics. Without such an agency, the statistics usually procured are so defective as to be almost worthless. Few seem to realize the immense importance of correct school statistics. V. Architectural Duties. — A sensible and influen- tial county superintendent is needed to aid in the selection of school grounds, the planning of buildings, and the selection of furniture and apparatus. Probably more than half of the school-houses are badly located, badly con- structed, badly furnished, badly heated and ventilated, and chronically in bad repair. Suitable outhouses are rare. Few schools have the necessary apparatus. These gigantic evils affect to an alarming extent the health and progress of the pupils. A capable superintendent can do much to remedy these evils. VI. Examination of Teachers. — There is a press- ing need of a thorough and impartial county superinten- EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION. 437 dent to examine teachers. The teacher's certificate, as generally given, is a sham— a mere guess. In two days an expert may determine the qualifications of twenty teach- ers. The oral and the written examinations should oc- cupy about equal time. By dividing the candidates into two sections, and by having one of his assistants manage the written examination, the superintendent may give all his time to the oral work. He can test the scholarship and power to explain ; he can have each applicant conduct recitations, and thus test his ability to teach ; he can have each one organize his school, and thus show his plan of classification and government. A certificate given after such an examination would mean, "Examined and found qualified." To protect a county against the curse of in- competent teachers is of the utmost importance. A thor- ough, conscientious county superintendent alone can be relied on to do this work. The superintendent should in all cases call to his assistance three professional teachers. No certificate should be issued with- out the approval of two of his assistants. This custom, now law in some States, ought to become law in all States. VII. School Examination Duties. — Superinten- dents should examine, not visit schools. Visiting schools is nearly always a sham. A grandmother with her knit- ting would do about as much good as the visits of the average county superintendent. Such useless and sense- less visits have done much to render the superintendency disreputable. A practical people have a right to expect results. A few suggestions from the chapter of experi- ence may prove acceptable. 1. Time Spent. Not less than a full half-day should be spent in each school ; in some schools, a full day should be spent. An 438 SYSTEM AND PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. energetic and systematic superintendent can manage two hundred schools by examining two daily. A county with two hundred and fifty or more schools should furnish an assistant superintendent or provide subordinate township supervision. 2. Well-defined Object. The superintendent wishes to ascer- tain the exact condition of things, that he may help teachers, pu- pils, and parents. He thoroughly digests his plan and works to it. If possible, he secures the attendance of the school-board and some of the parents. 3. Inspection of the Programme. Is the school well graded and well classified? Is each moment spent to the best advantage? What changes ought to be made ? 4. Grading the Teachers. During the first hour let the teacher proceed with his usual work. Critically, but impartially, he is graded on the following points : VISITATION GRADES OF TEACOEES. Teachers. m 'A H is M W ft K o 2 •a < a ^ a PS W Ci P g W ft. O ■ H H High scho ° 1 ' 4 yeara ' [ 3. Normal school (special course). 1. Elementary Schools. For greater system in distributing school attendance, the city is divided into districts, and a school is located at some convenient point in each. These schools take the name of the geographical division, and are called " district " schools. In some cities district limits coincide with ward lines, and on that account the schools are called " ward " schools. (1.) Primary Schools. The line of division between primary and grammar school is not distinctly marked ; and there is some difficulty in fixing the exact point at which the primary course ends and the grammar-school course begins. But, for all practi- cal purposes, the course of the primary school may be considered as extending to the close of the fourth year, at which point oral lessons in grammar are usually introduced, and the grammar-school course properly begins. Generally the term primary is applied to any school in which only the lower grades of the district-school course are taught. Primaries are often established in sparsely populated districts as a matter of convenience and economy. They are also sometimes opened in densely populated districts, as a means of relief to the grammar schools. Pupils completing the course of these primaries are transferred to the nearest school of the proper grade to receive them. (2.) Grammar Schools. The grammar schools constitute the highest division of the district schools. They generally contain 470 GRADED SCHOOLS. all the primary grades, in addition to the regular grammar grades. Theoretically, at least, they are of coordinate rank, and such of their pupils as complete the course and pass the required exami- nation are transferred to the high school. 2. High School. This school, as its name imports, is the high- est known to the city system, and is intended to complete the puhlic-school training. On this account it often has two courses — a classical and a general course. The former is designed for those who are preparing to enter college or university ; the latter, on the other hand, is intended for such as do not desire to carry their studies beyond the public school. The number of high schools necessary for any given city is determined by the demand. Boston has eight ; New York has no high school so called, but the " College of the City of New York" is a part of the public- school system, and fills the place of a high school ; Cleveland, Ohio, has four ; Louisville, Kentucky, has two ; Chicago, Illinois, has one central and three division* high schools; St. Louis, Mis- souri, has one, the " branch " high schools having been recently consolidated with the grammar schools by the addition of a ninth grade to the course. 3. Normal School. As a means of supplying the district schools witb trained teachers, a normal school frequently forms part of a city system. Being a special school, its course is made up of reviews of the district-school course and such additional training as the young teacher especially needs. To the normal school are admitted young ladies from the graduating classes of the high school, and, in some cases, from the grammar schools. V. Organization of Graded Schools in Smaller Cities and in Villages.— The above outline may be taken as a type of the graded-school systems of cities having 100,000 population, or over. As the city diminishes in size, the school system gradually be- comes less and less complex by contraction. First, the assistant superintendency disappears, then the normal school, and soon the classification of assistant teachers. In cities of less than 15,000 inhabitants, the high school as a * By division is meant a district. THE SCHOOL— DUTIES OF DIRECTORS. 471 distinct feature is seldom found, but appears as a high-school department in connection with the most conveniently located grammar school. A supervising principal takes the place of city superintendent, and discharges the duties of both principal and superintendent. A part of the day he devotes to hearing classes from the high-school department, and such of the grammar grades as the circumstances require, and the remaining time he spends in the work of superintending. As the number of schools in the city diminishes, he gives more and more of his time to actual teaching- Cities and towns of less than 4,000 inhabitants frequently have but one graded school. In such cases, it is not uncommon for the principal to have exclusive charge of the advanced grade in addi- tion to the general management of the school, no provision being made for supplying his place during temporary absence in super- vising the other grades. In order to find time for this duty, va- rious expedients are adopted, none of which are free from objec- tion. Some of these are the following : 1. The pupils are left without special oversight, all being re- quired to engage in silent study, and, at the return of the princi- pal, to report for any idleness or misbehavior. 2. They are left in charge of a monitor, who oversees the study and reports all cases of idleness or disorderly conduct. 3. They are left in care of an advanced pupil, who continues the recitations and reports as monitor. 4. They are dismissed an hour or two earlier on visiting days. CHAPTER III. THE GRADED SCHOOL — DUTIES OE DIRECTORS. I. Grounds and Building. — The locality and its associations have much more to do with the success of a school than is gener- ally supposed. Dilapidated, unsightly buildings, in the midst of 472 GRADED SCHOOLS. bleak, treeless grounds, are preeminently suggestive of irregularity and truancy. The tenacity with which youthful experiences cling to us in after life should serve to remind school officers that it is their duty to take advantage of the impressibility of childhood, and render school-day memories doubly precious and lasting by making the school building and its surroundings as attractive a3 the circumstances will permit. Not only should ample means be furnished for the promotion of health and effective work within doors, but reasonable provision should be made for the comfort and enjoyment of the children while on the playground. A fence costs but little, grass grows almost without attention, and young forest trees may generally be had for the planting. Then, why neglect a matter which costs so little, and yet brings such large returns in the form of good health and genuine pleasure ? 1. Selection of Site. Very grave mistakes are often made in the selection of sites. The prevailing taste seems to incline to- ward commanding positions, regardless of convenience of access or real fitness. This weakness is most common in the smaller towns, where a high bluff or bald knob is frequently selected, to the great detriment of school interests. The object doubtless is to adver- tise the educational advantages of the place by giving special prominence to the school-house. This is a laudable, but, in most cases, mistaken ambition. Such a principle of selection is a good one when used in locating fortifications or signal stations, but is of very doubtful utility when applied to the selection of eligible sites for school-buildings. The site selected should be as nearly central as the nature of the case will admit, considering — 1, healthfulness of location; 2, convenience of access; 3, influences of the neighborhood; 4, ex- tent and fitness of the grounds. 2. Extent and Arrangement of Grounds. The ground should not be less than one half acre in extent, and the building should be so placed as to leave about one fifth of this area in front. This space, except what is needed for walks, should be reserved for ornamentation. The playground should be located at the sides and rear of the building, and separated into two equal parts by a tight fence extending from the building to the rear. The most THE SCHOOL— DUTIES OF DIRECTORS. 473 secluded of the divisions thus formed should he assigned to the girls ; the other, to the hoys. Forest trees should be planted in groups at convenient points, leaving the body of the play- grounds unobstructed, and still affording shade or screens wher- ever desired. 3. Building. The building should be constructed with care- ful attention to the wants of a good school. (1.) It should be sufficiently large to meet the present demands of the district and any reasonable prospective growth. (2.) Careful and effective provision should be made for heat, light, and ventilation. (3.) It should be provided with a wash-room, a proper num- ber of cloak-rooms, and also an assembly-room. (4.) The entrance-halls should be wide, and so arranged as to afford easy oversight of the pupils during assembly or dismission. (5.) Each school-room should have full nine hundred feet of floor space, and should open directly into the entrance-hall and one cloak-room. Adjacent rooms should communicate with each other. (6.) School-room and hall doors should open outward. II. Fuenittjee — Kind and Akeangement. — 1. Every school- room should be provided with a case for books and apparatus. All school-desks should be selected with great care. The prime ob- ject should be to choose such as will protect the health of the pupil, while affording the greatest possible convenience and com- fort in the use. 2. Furniture should be so arranged as to promote the discipline of the school, and, at the same time, afford ample facilities for the management of classes. Desk and seat should be so adjusted as to give the pupil a good position while using them. 3. No aisle should be less than two feet wide. Side and rear aisles should be at least three and one half feet in width. Cross aisle in front of teacher's desk should be from four to six feet wide. III. Afpaeatus and Woeks of Eefeeence. — 1. Blackboard. 474 GRADED SCHOOLS. Each school-room should be provided with good blackboard sur- face on all the walls except between windows. This surface should be slightly inclined forward, in order to throw all reflected rays of light below the eyes of pupils when seated. (1.) Blackboard intended for pupils' use should be at least four feet wide. The space between board and floor should not exceed two feet in primary rooms, and two and one half feet in other rooms. (2.) Blackboard for teachers' use should be in front of pupils when seated at desks, and should not be less than eight feet wide, to afford proper space for programmes, illustrations, etc. 2. Every school-room should be provided with clock, ther- mometer, call-bell, dictionary, and the means of illustrating the subjects taught. 3. Primary rooms should be supplied with charts (including reading, natural history, and color charts), numeral frame, object- teaching forms, and pictures. 4. The school at large should be supplied with globes — hemi- sphere, and mounted — outline maps, historical charts, mathemati- cal solids, magnet, pocket compasj, etc. 5. A few standard works of general reference are also essen- tial, as unabridged dictionary, encyclopaedia of universal knowl- edge, encyclopaedia of biography, pronouncing gazetteer, great industries of the United States, etc. IV. Regulations. — By regulations is meant a code of rules for the guidance of the principal and his assistants in the general management of the school. It is true, boards of education can not forecast results, nor can they determine in advance what should be done in individual cases ; but they can definitely set at rest many questions that would otherwise greatly interfere with the success of the school. Besides, whatever can properly be regulated by general rule should not be reserved for special action. One of the most fruitful sources of failure in conducting graded schools in our smaller towns is too much personal interference on the part of school officers. Before a graded school can be of much value, it must have a settled policy. In order to realize this, the duties of school officer must be clearly distinguished THE SCHOOL— DUTIES OF DIRECTORS. 475 from those of school-teacher, and each must confine himself to his legitimate sphere. Let there be a few plain regulations adopted for the guidance of teachers, outlining clearly the wishes of the board in the management of the school, and there will be little need of individual instructions from directors. The regulations should embrace such topics as the following: (1.) The duties of principal. (2.) Duties of assistants. (3.) Ad- mission of pupils, covering such subjects as age, non-residence, contagious diseases, etc. (4.) Time of opening school a. m. and p. m., number and length of intermissions, recesses, and length of daily session. (5.) Prolonged absence unexcused, habitual tardi- ness, irregularity, and truancy. (6.) Suspension. (7.) Holidays and vacations. (8.) Course of study. (9.) Eesignation of teach- ers. (10.) Temporary vacancies. V. Selection op Peincipal and Assistants. — Great care should be exercised in the choice of principal and assistants. Much harm often results from the failure of directors to distinguish be- tween the discharge of official duty and the conferring of personal favors. Duty demands that the choice shall be based on fitness only ; relationship, friendship, and party must be ignored, except, perhaps, in the rare case of equal fitness. To brave the censure of defeated candidates and their friends may be a difficult thing to do, but the man who is unequal to the task should never ac- cept an office. The highest duty of the public officer is to the community at large. 1. Principal. In the selection of principal, something more than mere scholarship and experience in teaching should be re- quired. A man may possess both of these qualifications and still be unfit for principal of the smallest graded school. "When two applicants possess equal scholastic qualifications, the one having had successful experience as principal should be chosen. Of several applicants possessing like qualifications in other respects and no experience, the one showing the clearest knowledge of the graded school and its management should have the preference. Directors should require all applicants, whether posse'ssing experience or not, to have a good theoretical knowledge of the duties of the po- sition ; and, in general, those who have not made the organization 476 GRADED SCHOOLS. and management of graded schools a subject of careful study should be rejected. 2. Assistant. What has been said of principal applies also to assistant in a restricted sense. The assistant need not know all about the management of the school as a whole, but such knowl- edge would add greatly to her usefulness as a member of the corps. She would thus have enlarged views, of her own work, and from that standpoint could discharge her duties as assistant with greater intelligence. In addition to the usual qualifications of teacher, every assist- ant should at least know— (1) what a graded school is; (2) wherein the duties of assistant differ from those of an independent teacher ; (3) how to organize and conduct the classes of any given grade in harmony with the general plan. Less theoretical knowl- edge than this should very rarely be accepted; much more is desirable. CHAPTER IV. COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. Definitions. — The field of knowledge is so broad, and the sub- jects embraced therein are so numerous and varied, that it becomes necessary for each institution of learning to confine its instruction to a few subjects selected from the many. The subjects thus se- lected, when arranged in the order of natural dependence, begin- ning with the simplest, constitute a course of study. When such a course is divided into successive steps or grades, and a definite time allotted for the completion of each, it is called a graded course. Then, a course of study for graded schools possesses the follow- ing characteristics : 1. The amount and kind of work are prescribed. 2. The subjects are placed in the order of Datural dependence, beginning with the simplest. COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. 477 8. The entire work is separated into divisions and subdivisions, and a definite time allotted for the completion of each. I. Preparation of Courses — General Principles. A well-ordered course of study must conform to certain general principles, which, from their influence in determining the charac- ter and extent of the course, may be called limits. These limits may be classed, according to origin, into subjective and objective. The subjective limits may be traced to the nature of mind and its activities; the objective, to conditions exterior to mind. 1. Subjective Limits. (1.) The Nature of Mind suggests and determines the different Lines of Culture to be provided in the Course. The true aim of elementary education is to avoid grooves and specialties, and lay the foundation for a full, rounded culture of all the mental faculties. The nature of mind is such that any course designed for this purpose should embrace several correla- tive lines of knowledge. At the dawn of intelligence these lines seem to be virtually one ; but as experience widens, and perception grows clearer, they gradually diverge, and, one by one, succes- sively appear in consciousness as separate lines of thought. [See Circle of Science — Mental Unit.] The earliest intelligent efforts of children are to express their struggling thoughts and desires in some form of Language. Sense perception impels them toward Natural Science, but, with the first steps in that direction, the idea of number rises into consciousness. Their Historical Taste betrays its presence in a universal fondness for fairy tales and kindred literature ; the JSsthetio, in a common love for the beautiful, whether in art or nature ; while the Ethical is equally manifest in the capacity to judge of some forms of human action as right and of others as wrong. This view of the nature of mind through its activities enables us to infer that our course of study should embrace the following lines of instruction: 1. Language; 2. Natural Science ; 3. Mathematics; 4. History ; 5. ^Esthetics; 6. Ethics. 478 GRADED SCHOOLS. (2.) The Order of Mental Development determines the Order of Arrangement of the Various Subjects in each Line of Instruction. The mind, in unfolding, begins by using those faculties whose office is to accumulate the materials of thought, and gradually proceeds by regular steps to successively higher processes. It thus begins its work with the concrete, the real, the actual, and in due time passes on to a consideration of the abstract, the ideal, the speculative. Hence, the mind of the pupil not only determines the order of studies, but our methods of presenting them also. (3.) Mental Capacity determines the Extent to which any given Line of the Course may be carried. Pupils who enter school at a very early age seldom accomplish as much as they could have done by entering a few years later, and remaining in school the same number of years. They reach the more abstract studies of the course before the mind is mature enough to comprehend them, and the result is great discourage- ment to both pupils and teachers. Many a hapless pupil is thus considered a dullard for failing to understand what he is really too young to understand. Then, the ages at which pupils enter and leave school must, to some extent, determine the length of the course. Those who enter at five and leave at thirteen accom- plish less than those who enter at six and leave at fourteen. Carry the limits forward another year, and the difference is still more apparent. "We account for these results by the fact that mental capacity varies with age. 2. Objective Limits. The objective limits also exercise an important influence in determining the extent and character of a course, but they should be considered strictly subordinate to the subjective. Time may be substituted for capacity, but to a limited extent only. The de- mands of practical life for special training may modify, but should not supplant, the claims of the pupil to culture in other directions. Children possess some natural rights in this regard, which both parent and teacher are bound to respect. Of the objective limits a few only will be considered. (1.) The Average School Life. COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. 479 By this is meant the average number of years through which membership in school extends. The annual term of school re- maining unchanged, the course should be varied as the school life varies. Every change in the length of the school life requires a corresponding change in the course. (2.) The Average Length of the School Term. This case is similar to the preceding. When the average term is ten months, the course should be more extensive than when that average is less. Again, a term of five months is not worth half as much as a term of ten months ; for the pupils enter upon the second five months of the long term with the skill and habits of study acquired during the first five, and thus are able to accom- plish greater results in the same length of time. (3.) Density of Population. The district boundaries are contracted as the density of pop- ulation increases. This removes some of the causes of tardiness and absence, and economizes the working time of the school. (4.) The Number of Pupils that can be conveniently assembled in One School. This makes a more exact classification possible, and still fur- ther economizes time. (5.) The Pursuits of a Community. Laboring and manufacturing communities usually draw heavily upon the time of their children, in this way increasing tardiness and absenteeism, and diminishing the practical results of school work. Further, the leading industries of a community may, in some degree, determine the extent to which particular lines of in- struction may be carried. Those which sustain the closest relation to the business interests of the people should receive the greatest prominence. A careful study of these conditioning principles and circum- stances, in their various phases, will doubtless enable the student to realize the magnitude of the task involved in preparing a good course of study for any particular school or system of schools. He will, furthermore, see the necessity for revision and readjust- ment from year to year, as mistakes are discovered, or the edu- cational needs of the community change. The person who 480 GRADED SCHOOLS. undertakes such a work must bear in mind the fact that each case furnishes its own conditions. Courses of study can no more be run in the same mold than all coats can be cut to the same pat- tern. Ready-made courses, like ready-made clothing, seldom fit. II. Analysis of a Couese foe Elementaey Schools. 1. Language. Reading, writing, spelling, etymology, compo- sition, grammar. (1.) This line embraces a careful training in the correct use of language in its spoken and written forms, giving the pupil — 1st. Ability to speak and write his own thoughts with force and elegance ; 2d. Skill in gathering the thoughts of others from the printed or written page ; and, 3d. Power to give those thoughts intelligent expression in oral reading. (2.) Instruction begins with carefully conducted lessons on familiar objects. The children, as the result of their own obser- vation, are first led to give a few simple names, then to print those names and to associate the printed form with the spoken word and the object which it represents, until any one of these instantly suggests either of the others. Second, they are led to frame short sentences based on observation of the same objects, using the words already learned, to print these sentences on slate or black- board, and then to read them. Third, having made some progress in this direction, they are next led to realize that spoken words are composed of sounds, and that written words are composed of letters representing those sounds. Here they begin to spell easy words, first by sound and afterward by letter. Having reached this stage, every lesson becomes an exercise — 1st, in the use of the powers of observation ; 2d, in composition of sentences; 3d, in writing; 4th, in silent and oral reading; 5th, in spelling. Thus the work in language should continue, gradually growing more comprehensive, and evei*y step reaching the memory through the understanding. COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. 481 (3.) Definition. Exercises in definition should be regularly given in connection with the lesson in reading. For this purpose the teacher should select words from the text, requiring pupils to judge of the meaning by the connection, and to express it in their own language. The practice of requiring pupils to commit defi- nitions is pernicious. (4.) Composition. The object lesson, having served its purpose in introducing the subject of reading, should be continued without break, and gradually expanded in the direction of natural science, every complete lesson in science being made the basis of a lesson in composition. These exercises should be continued during the first six years of the course, as a means of fixing knowledge and imparting a ready command of language. During the latter part of this period the leading principles and definitions of English grammar should be carefully developed incidentally. If preferred, a text-book on " Language Lessons" may be used during the sixth year. (5.) Grammar. During the seventh and eighth years of the course a text-book on English grammar may be used in connection with composition, four lessons in grammar and one lesson in com- position being given each week. 2. Natural Science. Elements of natural history, elements of botany, physiology, and hygiene. Here the work begins with the simple facts of sense-per- ception, and leads up through a series of well-chosen oral lessons on plants and animals into physiology, closing with the use of an elementary text-book on this subject. (See Language, (4.) Com- position.) 3. Mathematics. Arithmetic, mental and practical. (1.) Beginning with the child's intuitive idea of number, this line of the course leads onward by means of natural objects vari- ously combined, until he grasps in some measure the abstract ideas involved, and is able to make the transition from the use of objects in his calculations to that of written characters. (2.) No text-book should be introduced until about the begin- ning of the third year in school. During the first two years the oral work should continue in a series of practical exercises, in 21 482 GRADED SCHOOLS. which the reading and writing of numbers, and the elementary operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, are carefully developed. Every step should be replete with origi- nal examples illustrating the inseparable connection of mathe- matics with practical life. 4. History. Geography, United States history, civil govern- ment. (1.) The object sought in the teaching of history is two-fold : First, to place the pupil in possession of a store of useful facts ; second, and more important, to enable him to view human action from the standpoint of correct morals, thus introducing him to the study of man as a rational being. (2.) Instruction begins with lessons in place, as position, direc- tion, etc., and leads into descriptive geography, which, in treating briefly of government, religion, commerce, manufactures, civiliza- tion, and the distribution of the human race, forms a fitting intro- duction to history, and is inseparably connected with it. (3.) The work in history of the United States begins with oral lessons, consisting of attractive sketches from American biography and selections from primary histories. (For method of presenta- tion, see ^Esthetics (5.).) (4.) Civil government should be taught orally by the use of outlines in connection with history of the United States. 5. JEsthetics. Lessons in color, drawing, vocal music, free gymnastics. (1.) Culture in aesthetics is attained in so many ways and through so many channels that to specify work seems needless. Training should begin in the first grade by cultivating a love for the beautiful in nature and whatever is pure and noble in human character. Careful attention should be given to good manners, neatness of person and habits, neatness of work, and orderly de- portment. (2.) The lessons in color comprehend a training in the knowl- edge of colors, as primary and secondary colors, complementaries, shades and tints, laws of harmony, etc. (3.) Drawing begins by placing objects representing length in various positions, and then representing these positions by lines COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. 483 drawn on slate or blackboard. Tbus is developed a knowledge of tbe elements of form, which the pupils are led to use in drawing symmetrical figures of their own invention. (See Krusi's " Syn- thetic Drawing.") (4.) Oalisthenic exercises, in their tendency to produce ease and grace of movement and gesture, are to be classed as aesthetic drills, although introduced with the additional object of promoting health. (5.) ^Esthetic training in the primary grade also includes a course of readings, in which the teacher makes careful selec- tions from juvenile works, and spends a few minutes two or three times a week in reading to the school. The exercise closes with questions by the teacher and oral or written reproductions by the pupils, the object being to cultivate a literary taste. These exercises are continued through subsequent grades, with such variations as are necessary to adapt the training to the age and degree of attainment. 6. Ethics. This line of the course closely resembles the pre- ceding. Love of the good bears a striking kinship to love of the beautiful, and yet they are not the same. Ethical training in public schools, from the nature of the case, must be largely inci- dental ; but the spirit of true ethics should pervade every exercise. The school training should develop clear perceptions of right and wrong; love of truth and justice; cheerful obedience to law ; re- spect for the rights of others ; an honest desire to learn duty and to discharge it with fidelity. III. Exercises. 1. From the above analysis prepare and tabulate a course for a school of eight grades. 2. From the analysis write out an extended syllabus of a course for a school of eight grades. IV. Pbogeamme. The same influences that led to the origin of the graded school combined to produce the programme. It is simply a further step toward economy of time and labor. The oldest form is that which 484 GRADED SCHOOLS. PROGRAMME OF EECITATION AND STUDY. Eighth Grade. M 5 CD M K H £ c X K H HS h1^ Recitations foe "A" AND "B." Study for Class "A." Study foe Class " B." A. M. 8.30 8.55 9.00 25 5 2 Assembly and Study. Opening Exercises. Roll-Call. 9.02 9.25 9.45 10.00 10.05 23 20 15 5 25 Mental Arithmetic. Mental Arithmetic. Physiology (oral). Calisthenics. Written Arithmetic. Written Arithmetic. Grammar. 10.30 15 Recess. 10.45 11.15 11.30 30 15 25 Grammar and Coinp. Grammar and Comp. Spelling. Spelling. Spelling. 11.55 12.00 1.00 5 60 2 Dismission. Noon. RolltOall. 1.02 1.30 1.55 2.00 2.30 28 25 5 30 15 Geography. Writing. Calisthenics. Mental Arithmetic. Drawing. Mental Arithmetic. Written Arithmetic. 2.45 10 Recess. 2.55 3.20 3.40 25 20 20 Grammar and Comp. Reading. Written Arithmetic. Reading. Mental Arithmetic. Written Arithmetic. 4.00 5 Dismission. Explanations. 1. A blank in the study column indicates that the c'ass is reciting. 2. A blank in both study columns indicates that the exercise is general. 3. Recesses and roll-calls correspond throughout the building. 4. The time from 8.30 to 8.55 is spent by the teacher in attending to ventilation of room and assisting pupils in study. All pupils on the play-ground at 8.30 are required to assemble in their rooms for study, and others on arriving proceed at once to study. 5. Spelling is arranged for one general exercise in writing, or two oral exercises with the classes separate, as the circumstances may require. 6. Grammar four lessons, and composition one lesson, each week. COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAMME. 435 simply prescribes the order of exercises, leaving the time and dura- tion of each to be decided by circumstances and the will of the teacher. A second form prescribes the order and exact time of the several exercises, and a third goes still further and lays down an order of study to be observed by the pupils during the scbool day. This last is its latest and best phase. Definition. — A programme is a tabulated arrangement of the daily order of business, showing the nature, time of beginning and ending, of each exercise. 1. Value of a Programme. The object of a programme has already been indicated. Present economy of time and labor, however, is not the only end to be attained by the use of a pro- gramme. The formation of methodical habits on the part of the pupil is quite as important, and looks toward untold economy in the future. Herein is one of the most substantia] advantages to be realized from a good programme. Again, the study programme aids in counteracting the tendency to devote too much time to favorite subjects. 2. Objections Answered. Some object to the study programme on the ground that the pupil may desire to study arithmetic when the programme prescribes grammar, or the reverse. Such objec- tions are not valid; for the pupil may desire to play instead of doing either, and what teacher would hesitate to say he should study ? One aim of education is to bring the will under control of the reason, and the elementary school should contribute no small share to this result. A fair trial usually disposes of all objections to the use of a programme. The mind is so flexible that it readily adapts itself to the circumstances, and soon performs with auto- matic ease what at first requires constant effort. 3. Construction of a Programme. The programme, like the course of study, has a definite place in the economy of the school, and its construction is subject to fixed principles, a few of which are the following : (1.) A programme should always afford the greatest possible economy of time for both teacher and pupil. (2.) It should afford a proper alternation of study and recita- tion. 486 GRADED SCHOOLS. (3.) It should make a proper distribution of the time for rest and exercise. (4.) It should provide a time for rendering assistance to pupils. (5.) It should distribute the difficult subjects. (6.) General recesses should coincide in all the grades. (7.) Intermediate rests and calisthenic exercises should be ar- ranged to suit the grade for which they are intended. (8.) Dismission should follow the order of grades, beginning with the lowest, which should be dismissed at least thirty min- utes earlier than the advanced grammar grade. CHAPTER V. GRADES AND GRADING. I. Grades. — The student has already learned that, for the purposes of classification, courses of study intended for city schools are generally divided into a short series of progressive steps called grades, and that schools organized in accordance with such a course are called graded schools. 1. Division of Course into Grades. The past history of graded schools reveals no settled principle for determining the number of grades into which a course of study should be divided. In many cases convenience seems to have been the only guide, the number of grades in different cities varying too much to be accounted for by differences in length of school life. For example : Kansas City, Missouri, has seven grades; Chicago, Illinois, eight; Brooklyn, New York, twelve. 2. Methods of Determining Grades. The present tendency is toward a fixed method of determining grades. In all cities having well-organized systems of schools, careful attention is paid to tho collection of statistics. A comparison of those collected during a series of years determines — 1st. The average length of the school attendance ; and, 2d. The average amount of work done in a year by a pupil of any given age. GRADES AND GRADING. 487 These data are made the basis of calculation in fixing both the extent of the course in years, and the number of grades in the course. 3. Number of Grades. Hence, the course of study for the ele- mentary schools is arranged for the number of years indicated by the average school life, and each year's work constitutes a grade. By this method the number of grades always corresponds to the number of years in the course. A school, whose pupils attend an average of seven years each, should have a seven-years' course, which should be divided into seven grades. As this aver- age changes, the length of course and the number of grades should be correspondingly changed. Whatever of public-school work is done beyond this properly belongs to the High School. 4. Comparison of Grades. The above scheme for determining grades contemplates their equality as to time only, each grade prescribing the work for a given year. A comparison of one with another reveals the fact that each successive grade is more com- prehensive than the preceding, thus answering to the ever-increas- ing experience and working capacity of the pupil. 5. Grades Defined. In common use the term Grade is equiv- ocal, being used at will to indicate either a division of the course, or a division of the school. When applied to the former, it indi- cates such a part of the course as has been prescribed for comple- tion in any given year ; when applied to the latter, it includes all pupils assigned to a specific year's work. II. Grading.— Grading and classification are very closely allied to each other. The preliminary step in both is examination, and the object of both is to determine the pupil's true position in school. The chief factor in grading is the pupil's relative knowl- edge of the several parts of subjects embraced in any given grade ; the chief factor in classification is his actual knowledge of a single study, or of several studies considered separately. Grading deter- mines position in the established course ; classification determines position in each study of the grade. Definition.— Grading, then, may be called that species of classification by which the pupils of a school are separated into the general divisions prescribed by a graded course of study. 488 GRADED SCHOOLS. 1. Organization of Grades. Each grade of a school should be organized to suit the age and work of the pupils composing it. (1.) The First Grade should be separated into three or four divisions or classes, depending on the exactness of the grading ; and the several divisions should recite alternately if possible. This method of organization has many advantages. It is especially adapted to the frequent promotions necessary from this grade. The classes are smaller and more easily managed. The recitations are short and frequent, and, therefore, better suited to both physi- cal and mental strength of the pupils. In this grade no recitation should exceed fifteen minutes ; many of them should not occupy more than six or eight minutes each. (2.) The Second Grade should form about three divisions, for reasons similar to those given above. In general the recitations in this grade should not exceed twenty minutes each, and in most cases the time should not be over fifteen minutes. (3.) All other grades should constitute but two divisions each. Divisions should recite alternately, and recitations should vary to suit the subject, the allotted time ranging from twenty to thirty minutes. 2. Basis for Grading. Owing to the irregular advancement of many who apply for admission to graded schools, it is necessary to select one or two studies as the basis for grading, and rely on skillful instruction afterward to bring up those subjects in which pupils may be slightly below the required standard. Especially is this the case at the first organization of a school. In the first and second grades, reading may be made the basis ; in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, arithmetic and reading; in the seventh and eighth, arithmetic and grammar. Those subjects which are most impor- tant in the grade, and which are likely to offer the greatest obsta- cles to the progress of the pupil, thus exercise the chief influence in determining his grade. Age, capacity, and opportunities for home study must also be carefully considered. 3. The Proper Person to Grade. (1.) In a few small cities, not employing a superintendent, the secretary or some other member of the Board of Education is empowered to do the grad- ing, but the plan is not satisfactory. Such duties should be GRADES AND GRADING. 489 intrusted to a skilled teacher, who sustains an actual working relation to the schools and exercises a constant oversight. (2.) In towns and small cities, having but one or two schools, the principal or supervising principal, as the case may be, is the proper person to do the grading. (3.) Cities of 15,000 to 25,000 inhabitants usually employ a superintendent, who attends to this duty in person. (4.) In large cities the principals grade, under direction of the superintendent, their work being subject to the inspection and approval of that officer or his assistant. III. How to Gkade a School. — In discussing this subject an unorganized school of eight grades will be selected. It will be assumed that everything is in readiness for work, and that the principal has been at Lis post for several days, and has gained all the information necessary to enable him to proceed intelligently with the organization. 1. Duties of Principal — Preliminary Work. (1.) Meeting of Teachers. Previous to the opening of school the principal should call a meeting of the teachers, at which the following items of business should be transacted: 1st. Explanation of Records. He shoidd explain the manner of keeping the records — methods of recording attendance, ab- sence, tardiness, truancy, entries, dismissions, suspensions, sick- ness, excuses, deportment, recitations, etc. 2d. Syllabus of Grade. He should furnish each assistant with a syllabus, of the work required in her grade. 3d. Exposition of Rules. He should give a clear exposition of the rules to be enforced in the general management of the school. 4th. Programme of Organization. He should present a pro- gramme of exercises for the organization, assigning to each assist- ant definite work. (2.) Examination. On a convenient day during the week pre- ceding the opening of school, the principal, with the aid of his assistants, should hold an examination for admission to the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. This examination should combine oral and written exercises, and should be conducted in such a 490 GRADED SCHOOLS. manner as to test the pupil's general knowledge of the grade nest below that which he wishes to enter. At the close a tabulated summary should be prepared showing the name and age of each pupil, the several standings attained, and any notes taken by prin- cipal or assistant at the time of examination. From the data thus obtained the principal can readily determine the grade to which each applicant belongs, and on the morning of the opening all may be assigned to their proper rooms in a few minutes. Remark. — At the first organization of a graded school, this preliminary examination is very important, and even after a school is well established it should be held for the purpose of determining the grade of such as may for the first time seek admission. It is a means of preventing much confusion and delay at the opening. 2. Duties of Principal — Organization. On the morning of the opening all teachers should be present in time to receive the pupils, and work should begin early. (1.) Temporary Grading. The first duty of the principal is to make a rough-cast of all the grades. This may be quickly done by taking reading as a basis, and ascertaining what Eeader each pupil has, and how much of the book he has previously studied. Great care should be taken to make this as near the proper grading as possible, and the aim should be to grade too low rather than too high. The temporary grading being completed, each assistaut should be assigned to the conducting of trial recitations. (2.) During the progress of these recitations, the principal should make a temporary organization of his own grade (if he has one to teach), assign work for the next day, and dismiss. (3.) Permanent Grading. Having disposed of his own pupils for the day, the principal should at once commence the perma- nent organization of the remaining grades, beginning with the lowest, and giving his first attention to those whom the trial reci- tations show to be either above or below the required standard. In this work he should be guided by the principles given in II., 2. Basis for Grading. A short oral examination, taken in connection with the notes made by the assistant during the recitation, will generally enable GRADES AND GRADING. 491 him to determine the proper grade of each pupil without delay. Those who prove to be clearly ready for a higher grade should be promoted, and doubtful cases should be retained for further trial. After passing the first grade, all who are found to be below the required standard should be dropped back to the proper place. In this way all the grades should be corrected the first day if possible. Remark. — The permanent grading begins with the first grade for the reason that the scholarship of pupils in the lower grades can be much more easily tested. A skillful principal would finish the permanent grading of several primary rooms while waiting for reports from the more advanced grades. (4.) ^Revision. On the second day the principal should revise the work of the preceding day in the other grades, make a perma- nent organization of his own classes, and give his assistants any necessary aid in the permanent organization of their respective grades. (5.) Visitation. After the permanent organization, each room should be visited daily, and mistakes in classification should be corrected as soon as discovered. (6.) New Pupils. All pupils entering after the first day should be examined by the principal, and assigned to the proper grade. Grading should not be left to assistants. (7.) Promotions. Promotions by classes should be made annu- ally, but individual promotions should be made once a month if necessary. The best fruits of the graded school can be realized only in a close classification, which is the result of frequent discriminating promotions. The principal should be constantly upon the alert, and pupils found to be in advance of their classes should be promptly promoted unless there should be physical or other good causes to prevent it. Those who after proper encouragement and assistance by the teacher fall behind, should be reclassed to suit their capacities or opportunities. 8. Duties of Assistants — Organization. (1.) The assistant teachers should aid the principal in forming the temporary organization of the grades ; and as soon as this is 492 GRADED SCHOOLS. effected, they should commence the trial recitations referred to helow. (2.) Trial Recitations. The object of trial recitations is to ascertain what the pupils know, and also to test their working qualities. To accomplish tjiis with least delay, the teacher should, 1st. Separate the pupils into Divisions, as indicated in II. , 1. Organization of Grades. 2d. Prepare an alphabetical roll of each division, leaving space after every name for age, standings, and remarks. 3d. Assign subjects for study and begin recitations, hearing the divisions alternately, carefully estimating and recording the work done by each pupil. (3.) Classification. These recitations are conducted mainly for the purpose of assisting the principal in correcting the tem- porary organization, but during their progress an experienced teacher will also gather most of the data required in the final class- ification of her grade. The permanent classification should be made as soon as the grades are established. Geneeal Remaeks. — It must be borne in mind that pupils of the same grade are not necessarily equal in scholastic attainments. "While some are barely able to enter the grade, others may have completed the first half, or more. In these differences we find very important reasons for separating grades into divisions. In the intermediate grades both divisions commence at very nearly the same point, but the advanced division reviews rapidly the work previously gone over, while the elementary proceeds slowly from the beginning. This method of organization makes the step between consecutive divisions of the same grade, or of adjacent grades, comparatively short, so that a bright pupil who is behind in only one or two studies can readily do the extra work required by a reclassification. In the lower grades, where frequent reclassi- fications are rendered necessary by the circumstances, there is a greater number of divisions in a grade, and the steps between are consequently much shorter. The organization thus conforms to the actual wants of the school, and furnishes a perpetual incentive to higher effort. EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 493 The above is intended as an ontline of the method of organ- izing a new school. The grades being once properly established, future organizations are quite easy. The records show the entire classification. The principal has only to make a few necessary corrections, see that every pupil is jn his proper place, and grade such as enter the school for the first time. CHAPTER VI. EXAMINATIONS, RECOEDS, AND EEPOETS. I. Examinations. — The examination in graded, as in other schools, has its proper objects and natural limits. It was not in- stituted to obtain percents merely, but ratber to bring out those higher results of thought and action which no arbitrary marks can truly express. It is a means, not an end. Hence the teacher should ever bear in mind that the examination exists for the school, and not the school for the examination. 1. The Objects of Examinations. Some of the objects of ex- aminations are the following : 1st. To ascertain the extent of the pupil's knowledge and thus determine where instruction should begin. 2d. To awaken greater interest in study, leading to frequent reviews, more accurate observation, habits of thinking, classifica- tion of knowledge. 3d. To train the pupil in the use of knowledge, thereby fixing it in the mind more firmly. 4th. To obtain the necessary data for reports and records, grading and classification. 2. Forms of Examination. There are two leading forms of examination — the oral and the written. Each of these may be subdivided into several varieties corresponding to different meth- ods of recitation ; as, Interrogative, Topical, etc. Each form and method has its special advantages. In deciding which should be adopted in any given case, the examiner must be guided by the 494 GRADED SCHOOLS. circumstances Of these the most important are the age and pre- vious training. In all grades both the form and method of exam- ination should be frequently varied. The oral examination affords the readiest means of determining the extent of the pupil's knowledge. For this and other reasons, oral methods should receive greater prominence in primary grades. The written examination determines the accuracy rather than the extent of a pupil's knowledge. It fosters a careful study of the forms of expression, increases the intensity of thought, and thus becomes one of the most efficient means of impressing knowledge. 3. The Proper Time for Examinations. As a rule examina- tions should not be held at fixed times. Such examinations usu- ally defeat their true object by inducing the worst forms of cram- ming. Reviews should be systematically maintained in all grades, and brief examinations should be held when least expected by the pupils. In this way their actual knowledge will be obtained and not the fictitious results of spasmodic efforts at memorizing. 4. Frequency of Examinations. Oral reviews for the purpose of marking should be held about once a week, and brief written reviews for the same purpose about twice each month. None of these exercises should be formal ; formality defeats the real ob- ject. The work should be spontaneous, free, and quickly done, representing the best off-hand effort of each member of the class. 5. Methods of Conducting Examinations. The value of exam- inations as an educational instrumentality is largely dependent on the methods adopted in conducting them. The best results are obtained by varying the method from time to time. (1.) Principles of Questioning. Loosely constructed questions may prove fatal to the efficiency of an examination. No teacher should trust to the inspiration of the moment. Questions should be carefully prepared in advance. The following general princi- ples may prove valuable in the work of preparation : 1st. Questions should be so framed as to leave the pupil entire- ly to his own resources in answering. 2d. The degree of difficulty should be adapted to the capacity of the pupils and their opportunities of knowing. 3d. The questions should test the pupil's knowledge in such a EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 495 manner as to impress it, and, at the same time, excite original thought. 4th. They should be clear, concise, and pointed. The following should be avoided : 1st. All questions which can be answered in monosyllables. 2d. Such as contain an intimation of tbe answer desired. 3d. Such as contain an idea in contrast with the answer. 4th. Such as admit a choice of answers. 5th. Such as logically force a correct answer. (2.) Oral Methods. In conducting oral examinations, pupils should not be questioned alphabetically nor in any other fixed order. That method of marking should be adopted which enables the teacher to make a satisfactory record with the least attention possible. All cumbersome methods should be shunned. The teacher's mind must not be absorbed in the marking. The following method of marking has proved highly successful. A grade card is prepared for each pupil, and all the cards belong- ing to a division are kept in one package. To examine a division, the teacher selects the proper package, and begins with the pupil whose card is on top. He examines this pupil until satisfied, makes a mark in the proper square, and places the card on the back of the package. The examination thus continues, the teacher always calling the pupil whose card comes next in order. In this way all the members of a large division may be graded several times during a recitation period. GEADE OABD. Division Studies. 10 9 7 5 3 AVERAGE I GRADE. Beading. © © © © © © © 80 Geography. © © © © © © © © © © 68 Arithmetic. © © © G © © © © 60 1 496 GRADED SCHOOLS. EXPLANATION. 1. The number at the head of a column indicates the value of each credit in that column. 2. The squares opposite each study should be large enough for re- cording the oral examinations during at least one month. 3. In recording a grade the teacher has only to make a dot or some other small mark in the proper square under the figures indicating the desired number of credits. On this card a period is used for the purpose. 4. To determine the average grade in any study, multiply the number at the head of each column by the number of credits in the proper square below, and divide the sum of the products with one cipher annexed by the total number of credits. The result will be the grade on a scale of 100. (3.) Written Methods. In conducting written examinations in all grades above the primary, it is best to examine both divisions at the same time and take two recitation periods for the work. A separate list of questions should be prepared for eacli division. During the examination no two members of the same division should be seated together. The teacher should read a question to each division, giving the pupils time to copy and number it prop- erly. A specified time should be allotted for giving the answer, and at the close of this period all should cease writing. Another question should then be read, and the time allotted as before, and so on till the close of the examination. The time allowed for each question should be such that the unskillful writer who under- stands the subject will be able to prepare his answer. More time than this should not be given. An examination is designed to draw out the pupil's ready knowledge, not what he can recall only by hours of labored thought. All the papers should be neatly folded, labeled, and on the teacher's desk before the stroke of the bell for a change of classes. Prompt observance of these require- ments should be enforced. The advantages of this method are many. 1. It insures a proper amount of work on each question or topic given, and prevents waste of time by dwelling too long on difficult ques- tions. EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 497 2. It requires prompt action, and impresses the necessity of frequent reviews. 3. It affords no time for obtaining assistance from classmates, and thus encourages original effort. 4. The teacher's time is not absorbed in writing the questions on the blackboard, and can be more effectively employed in securing honest work. 5. The examinations are short and far less laborious to both teacher and pupils. Remark. — The introduction of this method is sometimes at- tended with a little difficulty, but, after two or three test efforts, the work usually proceeds with remarkable smoothness. II. Records. — It has already been shown that records sustain an importaut relation to the management of graded schools. In fact, they are essential to the intelligent management of any school or system of schools. They give a school permanent form, and render it possible to build each year upon the results of the preceding year. "Well-kept records aid the assistant in classification, the principal in grading, the superintendent in pre- scribing proper work, the board of education in determining the wants of the school. They stand in the same relation to enlight- ened school management, that the invoice, the sales book, the cash book, the journal, and the ledger do to successful merchandising. What the records of a school should be depends to some ex- tent upon circumstances. A large city with an extensive system of schools generally requires a much more elaborate system of records than is needed in small cities and towns. Cities whose enrollment does not exceed three or four thousand pupils rarely require more than the annual register, the percentage book, the attendance register, and the class register. 1. Annual Register. This book answers the purpose of a gen- eral ledger for the school. It is kept by the principal, and should be properly ruled for recording the following and suoh other items as may be desired : Number, name, age, and date of admission of each pupil ; the name, residence, and occupation of the parent or guardian ; a general summary of the pupil's attendance for each quarter, and a column for remarks. 498 GRADED SCHOOLS. When pupils apply for admission the principal enrolls their names in this book, and numbers them, following the order of ap- plication. As many of the blanks as possible are then filled, and the pupils are assigned to their several grades. At the close of each quarter the attendance is also recorded. 2. Percentage Boole. This record is also kept by the principal. In it he records a general summai-y of each day's attendance of the entire school. This summary is made up from reports furnished by the assistants at the close of school every evening. It should embrace (1) the number of original entries, (2) the number of withdrawals, (3) the total enrollment, (4) the present member- ship (number belonging), (5) the number present, (6) the num- ber absent, (7) the number of cases of tardiness. With these items before him, the principal is prepared at any time to make out in a few minutes all the percentages usually required in re- ports to school officers. 3. Attendance Register. Each assistant in charge of a school room keeps an attendance register. In this book she should re- cord the name, number, division, and date of admission of each pupil assigned to her cave. This constitutes the roll, which should be called regularly at the opening of each half-day ses- sion. The rulings of this record should exhibit a quarter's work on each double page. (1.) System of Marling. Most attendance registers present a plan of keeping the record. Whatever scheme is adopted, should present a perfect exhibit of all the information desired, and should be easily understood. The entries should always show date of admission, date of leaving, days present, days absent, times tardy, and deportment of the pupil, together with excuses for absence, tardiness, etc. 4. Class Register. The object of the class register is to pre- serve a perfect record of the school work done by each pupil. The ruling of this book should be similar to that of the attend- ance register. (1.) Method of Using. The names of pupils should be enrolled by classes in alphabetical order. All absences from recitation should be recorded ; presence should be indicated by a blank, in EXAMINATIONS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS. 499 which may be written the grade of the recitation when desired. All grades should he recorded in this hook, the oral being care- fully distinguished from the written work. III. Reports. — A school accomplishes most, when it receives the full confidence and support of the community in which it is located. This confidence can not be realized by any school as long as the people remain ignorant of its aims and work. Direc- tors can not intelligently provide for wants which they but imper- fectly comprehend, nor can the people be expected to sustain with cordiality a management which they do not clearly understand. Hence, reports are important auxiliaries to school management. The general subject of reports has already been discussed in Part VII. , Chapter III. It will here be considered briefly from the standpoint of the graded school. 1. Report to Board of Education. This report has a double pur- pose. The primary object is to lay before the proper authorities in the most intelligible form all the information necessary to guide them in the discharge of official duty. Further than this, the report should be such as to command the attention of the com- munity at large and improve the educational sentiment. It should embrace, 1st. All the statistical information required by law. 2d. A comparison of statistics, from which may be derived valuable information in regard to the school. 3d. Suggestions and recommendations in reference to desired improvements. 4th. Items of general interest to the public; such as history, growth, and progress; organization, management, etc. Remark. — The city superintendent is the proper person to prepare this report. It is largely compiled from reports submitted to him by the several principals, hut usually contains much that is the result of his personal observation and experience. When no superintendent is employed, it becomes the duty of the princi- pal to make this report. It is properly addressed to the president of the board, but should be delivered to the secretary. 2. Reports to Parents. By reports to parents is meant a sep- arate report of the standing of each pupil furnished to the parent 500 GEADED SCHOOLS. or guardian. The object is to give full information in regard to the attendance, deportment, and progress of pupils, thus stimu- lating them to increased efforts and enlisting the cooperation of parents. The report should be expressed in the simplest form possible, to convey full and satisfactory information. These reports are prepared from the attendance and class reg- isters at stated periods, usually at the close of each month, and sent to parents. Great energy and tact are required to make this plan of reporting successful, but, when properly managed, it exercises a potent influence in securing better attendance, deport- ment, and study. NEEDED REFORMS. The ideal has not yet been reached in the management ot graded schools. This is especially true of graded schools in the smaller towns. In many of them principals are changed annually, and sometimes oftener. Very little progress is made toward a proper grading and classification. Permanent records are rarely kept, and reports are of the most meager and unsatisfactory kind. Directors are left to " guess " at the wants of the school, and citi- zens rarely speak of it save to criticise. "What is needed, is a revival among principals and teachers — an infusion of new life which will bring order out of chaos. Directors and people must be kept fully informed as to the condition and wants of the schools. Grading and classification must receive proper attention. Every principal should leave behind him complete records for the guidance of his successor. Thus equipped, any principal of aver- age intelligence will be able to take up and continue the work ox the preceding term without needless repetition. Teachers, the reform must begin with you. INDEX. Ability, 16, 429, 449. Abuse of text-books, 59. 445. Action and culture, 310. Action world, 209, 234, 241. Adjustment, 102, 213, 421, 440. Adoption of regulations, 141. Adoption of text-books, 60. Advantages of country schools, 235. Advantages of school grounds, 25. Advocates, corporal punishment, 178. ^Esthetics, 209, 221, 241. Alternation plan, recitations, 261. Amusements versus study, 298. Analysis course, 233, 480. Antiquated methods, 345. Antiquated programmes, 264. Apparatus, 37, 42, 46, 47, 86, 87, 472. Architects, school, 28. Arithmetic, 44, 239, 248. Art of preserving health, 63, 70, 74. Art of questioning, 347. Art of school management, 4, 6, 15, 339. Art of securing attention, 299. Art of teaching, 4, 5, 389. Assigning lessons, 323. Attention, 28S,*299. Auxiliary methods, 341. Balanced culture, 73. Bathing, 68, 71. Beauty, architecture, 32. Beauty, Kindergarten, 49. Beauty world, 209, 233, 241. Be self-possessed, 115. Bible reading, 110. Biology, 207. Blackboards, 42, 96, 474. Board tactics, 96. Board of education, 142, 467, 470. Books, 6, 53, 59, 87. Botanical specimens, 45. Cabinet, 45. Calisthenic exercises, 66, 310. Catalogues, 374. Causes for suspension, 167. Cautions, 53, 63, 129, 295. 297, 861. Certificates, 398. Chair of didactics, 391. Characteristics of text-books, 57. Cheerfulness, 69. Chemical apparatus. 46. Child mind, 380. Choice of books, 53. Circle of science, 205, 213, 227, 230. Classes of teachers, 390. Classification, 100, 105, 492. Classified scheme of knowledge, 226. Class management, 93, 323. Class methods, 331. Class work, 326. Cleanliness, 68. Cloak rooms, 37. Clothing, 63. Co-education, 44S. College, 129, 224. College, school, and university, 224. Color of boards, 42. Combined recitations, 25G. Coming teachers, 408. Commission plan, 422. Communication, 140, 148, 184. Concert method, 9S, 343. Conditions of educational progress, 346, 424. Conditions of order, 192. Conditions of study, 33, 291. Conditions of success, 305, 352. Conductor of institutes, 402. Confidence, 130. Conscience, 151, 157, 446, 453, 457. Contract with school board, 85. Conversation method, 337. Corporal punishment, 174. Cosmology, 207. Cost of apparatus, 46. Cost of school buildings, 39. Country schools, 235. Course of study for high schools, 276. Course of study for normal institutes, 396. Courses of study, 205, 213. 227, 230, 476. Cowardly punishments, 170. Cramming, 311. Crayon, 43. Criteria for marking, 364. Criticism, 248. Cultivate attention, 304, Culture, 131, 331. Cut of grounds and building, 23, 30, 34. Decorum, 140. Degrading punishments, 170. Deportment marks, 164. Desks and seats, 88. Diagrams, 296, 341. Dignity, 113. Diplomas, 23S, 373, 398. Discussion, 336. Dismissing classes, 95. Dismissing school, 93. Disorderly schools, 186. Disorderly teachers, 186. 502 INDEX. District school library, 53. Division of labor, 464. Divisions, ungraded schools, 257. Doubtful punishment, 1(35. Dull pupils, 188. Duties of parents, 199. Duties of pupils, 196. Duties of school boards, 200. Duties of teachers, 193, 491. Duties of county superintendents, 435. Duty, 145, 150, 193. Duty world, 134, 141, 209. Earnest words, health, 75. Educational artist, 411. Educational evolution, 463. Educational ideals, 427. Educational instrumentalities, 21. Educational platform, 428. Educational progress, 424, 463. Educational waste, 196, 441. Education defined, 313. Elementary psychology, 4, C, 380, 3S8, 400, 476. Elementary school course, 230, 476. Elements of governing power, 124. Energy, 125. Enforcement of regulations, 142, 141. Engine, 70, 125. Erasers, 43. Erroneous methods, 345. Errors, 314. Examinations, 359, 363, 4S5, 493. Examining committee, 373, 398. Expulsion, 1G9. Eye culture, 309. Fault-finding, 127. First day of school, 88, 114, 118. Flowers in the school-room, 24, 88. Follow your plan, 114. Food, 68, 70, 75. Force, its place, 331. Fuel rooms, 37. Fundamental educational principles, 31G. General class methods, 831. General course of study, 214, 225. General educational principles, 816. General school regulations, 139. Geographical apparatus, 44. Geography, 44, 239, 249. Geological specimens, 45. Gilchrist programme, 266. Glad memory, 25. Golden hints to teachers, 851. Governing forces, 157. Governing power, 123. Governing through the class, 186. Government by seating, 112. Government defined, 122. Graded schools, 463, 466. Graded school system, 467. Grades and grading, 483, 436. Graduation, 363, 371. Ground plan of building, 33. Grouping country schools, 237, 465. Habits, 147, 149, 150. Hand and eye culture, 3C9. Hand culture, 299. Hand tactics, 97. Hard cases, 1S9. Hard study, 298. Health, teacher, 82. Heart power, 132. Heating school buildings, 35. Helps in study, 295. Higher educational ideals, 427. High school, 274, 470. Hints to school boards, 39. Hints to teachers, 120, 351. History, 210, 221, 241, 252. History of school architecture, 27. Hours in school day, 256. How shall I teach ? 238. How to keep well, 70. How to mark, 365. How to procure apparatus, 46. How to study, 293. Human culture, 388. Hygienic habits, 63. Hygienic position, 63. Hygienic punishments, 69. Ideal programme for ungraded schools, 158, 256, 268. Improving school grounds, 25. Incentives to study, 306. Incompetent teachers, 382. Infliction of punishment, 176. Injudicious punishments, 170. Inorganic world, 206, 232, 239. Institute classes, 395. Instrumentalities, 21. 42. Intellectual forces, 157. Interest, 144. Keeping after s-hool, 163, 172. Kindergarten gifts, 49. Kindergarten in elementary schools, 50. Kindergarten methods. 51. Knowledge, mental food, 313. Laws of health, 63,72. Laws of teaching, 351. Laws relating to corporal punishment, 174. Lecture method, 339, 401. Length of examinations, 362. Length of recitations, 328. Lessons, 326. Library and apparatus room, 37. Light, 36, 66. Liquid slating, 42. Liquor traffic, 71, 426. Location of grounds, 22. Logic, 208. Longevity, 72. Love and health, 78. INDEX. 503 Management, 134, 145, 247, 253. Manners and morals, 132, 140, 2S0. Marking grades, 1 64, 363. Materials for blackboards, 42. Mathematical apparatus, 44. Mathematics, 206, 232, 23S, 481. Matter and method, 399. Methods of adopting regulations, 142. Methods of seating, 112. Methods with professional classes, 26. Metric weights and measures, 44, 454. Michigan programme, 271. Missing link, 283. Mission of the teacher, 414. Mistakes, 362. Model school, 119, 338, 353. Money saved, 446, 453, 457. Morality, 140, 149, 157, 314. Nagging, 171. Napoleon's rule, government, 125, 255. Never use tobacco, 74, 426. New and old education, 4, 25, SOS. New Kindergarten gifts, 51. New York programme, 272. Normal institutes, 14, 52, 393, 403. Normal schools, 14, 52, 3S3, 391, 392, 403. Objective points in education, 313. Objective teaching, 59, 296. Objects of class work, 327. Objects of examination, 360. Objects of marking, 364. Old and new education, 308, 425. Opening exercises, 110. Opponents of corporal punishment, 180. Oral teaching, 59, 263, 267, 332. Order of presenting truth, 318, 477. Organic world, 207, 232, 239. Organization, SI, 469, 470, 490. Originality, 16. Out-buildings, 37. Outline method, 296, 341. Parrot work, 311. Perfection of school systems, 421. Periods, educational, 218, 229, 477. Phelps programme, 26S. Philosophy, 208. Physical conditions of educational prog ress, 278, 291, 425. Pictures in school-rooms, 38. Place for diagrams, 341. Plan for country school-houses, S3. Plan for school library, 56. Plan of buildings, 32. Plan of campaign, 87. Plan of grounds, 22. Play and education, 50, 67, 299, 3C8. Play and health, 67, 308. Playgrounds, 24. Pleasure and work, 808. Pledge, 141. Power, 123, 12S, 133, 135. Preparation of lessons, 331, 351. Preserving grounds, 25. Principal and assistants, 468, 475, 4S9. Professional classes, 26, 40, 110, 379. Professional course in normal schools, 888. Programme for normal institutes, 397. Programme for study, 292. Programmes, 87, 255, 478, 483. Programmes for ungraded schools, 255. Promoting health, 74. Promotion, 84, 863. Promptitude, 140, 145. Principles : Kelating to school tactics, 90. Relating to classification, 100. Relating to school regulations, 187. Relating to school punishments, 155. Relating to course of study, 213. Relating to school programmes, 255. Relating to the order of presenting truth, 318. Relating to theprocesses in teaching, 31 8. Relating to courses of study and meth- ods, 819, 476. Relating to class management, 324. Relating to the art of questioning, 348. Fundamental principles, 316. General principles, 317. Psychological principles, 317. "Vital educational principles, 419. Privation, 162. Privies, 37, 40. Psychological basis, 218, 229, 475. Psychological principles, 317. Psychology, 4, 5, 208, 3S0, 888, 400. Punishment, 69, 132, 145, 147, 149, 162. Questionable methods, 344. Quiet, 91, 140, 147. Reading, 44, 240. Reading apparatus, 44. Recesses, 118, 162, 256. Reciprocal method, 342. Recitation rooms, 80, 89. Records and reports, 367, 485, 493. Reference books, 55, 56, 296. Reformed spelling, 459. Regularity, 140, 144. Regulations, 13S, 474. Religion, 111, 210. Remuneration of teachers, 411. Reporting method, 342. Report of county superintendent, 3C9, 370. Reports of special cases, 182. Reproof, 160. Resignation, 87. Rights of teachers, pupils, and parents, 200. Ruinous errors, 314. Rules for study, 287. Scale of marking, 366. Schedule of oral work, 260, 267. Scholastic course in normal schools, S84. 504 INDEX. School apparatus, 42, 296, S09, 473. School architects, 28. School buildings, 2T, 4T1. School, college, and university, 222. School examinations, 860. School government, 123. School grounds, 21, 4T2. School hygiene, 63. School library, 54. School management, 15, 144. School organization, 81, 469, 490. School periods, 218, 229. School punishments, 69, 132, 162. School register, 36T. School regulations, 138. School studies, 229. School systems, 421, 467. School tactics, 90. School text-books, 57, 62. Science of human culture, 4, 388. Seating, 112. Secrets of success, 353. Secularization of schools, 111. Securing positions, 83. Self-confidence, 131. Self-control, 128. Self-government, 15, 123, 13S, 158. Self-made teacher, 390. Shade trees, 24. Shams, 51. Signals, 91. Size of classes, 101. Size of school buildings, 30. Skill in teaching, 82. "Sleep, 68, 71, 75. Socratic method, 332. Special school regulations, 140. Spelling reform, 455. Spirit and matter, 206. State board of education, 422. 8tudy, 262, 287, 297. Suggestions, 14, 26, 201. Suitable grounds, 25. Supervision, 430, 463. Superintendent, 465. Suspension, 86, 168. System, 123. Teachers classify, 108. Teachers' qualifications, 82. Teachers 1 reports, 369. Teaching, 7, 15, 347. Teaching, compared with other profes- sions, 379. Teaching versus marking, 865, 448. Technical education, 460. Temperance, 74, 426. Temporary classification, 103. Text-books, 57. Characteristics, 57. Use and abuse, 59, 445. Adoption, 60. The school, 222, 465. The educational work, 4. Theology, 211. Thorough education, 235. Thought world, 208, 232, 240. Tinkering plan, 421. Tobacco, 74, 426. Topical Reviews : School apparatus. 43. School buildings, 41. School grounds, 26. School hygiene, 75. Organization, preparatory work, 89. School tactics, 99. Classification, 109. Elements of governing power, 137. School regulations, 14a. Enforcement of regulations, 153. Principles pertaining to school punish- ments, 159. Judicious and injudicious punishments, 173. Art of securing attention, 807. Work for the little ones, 312. General class methods, 340. Topic method, 835. Township institutes, 405. Trained teachers, 890. Trouble, 73. Truth, 211. Ungraded schools, 102, 105. Uniformity, classification, 100. United recitations, 262. University, 224. Unprepared lessons, 298, 830. Unwise incentives, 806. Use and abuse of text-books, 59. Use of apparatus, 46. Valuable hints, 120. Valuable thoughts, text-books, 62. Value of different studies, 220. Value of programme, 278. Value of records and reports, 867. Value of school library, 55. Ventilation, 35, 64. Vigilance, 126. Vital educational principles, 419. Voice culture, 810. Welcome address, 114. What I saw in a country school, 119. What shall I teach ? 288. When shall we examine ? 862. Whispering, 14S, 184. Will power, 127, 149, 158. Window ventilation, 85, 65. Work for the little ones, 808. Work of the normal institute, 894. World of matter, 206. World of spirit, 206. Writing method, 341. Written examinations, 862, 875. THE END LEAp'12