LIBRARY OF THE University of California. GIFT OF Received J}ba^du , r§^ J^OO Accession No, /JyVjbo . Class No, •:^ NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Departments of Secondary and Higher Education Report of Committee ^"^ College Entrance Requirements July, F899 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/entrancerequireOOnatiric;h (I^ATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Report of Committee on College Entrance Requirements July, 1899 Appointed by Departments of Secondary Education and Higher Education at Denver Meeting July, 1895 PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION PRINTED AT Zbc ianiv>ct6lts of Cbicago ipress 1899 H CONTENTS PART I PAGE Historical Sketch - -- - - - • - -5 English - - - ^ - - - - - - - 12 Suggested List of Books for Reading and Study - - i? Foreign Languages and Literatures - - - - - 19 History, Civics, and Economics - - - - - - -IQ Mathematics - - - - - .- - - 20 Sciences - -*- - - - - - - -23 Physical Geography ., - - - - - - . - 24 Biology ----------24 Botany .,---..- 24 Zoology ...--.---25 Physics -...-.... 25 Chemistry ....-----26 Resolutions - - - - ' - - - - - 27 National Units or Norms --.----.41 Resolutions of Thanks ...-.--- 45 Editorial Committee - .--..-.46 Conclusion ...-...-. 46 PART II Report of the Committee of Twelve of the American Philological Association on Courses in Latin and Greek in Secondary Schools - - - -50 Course of Study Recommended in Greek - - - - - 61 -r Four-Year Latin Course - - - - - - -72 Five-Year Latin Courses - - - - - - - 73 Six-Year Latin Course --------73 Appendix A — Comparative Table of Latin Courses - - - 74 Appendix B — Enrollment of Pupils in the Various Secondary Studies - - 75 Report of the Committee of Twelve of the Modern Language Association of America _____---- 77 Value of Modern Languages __---- 80 Critical Review of Methods - - - - - - -84 Modern Languages in the Primary Grades ----- 96 National Grades of Preparatory Study in Modern Languages - - - 100 Elementary Course in German - - - - - -102 Intermediate Course in German - - - - - -II2 Advanced Course in German - - - - - -II2 Elementary Course in French - - - - - - -'I3 Intermediate Course in French - - - - - -116 Advanced Course in French - - - - - - -U? Specimen Examination Papers - - - - - -II7 4 CONTENTS Report of the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association - - 126 Choice of Subjects -------- 128 Recommendations for College Requirements - - - - - 128 Entrance Examinations - - - - - - -132 Four-Years' Course in History - - - - - - -I33 Three-Years' Course in History - - - - - -134 Report of the Committee of the Chicago Section of the American Mathematical Society ----_.--- 135 Methods - - - - - - - - - 136 Arithmetic - - - - -- - - -138 Algebra - - - - - - - - -140 Demonstrative Geometry - - - - - - -142 Trigonometry - - - - - -,- - 143 Preparation of Teachers - - - - - - -146 Science in the Grades - - - - - - - - 150 Report of the Committee on Physical Geography - - - - -151 Preparation of the Teacher - - - - - -162 Appendix — Apparatus for Physical Geography - - - - 164 Report of the Committee on Chemistry - - - - - -165 Value and Place of Chemistry - - - - - - -,165 Outline of a One- Year Course - - - - - -166 Equipment - - - - - - - - -169 Report of the Committee on Botany - - - - - - 171 First Course - -- - - - - - -I73 Second Course - - r - - - - -174 Report of the Committee on Zoology - - - - - -176 Character of the Course - - - - - -.- 177 Extent of the Course - - - - - - - -178 Report on Physics - - - - - - - -180 Outline of Laboratory Work - - - - - - -180 Partial List of Those who have Assisted in the Preparation of this Report - 183 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Los Angeles, Cal., July 13, 1899. To the Department of Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education of the National Educational Association : The committee appointed by your honorable bodies in July, 1895, to study the question of college-entrance requirements has the honor to submit the following report. - A. F. Nightingale, Chairman. --—William H. Smiley, Secretary. oj^Mii k^"^ George B. Aiton. ..-^J. Remsen Bishop. ^JoHN T. Buchanan. X Paul H. Hanus. )^Burke a. Hinsdale. t^^i^^^*^! V")") Ray Greene Huling. (j^jji^ iV^*) Edmund J. James. _^ William Carey Jones. X^ James E. Russell. ^ Charles H. Thurber. , K cuttle l^c,^ "x. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COLLEGE- ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS PART I To the Department of Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education of the National Educational Association : The committee appointed by your honorable bodies to study the question of college- entrance requirements, for the purpose of harmoniz- ing the relations between the secondary schools and the colleges, to the end that the former may do their legitimate work, as the schools of the people, and at the same time furnish an adequate preparation to their pupils for more advanced study in the academic colleges and technical schools of the country, submits the following report : HISTORICAL SKETCH At the meeting of the Department of Secondary Education of the National Educational Association at Denver, in 1895, a paper was read by Professor William Carey Jones, of the University of California, on the subject, "What Action Ought to be Taken by Universities and Secondary Schools to Promote the Introduction of the Programs Recommended by the Committee of Ten?" Discussion of this paper led to the motion for the appointment of a committee to report a plan of action on the basis of Professor Jones' paper. The committee presented the following report : Whereas, The most pressing need for higher education in this country is a better understanding between the secondary schools and the colleges and universities in regard to requirements for admission ; therefore Resolved, That the Department of Secondary Education appoint a committee of five, of which the present president shall be one, and request the appointment of a similar committee by the Department of Higher Education, the two to compose a committee of conference, whose duty it shall be to report at the next annual meeting a plan for the accomplishment of this end, so urgently demanded by the interests of higher education. This resolution was unanimously adopted, and the result communi- cated to the Department of Higher Education, from which the following reply was presently received : Secretary Thurber. Dear Sir : The Department of Higher Education has arranged to have a committee appointed to co-operate with the Committee on Secondary Education in regard to require- ments for admission into colleges and universities. Very truly, Joseph Swain, 5 Secretary, 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION requirements of admission in the School Review for June, 1896, seems to indicate a wide divergence of opinion, which we believe does not really exist. The discussions of recent years, the admirable report of the Committee of Ten, and the agitation it has provoked, the deliberations of the various associations formed to bring about unity in diversity, all point to a wise and happy solution of this vexed problem. The results of the conferences held at Columbia College are encouraging in the extreme {Educational Review, May, 1896). It is the most advanced step in the right direction which has yet been taken. These conferences took on a local color, but the unanimity of their conclusions presages the feasibility of national unity on this same matter. The secondary schools are the schools of the people, and the people have demanded, and in still more effectual ways will demand, that their courses must be practical, bene- ficial, disciplinary. The sciences no longer knock at the doors for admission. They have been admitted, and a larger and still larger place will be provided for them. Physiography, biology, physics, chemistry, in all their elementary principles, and in their relations to man, whose duty and privilege it is to conquer nature and to make it subservient to his advancement and happiness, are no longer to remain in the category of informational studies, and suffer the opprobrium of being contrasted with the humane and the literary as the sole dispensers of intellectual culture. The sciences, as they are beginning to be taught in our best schools, add to the wealth of mind as well as to the stock of facts, and the colleges must recognize them as full equivalents for other work which they have hitherto demanded to the exclusion of science. In pleading for uniformity in college-entrance requirements, there are a few vital facts which cannot be ignored : First, the triple function of the public high school, viz., to equip pupils for the business of life, to give a proper training to those who will teach in the common schools, and to prepare for college. Secondly, a majority of our young people who go to college come to a decision late in their secondary course. Thirdly, every young man or woman who has successfully devoted at least four years to earnest study in a well-equipped secondary school should be admitted to any college in the country, whether such a pupil has devoted a greater part of his time to Latin, Greek, and \ mathematics, or to Latin, modern languages, and mathematics, or to Latin, mathematics, and the sciences, or to any other combination of studies which has developed his power and been in harmony with his intellectual aptitudes. To this end, secondary programs of study should be thoroly elastic and with varied electives, suited to the talents of the individual child ; a college program should be still more elastic and with a larger num- ber of electives. Every person will then find opportunities for the development of that power which will enable him with confidence to attack the problems of life which he wishes to help to solve. The public high school can become a link in the golden chain of our American sys- tem of education only when the colleges begin where the best high schools leave off ; otherwise the gap between the common school and the college must be filled by the private schools, patronized by the children of the rich, and the sons and daughters of the great middle class must be deprived of the benefits of a higher education because, forsooth, they have failed to fulfill some specific requirement of the college they would otherwise enter. I have faith, however, that these conflicting requirements will be har- monized, their incongruities removed, so that we may in the near future have a unified system of education, from the kindergarten to the graduate school of the university, which will give to every child, without let or hindrance, the right of way for such an education as will best develop the power with which, in a plastic state, he has been endowed by the Infinite Architect. A conference of the committee with members of the committee of co-operation and others interested was held at Buffalo on Tuesday, July 7, 1896. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS In the absence of Chairman Nightingale, who spent the summer abroad, Mr. W. H. Smiley presided. A committee, consisting of Dr. James E. Russell, Dr. Melvil Dewey, and Professor Elmer E. Brown, was appointed to draft a plan of work for the general committee for the year 1896-97. This committee presented the following at the conference held on Wednesday evening, July 8, Dr. B. A. Hinsdale acting as chairman of the meeting : PLAN OF WORK FOR 1896-97 It is within the province of the committee, according to the resolution passed at the Denver meeting, to investigate existing college-entrance requirements and to report on ways and means of securing such uniformity in extent and method as will be con- ducive to the best interests, both of higher and of secondary education. The first step in investigation of existing requirements has been taken ; in our opinion the program of the ensuing year should be chiefly as follows : 1. The committee should invite the active co-operation of associations already organized for the study of such problems ; it should appoint representative subcommittees of specialists interested in the various subjects ; it should ascertain the views of individual institutions — secondary schools, colleges, and universities — all with a view to the ultimate determination of what should constitute a normal requirement in each of the subjects set for the admission to college. 2. To this end it is recommended that the requirements be considered in the follow- ing groups : English, classical languages, modern languages, history, mathematics, and sciences. 3. Within the several groups special attention should be given to what should con- stitute a year's work in each subject (e. g., first-year French ; second-year French, physics, chemistry, etc.) ; or, as may be preferable in some groups, what should constitute the "elementary" and what the "advanced " requirements, and, in general, the constitution of entire courses of study in the separate subjects. 4. It is recommended that a schedule of options or equivalents within the various groups, or between separate groups, be prepared. 5. The committee should make special effort to secure a more satisfactory method of admission to college. The views of the associations, subcommittees, and institutions (above referred to) should be sought as to the best pedagogical means of testing the work done in preparation for college. 6. All partial reports should be submitted to the committee as early as possible, that a tentative report may be prepared for discussion at the next annual meeting of the National Educational Association. 7. The Departments of Higher and Secondary Education and of Science should be requested to make this subject a special order in their program for the meeting of 1897. 8. It is evident that the work outlined cannot be done without the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. This committee should urge upon the Departments of Higher Education, of Secondary Education, and of Science the necessity of petitioning the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association for an appropriation, to be made at as early a day as practicable, sufficient to complete the work. General discussion of the report, as it was read seriatim, followed, and it was finally adopted as reported by the committee. At the joint meeting of the two departments on the following day it received the unanimous approval of the large body of representatives of secondary and higher education in attendance. NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Professor West, of Princeton College, and Professor Kelsey, of the University of Michigan, expressed the opinion that the American Philo- logical Association would be willing to co-operate with* the joint com- mittee by presenting at a later stage classical programs prepared by the association. The members of the committee accepted gratefully and unanimously this suggested help, and on motion of the secretary an invitation was extended to the Philological Association, by unanimous vote of the two departments, to prepare a report on Greek and Latin. The invitation was accepted by the Philological Association, which pro- ceeded to make an investigation of remarkable thoroness and efficiency. The report of its committee (Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale University, chairman) is presented in Part II of this report. The co-opera- tion of the Science Department of the National Educational Association, tendered thru its president. Professor Bessey, was also gladly accepted. The reports of several committees appointed by this department also appear in Part II. In the autumn of 1896 Chairman Nightingale sent a request to the American Historical Association to appoint a committee to prepare a report on the scope and place of history in the secondary schools, with model courses of study for the same. A committee of seven was appointed, with Professor A. C. McLaughlin, of the University of Michi- gan, as chairman. Its most excellent report is presented herewith in Part II. Professor C. H. Thurber attended the meeting of the eastern branch of the Modern Language Association of America at Cleveland in December, and the chairman of the committee met with the western branch at St. Louis at the same time. As a result, a committee of twelve was appointed by this association, with Professor Calvin Thomas, of Columbia University, as chairman, to prepare a report on German and French, with model courses of study for secondary schools. Its very exhaustive report is also to be found in Part 11. A second preliminary report of the committee was presented at the meeting of the National Educational Association at Milwaukee, July, 1897, which was printed by courtesy and without expense to the com- mittee in the June, 1897, number of the School Review. We quote the following from the report presented by the chairman at that time : The committee, sensible of its responsibilities, and sensitive that no means were provided for their proper discharge, has labored, with a zeal fed by its intense interest in the problem, to make a commendable advancement along all lines. Every educational association in the country dealing in any respect with secondary-school and college work has given this question a prominent place upon its program. Educational papers and magazines have abounded with articles on this subject. The secular press has not been remiss in its instruction to the public, and never in the centuries of our educational history has there been a tithe of the interest awakened that now exists in bringing about that harmony which ought to, and eventually must, prevail between elementary, second- ary, and higher education in this republic of free schools, of free opinions, and of univer- sal suffrage. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS II // There must be the closest affiliation between the secondary schools and the colleges. 'This can be brought about,only by the adoption of a plan that shall be consistent with what the secondary schools can do, and what the colleges must have. It is not, how- ever, a question of compromise or of expediency ; it is rather one of psychology, or, to use a rational term, of common sense and justice. All omens point to a successful issue. One after another the old idols are broken. The giants that stood in the path and said to every student, " Let him who enters here " leave all behind but Latin, Greek, and mathematics, are growing limp and lifeless. Requirements for admission are being leveled up ; wide options are to be allowed ; the element of value in preparation is to be a time element; Harvard, Cornell, Vassar, University of Michigan, University of Chi- cago, and Leland Stanford, Jr., are unfurling their banners of freedom. There is already a path blazed thru the thicket and jungle of conservatism and tradition, and before the twentieth century dawns in its glory there will be a broad highway thru which a pupil may walk unfettered, amid attractive associations, from the kindergarten to a degree at the end of the postgraduate course of the university, and still will the people of the future be able to say, " There were giants in those days." ^ At a meeting of the committee at the Pfister Hotel it was decided to request from the joint departments the privilege of adding four members to the committee. The privilege was granted, and the balloting resulted in the choice of Professor H. B. Fine, of Princeton University, and Dr. Edmund J. James, of the University of Chicago, to represent the Depart- ment of Higher Education, and of George B. Alton, inspector of high schools, state of Minnesota, and Ray Greene Htaling, of the English High School, Cambridge, Mass., to represent the secondary schools. These gentlemen accepted, and have since acted with the committee. At this conference it was also decided to ask the National Educational Associa- tion for an appropriation to enable the committee to finish its work, which had thus far been prosecuted at individual and private expense. A subcommittee was appointed for the purpose, and the directors voted to appropriate ^500, provided the funds of the association would permit. Another year passed, and it was learned only at the meeting at Wash- ington, July, 1898, that the money had been voted. During the winter the chairman requested the American Mathematical Association to pre- pare a report on the subjects in which it was especially interested. The request was too late for the general association, but the Chicago branch was empowered to appoint a committee to study the matter and to report. Professor J. W. A. Young, of the University of Chicago, was chairman. He labored with commendable zeal, sent out circulars, called several con- ferences, and two or three drafts of a report were prepared, and one, which we print in Part H, was presented. I " And, lastly, public sentiment among those who have the schools in charge must devise some way by which all grades of schools, from the kindergarten to the college, shall be so correlated that there shall be a straight and open pathway from the lowest to the highest — with no hurdles to jump over and no hoops to jump through — along which free-acting children may be led by teachers acting freely within the necessary limits of relativity," — (George H, Martin, in his Evolution of the Massachusetts Public-School Svstem^ D. Appleton & Co. ; p. 276.) 12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Efforts were put forth, in the meantime, to secure the elaborate reports which had been promised by the eminent committees of the different associations which were co-operating with the national committee, and when it seemed probable that all these reports would be ready, the chair- man called a conference of the general committee in Chicago for April 13, 14, and 15 of the present year. Thru the courtesy of Dr. William R. Harper, who welcomed the com- mittee in a brief address, and thru the generous kindness of the Quad- rangle Club, every facility in the way of rooms and entertainment was provided at the University of Chicago. The first session was held at the Haskell Museum, where the chairman presented a general outline of the work to be done. All other meetings — and there were three sessions a day for three days — were held at the Quadrangle Club. Subcommittees were appointed on the several subjects of study, and their reports were discussed and amended, or approved and passed. All resolutions were presented and debated in general session. To aid the Committee on Science and English, Dr. John M. Coulter, head of the department of botany. Dr. Alexander Smith, professor of chemistry, of the University of Chicago, and Mr. Charles W. French, principal of the Hyde Park High School, were invited to meet with the subcommittees. Their counsels were highly appreciated and of great value. Ten of the national com- mittee and two of the advisory committee were present at all the sessions. Letters were received from the four absentees of the general committee, giving special and satisfactory reasons for their forced absence. Excellent letters, containing many valuable suggestions, were received from Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, Dr. John Tetlow, Dr. Melvil Dewey, Principal W. H. Bartholomew, Professor William P. Trent, Professor Edward H. Griffin, Dr. James H. Canfield, and Mr. Wilson Farrand. The reports that follow, both that of the regularly appointed Committee on College-Entrance Requirements and those of the special committees appointed by the emi- nent associations organized for the purpose of advancing the interests of higher education along special lines, are the result of four years of thought, study, and investigation. They contain not only the opinions of the scores of distinguished educators whose names are appended to the spe- cial reports, but they also embody the conclusions of conferences, insti- tutes, and conventions, which have zealously studied this question since the meeting of the National Educational Association at Denver in July, 1895. They are submitted, therefore, with confidence that they must in a large degree meet with the approval of the better class of colleges and secondary schools of the country. ^^^.^-^^^^ ENGLISH The committee presents first the proposition that the study of the English language and its literature is inferior in importance to no study I COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 13 in the curriculum. It offers all, or nearly all, the opportunities for men- tal training afforded by the study of any language, and introduces the pupil to the literature of his own tongue, which must always be the chief source of his own thought, inspirations, ideals, and aesthetic enjoyment, and must also be the vehicle of his communication with his fellow-men. Hence this study should be placed in a position at least not inferior to that allotted other languages. The course of study in English should include two elements : the study of English literature, and the cultivation of the art of expression ; to the end of securing, respectively, sympathetic and comprehensive appreciation of the writings of great thinkers, and the power to use lan- guage in a clear, logical, convincing, and agreeable manner. Such study, for the accomplishment of both of these aims, should include the reading of many works of literature carefully selected, the study of the principles of composition and literary style, and abundant practice in production, in obedience to the principles studied under the inspiration of the pleasur- able reading of good books. The subjects selected should be in themselves dignified and elevating, taken from the higher or spiritual environment of the pupil, as found ^actually in his school work, and from the environment of his common life. The study of the principles of composition should include the follow- ing subjects : a study of words as to their origin and meaning ; a study of the structure of the sentence and of the larger units of discourse — in other words, concrete logic; a study of the principles of effective literary composition, as illustrated in the various divisions of literature ; and also a study of the aesthetics of literature. These need not in all cases be taken up formally as grammar and rhetoric. Usually it is better that they be studied in connection with lit- erature and composition ; but they should not be neglected. A pupil completing a course in English, or any specific portion of such a course, should be able to appreciate literature that falls within the possibilities of his comprehension, and to express logically, and in good style, such thoughts as he is capable of expressing at all. This should be the test. . Furthermore, the committee recommends that the two departments, literature and composition, be pursued side by side thruout t-he entire secondary-school course, and that they be so related thruout that one shall, in so far as possible, supplement and strengthen the other. We desire to express approval of the following principles : 1. That there should be no difference between the regular courses and the college- preparatory courses in English in secondary schools ; 2. That the college requirements in English should be distributed thru the four years. In accordance with the above, we recommend the following suggestive outline of a course of study in English, the main points of which are in 14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION accordance with the paper presented by Mr. W. F. Webster, of Minne- apolis, and thoroly discussed at the Washington meeting of the Secondary Department of the National Educational Association : FIRST YEAR FIRST HALF Literature — Narration. Narratives in both prose and verse, some brief, some of greater length, selectsd from such authors as Scott, Poe, Tennyson, Lowell, Whittier, Browning, Stevenson, and Kipling, representing various qualities of style, which qualities should be clearly pointed out to the pupils. The selections should be well within the comprehension of the pupils. The following plan of study is suggested : 1. Meaning of the author. a) Outline of story. b) Incidents in the lives of characters. c) Central idea and purpose of the story. 2. Method of the author. a) Does the interest center in the incidents or in the characters ? 6) Is there a climax ? c) Do all the parts converge to this point ? (unity). d) Are the parts arranged in a sequence ? (coherence). e) Is the interest sustained ? 2. Sty/e of the author. "5 It is suggested that here special attention be given to the movement of any selected passage (verbs). Composition — Narration. To give spontaneity. 1. Incidents. (It is better that at this stage of study pupils compose tales without regard to plot.) a) Selection of material (unity). b) Arrangement of material (sequence, coherence). c) Proportion in treatment (mass, emphasis). 2. External form of composition. Heading, margins, indentations of paragraphs. 3. Grammar study. Review of principles. (Attention should here be called especially to the sentence as the unit of thought. Attention should also be given to inflection of pronouns and verbs, agreement of verbs and pronouns.) Concord. Punctuation. Capitalization. 4. Figures of speech^ based on likeness. Simile. Metaphor. Personification. FIRST YEAR SECOND HALF Literature — Description. Examples of description. Examples illustrative of various styles of descriptive literature, in both prose and verse, should be selected from such authors as Hawthorne, Lowell, Gray, Goldsmith, Poe, Blackmore, Burroughs, and Kipling. Some of the books should be studied in class, COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 15 others assigned for home reading. In some cases it is well to study in class portions of a work of considerable length and require that the remaining portion be read at home. The same general plan of study as that suggested for the first half of the year should be followed. 1. Meaning of the author. 2. Method of the author. a) Does he retain his point of view? (unity). b) Does he arrange details in order ? (coherence). c) Are they treated in right proportion ? (emphasis). 3. Style of the author. a) Words that produce pictures. b) General words or specific words. (It is well here to introduce a somewhat thoro study of words, as to origin and mean- ing, and of the analysis of words into their various elements.) Composition — Description. Aim, accurate expression. Subjects to be individual rather than general. They should be such objects as the pupil has seen, or is able to reproduce from imagination, concerning which it is possible for him to find adequate expression. Treat?nent. The selection of details should be decided by the purpose of description. A point of view should be secured and held (unity). Details should be arranged with some plan (coherence). Arrangement and proportion of details should effect a purpose (mass, unity). Technical subjects — paragraph structure. Having secured in the previous half year a clear conception of the sentence and its arrangement, the combining of sentences in paragraphs can now be properly considered. This consideration should include not merely the construction of paragraphs, but such arrangement of the sentences within them as shall secure clearness and proper emphasis. Words. Continuation of the analysis of words and of the study of their history. Selection of words which give pictures (rhetorical figures). Specific words and general terms compared. Nouns, adjectives, verbs. A review of etymology regarding them. SECOND YEAR FIRST HALF Literature — Exposition. Lyrical poetry. Attention should be given to the study of those authors who have not merely told stories well and described objects well, but have expressed ideas in such a way as to make them convincing. Many selections of lyrical poetry also can be properly studied. Poems should be selected that are not too difficult of comprehension, that have an easy, flowing movement, and that are pleasing because of the freedom of their rhythmical qualities, as well as for the the beauty of the thought. The following points may profitably be consid- ered, under the headings already indicated : 1. Meaning of the author. Indicate the main thesis and subordinate propositions, their proper dependence and their relative importance (especially for exposition). 2. Method of the author. a) Does he stick to his point ? (unity). b) Does he pass from the known to the unknown ? (coherence). c) Does he arrange the material to get the highest effect ? (emphasis). 3. Style of the author. His use of connectives, conjunctions, relatives, adverbs, and phrases. a) How does he obtain clearness ? b) Are his figures of speech and comparisons effective ? 1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Composition — Exposition. To encourage logical thinking and adequate expression. Terms. Definitions. Propositions. 1. Clear statement of proposition (key sentence). 2. Discussion as limited by the above. a) What shall be included ? (unity). b) What shall be excluded ? (unity). c) In what order ? (coherence). e invitation and instructed its Committee of Twelve to construct courses of study in the two languages as requested.^ I Proceedings for July, 1895, pp. xxxii-xxxviii. ^Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, 1895, pp. 581, 632-5; School Review for June, 1895, pp. 434-41. "i Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, 1896, pp. 559-62; Pro- ceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1896, pp. li-lv. The report was published also in the School Review for June, 1896, pp. 472-4; the New York Evening Post for July 11, 1896; and Book Reviews for August, 1896, pp. 101-3. 4 See the School Reviev for June, 1896. 5 Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association^ 1896, pp. 558-9; School Review for June, 1898, p. 443. f> Proceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1896, p. Iv. 52 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The Committee of Twelve took up promptly the important work that had been assigned to it, and, after some preliminary correspondence, met in New York in December, 1896. It voted to send a circular of inquiry to teachers in all parts of the United States, requesting information regard- ing the present condition of the study of the classics, and suggestions in relation to classical programs. It decided also to invite representative men engaged in the work of secondary education, scholars of undoubted pedagogic ability and experience, to co-operate with it, as auxiliary com- mittees for Latin and for Greek, and to have a meeting of the combined committees in the spring vacation of 1897.* More than six thousand copies of the circular of inquiry were sent out — to teachers of Latin and Greek, to superintendents, to principals of schools, and to others who are prominent in educational work. About one thousand replies were received, and thus there was placed in the hands of the committee a mass of material for consideration — exact information, and the opinions of specialists — such as had never before been gathered in relation to this subject. Great and general interest in the undertaking was evinced by the care with which most of the answers to the questions of the circular had been prepared. The replies were carefully tabulated by Dr. Arthur Fairbanks, of Yale University, and were brought before the committee at the meeting in New York, April 14.^ The Committee of Twelve was in session with its auxiliary committees for two days, and worked diligently. After listening to a statement with regard to the answers to its inquiries, and to a discussion of certain fundamental ques- tions connected with secondary instruction in the classics, the combined committees divided into two sections for the preparation of school pro- grams for Greek and for Latin. In the time at their disposal the com- mittees were able only to draft tentatively a four-year Latin course and a three-year Greek course ; the whole matter of five-year and six-year Latin courses was referred to a special subcommittee, which met in Chicago in May. As a result of these labors, in the fall of 1897, the Committee of Twelve issued a preliminary report, which contained a brief statement in regard to the organization of the committee and the purpose of its work, and presented for criticism the tentative courses that had been drawn up — four-year, five-year, and six-year courses in Latin, and a three-year course in Greek.3 This preliminary report was submitted to the principal educa- tional associations of the country, and copies were sent also to a number of educational experts; many kindly and helpful suggestions were received, and it became evident that the tentative programs, with slight modifica- tions, would give as general satisfaction as any courses of study which the committee could devise. 1 Proceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1897, p. xxviii. 2 See the School Review for June, 1897, pp. 350-59. sPublished also (in essentially the same form) in the School Review for June, 1897, pp. 362-6; Proceedings of the American Philological Association fo July, 1897, pp. xxxi-xxxiv. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 53 Notwithstanding the favorable reception of the preliminary report, the Committee of Twelver esolved again to avail itself of the advice and criti- cism of those who are actually engaged in the work of classical instruction rn secondary schools, before issuing its report in final form. A meeting of the combined committees was appointed to be held at Ann Arbor, Mich., in the spring vacation of 1898, and in order to attract a number of classical teachers, with whom the problems under consideration could be discussed face to face, a classical conference was arranged, with a two- days' program of scientific and pedagogical papers. The meetings opened with a session of the Latin section of the combined committees, on March 30; the conference was held on March 31 and April i, and the Commit- tee of Twelve met for its final session on April 2. The attendance at the classical conference was full and representative,' while at the various ses- sions of the committee officers and representative members were present, by invitation, from the more important educational associations of the East, the South, and the West, whose direct testimony gave a deeper insight into the conditions of classical study, in all parts of the country, than could have been gained from correspondence alone. Before adjourn- ing, the Committee of Twelve voted that the publication of the courses of study, to the formulation of which so much time and effort had been given, should be accompanied by a statement of the reasons which had influ- enced its conclusions. From what has been said it will be evident that this report was not prepared hastily by a committee anxious to avoid the consideration of bur- densome details, and that it is not based primarily on theoretical consid- erations. It embodies conclusions reached after painstaking inquiry into actual conditions, as well as the results of mature and intelligent expe- rience on the part of the advisers of the committee ; and it has been drawn up after full consideration of the difficulties that lie along the path of educational advance in the secondary field. The committee is firmly of the opinion that the work outlined in the classical program here offered lies within the range of accomplishment of any school which has a com- petent classical teacher, and that there is no reason why at least the four- year Latin course and the three-year Greek course may not be generally adopted as a standard of classical work in the schools of the North, the South, the East, and the West. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS REGARDING THE REPORT The investigations pursued by this committee show that there is a tend- ency in many places to increase the amount of time allowed to Latin in school programs, and that there is nowhere a movement in the other direction. The reports of the United States Commissioner of Education for the last nine years also reveal the highly encouraging fact that the « See the School Review for June, 1898, pp. 425, 481. 54 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION increase of enrollment of pupils in Latin in our secondary schools is very large, and is relatively greater than the increase in any other study .^ Nearly 175,000 more pupils were studying Latin in 1897-98 than in 1889-90. The increase of pupils in Greek, while not so marked, is likewise distinctly encouraging. Nearly 25,000 were reported as studying Greek in prepara- tory courses in 1897-98, against about 13,000 eight years earlier. Then, too, substantial progress has been made in the proper training of teachers. We are undoubtedly still far from having attained a proper professional standard ; but, on the other hand, the facilities for training classical teachers are being constantly, even if somewhat irregularly, developed. It is now possible, as it was not twenty years ago, to find a fair number of well-equipped university courses devoted, at least in part, to the special training of capable instructors for our high schools and academies. There is also a distinct tendency to adapt text-books, in both Latin and Greek, to the pedagogical needs of pupils and teachers, and to emphasize the humanistic, as opposed to the pedantic, ideal of classical culture. The existence of all these favorable tendencies at the present time seems to indicate that we are entering upon abetter age for the school study of the classics. A situation so hopeful as this naturally makes the necessity of giving organic unity to the increasing body of classical interests more pressing than ever before. The committee is the more encouraged in proposing the courses of study submitted in this report, because it has made a careful investigation of the classical instruction in about a thousand high schools and acade- mies, and has had associated with it, in all its conferences, representative schoolmen from the chief regions of our country where the classics are taught. On the basis of information thus obtained as to the actual con- dition of the teaching of Latin and Greek, and as to the resources and legitimate expectations of our secondary schools, we have been enabled to test in advance, so to speak, the practicability of the plans here pre- sented ; and we are gratified to be able to state that these plans are not based on a compromise of conflicting interests, but that, both in our judgment and in the judgment of the auxiliary committees, composed of representative teachers of Latin and Greek, they present a rational and practical standard, containing all the essentials in a sufficiently uniform relation, and yet affording a flexibility sufficient to allow for all reason- able diversity in different classes of schools in different parts of the land. The plans involve no radical reconstruction, but aim to bring the actually existing practices of our schools into organic unity, by gradual adaptation to a more consistent standard. The problem encountered in dealing with the question of instruction in Latin in our American high schools, academies, and other secondary schools, while similar to the corresponding problem for Greek, is more I See Appendix B at the end of this report. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 55 complicated. It is similar because the principles which regulate the intro- duction of young students to both languages have long been recognized as practically identical. Utrique eadem via est, the maxim of Quintilian, might be taken without modification as summing up the settled belief of the best teachers of our own century with reference both to the unity of the classics as a field of study and to the unity of method to be pursued in teach- ing the two classical languages. The problem is more complicated, because more Latin than Greek is usually taught in any given school, because Latin is taught in a far larger number of schools, because many schools have more than one course in Latin instead of a single course as in Greek, and lastly because the length of time devoted to Latin varies more than the length of time devoted to Greek. But another, and far more serious, cause of complication lies outside the relation of the two languages to each other, and is, in fact, a difficulty underlying our secondary education generally, so far as concerns the drawing up of programs of study, namely the lack of uniformity in courses of study in high schools and academies, and its cause or concomitant, the lack of uniformity in college standards of entrance. If, as we believe, the need of greater uniformity is urgent in order to enable our secondary education to accomplish its proper ends, then in no part of the field is it more conspicuously urgent than in the framing of programs of study. For unless school programs can in some rational way be so brought into harmony that classical courses, for example, so far as equal amounts of time are allotted to them, shall mean substantially the same thing in all parts of the country, we cannot expect to remedy either the existing inequalities and waste of time and energy in our school instruction, or the equally irrational inequalities of our college-entrance requirements in the same field. If, on the other hand, the school programs in Latin and Greek can be made substantially uniform, the schools themselves will be greatly helped, and a long step will have been taken toward the solu- tion of a question which has deeply vexed the colleges. In the case of the classics, as in the case of other studies, the desired remedy is not to be sought in any attempt to bring all the schools to the adoption of a single, inflexible program. Such uniformity would be both impracticable and in itself undesirable. Neither is it desirable that the various regions of the country should each make an independent pro- gram. There is already too much of such diversity, which tends to stereo- type and perpetuate causes of division and hindrance — to provincialize rather than to nationalize our teaching. The committee recognizes, of course, that local differences in the programs of Latin and Greek will always exist, and that many of these differences are inevitable under any plan that may be proposed. Many of them are, indeed, made reasonable by local conditions. The committee was not directed to prepare a plan which could be carried out at once in every school, but the best program 56. NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION which is practicable for the schools of the country under prevailing con- ditions— for public high schools, as well as for endowed academies and private "fitting schools." The precise amount of time that a school can allow for Latin and Greek determines much, and this amount is sure to vary. Even more is determined by the strength and skill of the teaching force. Legitimate differences of opinion must also exist with reference to the order in which the different authors may best be taken up, and the precise amount of each that shall be read. Still other causes of variation will occur to those who are actually engaged in the work of teaching, and allowance must be made for such causes in any proposal designed to secure general assent. But after all concessions have been made to the inevitable diversity that arises from differences of locality and of methods, there still remain other differences which need elimination, or at least reduction to some common standard of variation, if any permanent suc- cess is to attend the present hopeful movement toward uniformity. It is, indeed, fortunate for the cause of classical studies at the present time that the schools and colleges are already generally agreed as to the importance of greater organic unity in the courses of our preparatory schools. The present decade has witnessed far more extensive and intelli- gent discussion and conference looking toward the accomplishment of this result than has ever before been known in our country. In offering the fruits of its labors to the two educational bodies under which it has been working, the Committee of Twelve desires to make grateful acknowledgment of the invaluable assistance which it has received from the members of its auxiliary committees and from other educational workers, who have freely responded to every request for information and counsel ; and it wishes further to express the hope that this report may contribute in some measure to the unification and advancement of our secondary instruction in Greek and Latin. CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE AND ITS AUXILIARY COMMITTEES • THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE Thomas Day Seymour, professor of Greek, Yale University, chair- man Cecil F. P. Bancroft, principal of Phillips Andover Academy. Franklin Carter, president of Williams College. William Gardner Hale, professor of Latin, University of Chicago. William R. Harper, president of the University of Chicago. Francis W. Kelsey, professor of Latin, University of Michigan. Abby Leach, professor of Greek, Vassar College. Charles Forster Smith, professor of Greek, University of Wisconsin. Clement L. Smith, professor of Latin, Harvard University. \ COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 57 Herbert Weir Smyth, professor of Greek, Bryn Mawr College. MiNTON Warren, professor of Latin, Johns Hopkins University. Andrew F. West, professor of Latin, Princeton University. the auxiliary committees The Latin Auxiliary Committee was constituted as follows : George B. Aiton, inspector of state high schools, Minneapolis, Minn. J. Remsen Bishop, Walnut Hill High School, Cincinnati, O. David Y. Comstock, principal of St. Johns^ury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vt. E. W. Coy, principal of the Hughes High School, Cincinnati, O. Lawrence C. Hull, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J. Richard A. Minckwitz, Kansas City High School, Kansas City, Mo. * Oscar D. Robinson, principal of the Albany High School, Albany, N. Y. Charles H. Thurber, dean of Morgan Park Academy, Morgan Park, 111. A. W. Tressler, superintendent of schools, Monroe, Mich. W. R. Webb, principal of Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn. The Greek Auxiliary Committee was constituted as follows : Edward B. Clapp, professor of Greek, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. E. G. Coy, principal of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. J. G. Crosswell, principal of the Brearley School, New York city. William Gallagher, principal of the Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass. Robert P. Keep, principal of the P>ee Academy, Norwich, Conn. C. A. Mitchell, classical master of the University School, Cleveland, O. W. D. MoONEY, principal of the Mooney School, Franklin, Tenn. J. H. Pratt, principal of the Milwaukee Academy, Milwaukee, Wis. Julius Sachs, principal of the Collegiate School, W. Fifty-ninth street. New York city. H. G. Sherrard, classical master of the High School, Detroit, Mich. IL GREEK COURSES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS The preparation of the Greek programs presented to the committee a simple problem, in view of the limited time which can be given in the schools to the reading of Greek literature, and of the small amount of Greek literature which is suitable for classes of beginners. The problem had been still further simplified by the discussions and actions of recent conferences, particularly the Greek conference of the Committee of Ten, the Commission of New England Colleges, and the Greek conference held at Columbia University in the spring of 1896 — all of these being in substantial agreement, and already approved by many of the most able teachers of the country. The replies to the committee's circular of inquiry gave abundant information, both as to what is actually done in our schools, and as to what is desired. From California, Wisconsin, and Ten- nessee, in particular, had come letters which presented a most hopeful view of the position of the classics in the schools, and urged that the com- mittee should yield to no suggestion of a weaker, less exacting course of preparation for college. The committee was unanimous in reaffirming the position taken by the Greek conference of the Committee of Ten, 58 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION and proposed a program which is in essential agreement with those of the Commission of New England Colleges and the Columbia conference of 1896. The committee recommends that three years be devoted to the study of Greek in secondary schools, with the understanding that the year con- sists of not less than thirty-eight weeks of school work, and that five periods of recitation a week, of not less than forty-five minutes each, be given to this study. In some pairts of the United States work is crowded into two years, to which, in other parts, three years are devoted. Under exceptional circumstances, with earnest scholars and skillful teachers and long school years, the work of preparation for college in Greek may be done well in two years ; but in general, with less earnestness and skill, this work is likely to be superficial if it is so hurried, and the Committee of Twelve still (and more earnestly than ever) urges the maintenance of a three-year preparatory course in Greek. The committee further recommends heartily a thoro and methodical study of Greek grammar as the necessary basis of accurate reading. No one proposes to return to the former practice of committing to memory all of the rules of Greek grammar before applying them in reading ; but pupils cannot be expected to prove fair scholars unless they know Greek forms and the elements of Greek syntax well before they are sent to college. Moreover, a vigorous and continued effort should be made to correlate and arrange the isolated grammatical facts in the pupil's mind. Our Greek grammars aim to be scientific, and their arrangement should be well understood by the pupil, in order that he may know where to look for the information which he needs. The teacher is in danger of forgetting that the pupil does not easily obtain the general view of the field of grammatical study with which he is himself familiar, and that it is this knowledge alone which enables the beginner to put into their right relations the grammatical facts which he learns. For instance, the pupil should know the most important syntactical uses of each case — understanding that the genitive has accepted the work of the ablative in addition to its own, and the dative that of the instrumental and the locative. The correspondence between the constructions of conditional and relative sentences should be clearly apprehended. Altho the "analysis " of the verbal forms is no longer required so strictly as it was a quarter of a century ago, the pupil may well be taught the elements of word-formation and inflection. The committee further recommends that, from the beginning, system- atic instruction be given in Greek composition, and that exercises in writing Greek, based upon connected reading in Greek prose, be con- tinued thru the third year. Elementary Greek composition, which alone is attempted in the schools of America, is an indispensable auxili- ary to, and we may almost say a part of, grammatical study. The teacher COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 59 does not expect to train his pupil to vie with Xenophon as a Greek writer ; he is entirely satisfied if his pupil can read Greek. Composition should not, therefore, be considered as taking time from reading, but as preparing the pupil to read more readily and accurately. It fixes the pupil's vocabulary more firmly in his mind, serves as a constant review of Greek forms, quickens his sensitiveness to the peculiar significance of the order of words in the Greek prose sentence, and to the difference of meaning between similar words and constructions. It is useful also as a check to the carelessness into which many pupils are in danger of falling, if (as is well) they read large quantities of Greek cursorily '* at sight." For accurate scholarship in Greek we know no better training than many and carefully corrected exercises in Greek composition. These exercises should not be postponed to a late part of the course, but should be begun at the outset, when they will materially assist the pupil in mastering the forms, make his knowledge of constructions exact, cause him to observe Greek usage, and help him to feel the accuracy and force with which the Greek language can express thought. If they are neglected during any part of the reading course, to be resumed only a short time before the pupil leaves the secondary school, the subject is likely to become distaste- ful, because unwonted and difficult to the pupil, who will have been deprived of the aid which he should have received from the exercise during his entire course. The continuance of exercise^ in Greek composition during the third year, while most of the time of instruction is given to Homer, is particu- larly important. This has been proved to be the best means of preserv- ing the familiarity with Attic forms and constructions which is essential for satisfactory work in the college course, in the reading of Plato, Demosthenes, Sophocles, Euripides, etc. In the hands of a skillful teacher, the most efficient exercises in Greek composition are in retroversion, that is, the re-turning into Greek of the English of some Attic prose which has been read by the student. If the teacher has not the time to prepare such exercises for his class, several text-books are ready to render this service. Certain advantages, however, are possessed by the systematic presentation of Greek con- structions, in books which are prepared with no reference to a special text. A combination of the two methods is desirable wherever prac- ticable. In this country, teachers are in little danger of going to excess in attending to the niceties of Greek composition. The making of Greek iambic and lyric verse, which has been practiced in England, quickens the aesthetic and literary sensibilities, but is useful chiefly for those who have time for advanced scholarship. The criticisms which have been uttered against such composition of verses do not hold against the com- position of simple Attic prose which is here recommended. 6o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The committee further recommends that exercises in the reading of unprepared passages (commonly known as sight reading) be begun at the outset of the Greek course and be continued thru it. Exercises in the reading of unprepared passages of Greek enable the teacher to dis- cern, and so to meet, the pupil's difficulties in the interpretation of a new sentence. Very many freshmen seem to have pursued a wrong method of seeking to gain the understanding of a Greek sentence which a little reading of unprepared passages in the class-room would enable the teacher to detect, and perhaps to remedy. If the pupil comes to the teacher only with work carefully prepared with the aid of lexicon and commentary, the teacher may not discover some of the pupil's weak- nesses, and may not understand his difficulties. These exercises also give the pupil readiness in translation and a feeling of mastery over the newly acquired language. Rapid reading, as well as exact interpretation, is necessary to true scholarship. The practice of reading Greek aloud with intelligent expression is warmly recommended by the committee. This aids materially in the treatment of Greek as a living language, and, so far as the acquisition of forms and vocabulary is concerned, the voice is as important for the teachers of Greek and Latin as for those of German and French. Careful attention should be paid to the quantity of the syllables, since the rhythm, not only of the poets, but also of the great orators, was based upon this quantity. In the Greek preparatory course small opportunity can arise for question as to what shall be read, and in what order. Altho Xenophon's style is now known to be not absolutely pure Attic, yet no Greek reading better than the Anabasis has been found for the second year of the Greek course. Some teachers, however, may prefer to read only two books of the Anabasis^ and make up from other works of Xenophon, or from other authors, the equivalent of the third and fourth books of the Anabasis. In order to secure a much-desired uniformity, colleges have been requested by several commissions and associations to base their examina- tions in Greek grammar and composition (in distinction from the ability to read Greek and translate it) on the first two books of the Anabasis. The committee, finally, recommends that Homer be read in the last year of the preparatory course. From one point of view the pupil ought to continue the study of Attic prose without interruption during the third year of his Greek course, without being introduced to another Greek dialect. But for the sake of those students who take Greek in the secondary school, but do not go to college, and as an inspiration to the scholars who are at an age to be thoroly interested in the Homeric poems, the teachers of secondary schools are almost unanimous in their desire that the third year of the three-year Greek course should be given mainly to Homer. The best pupils feel Homer to be literature, and so get an COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 6 1 enticing foretaste of what awaits them in the reading of the college course. Some teachers prefer to begin Homer with the reading of the early books of the Iliad; others prefer the Odyssey ; others would read the Iliad ont year and the Odyssey another. Most colleges allow an option between equivalents, in order to give the fullest freedom to the secondary schools. COURSE OF STUDY RECOMMENDED IN GREEK {Five periods weekly thruout the three years) FIRST YEAR First and second terms : Introductory lessons. Third term : Xenophon's Anabasis (20 to 30 pages). Practice in reading at sight and in writing Greek. Systematic study of grammar begun. SECOND YEAR Xenophon's Anabasis (continued), either alone or with other Attic prose (75 to 120 pages). Practice in reading at sight, systematic study of grammar, thoro grammatical review, and practice in writing Greek, both based on study of Books I and II of the Anabasis. THIRD YEAR Homer (2,500 to 4,000 lines) ; e. g., Iliady I-lII (omitting II, 494-end), and VI-VIII. Attic prose (33 to 40 pages), with practice in writing Greek ; grammar ; practice in reading at sight. Note. — If preparation for an advanced examination in Greek composition is not desired, the course may- be reduced by one lesson a week for the first year. III. LATIN COURSES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS The determining factor in constructing a course in Latin in any of our high schools, academies, or private schools is practically the amount of time which can be allowed to that study, in view of the claims of other studies and the length of the school course. The ordinary arrangement is that of the four-year course of five exercises weekly. The average age of pupils at the beginning of the course is between fourteen and fifteen years. This four-year course is commonly the standard in our high schools and academies. There are schools, however, which are unable to allow four years to Latin, and these, as a rule, provide a three- year course. In a considerable number of schools, on the other hand, a five-year or a six-year course is to be found. The tendency to lengthen the Latin course beyond four years is clearly becoming stronger. This tendency did not receive its initial impulse from the colleges and universities, but manifests rather the characteristics of a spontaneous movement on the part of principals and teachers in secondary schools. It had its origin in a growing conviction that the ends of education, at least in the earlier stages, are best subserved by the concentration of effort upon a limited number of leading studies, properly correlated, 62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION rather than by the scattering of energies over an indefinite range of loosely related subjects. The lengthening of the Latin course is accom- plished, however, not by keeping the pupil at school longer, but by having him begin Latin earlier. The old four-year course in many places has been extended downward one or two years ; and it is, in fact, in this way that most of the five-year and six-year courses have been established. Such is clearly the rational procedure, both because of the better results obtained with pupils who begin Latin early, and because of the undesirability, if not the impossibility, of securing the additional Latin by keeping pupils at school beyond the age at which they now usually complete the course. The problem, therefore, which is likely to be encountered by every school chat has to face the question of the extension of its Latin course is the problem of having Latin begun one or more years earlier than at present, and of using the additional time upon a rationally coherent plan. As a four-year or five-year course is extended, here and there in different parts of the country, into a six-year course, and even as a three-year course is extended into a four-year course, it is desirable that the extension be accomplished according to some common understanding. In the case of schools which do not purpose to extend the course in length, but desire to use the present available time to better advantage, it is perhaps even more important that the inner modifications which may be introduced without additional expenditure of time should likewise be made in accordance with a common plan. In taking up the first problem — the problem presented by the varia- tion in length of Latin courses — the committee was forced to regard the four-year course of five exercises a week as the only available general standard, for the reason that, as has been said, it corresponds, more nearly than any other, to the actual practice of the majority of American schools. The three-year course was considered as an incomplete four-year course, and was not treated as a separately existing type. Consequently no attempt was made to present a model three-year course, for it was assumed that three-year courses, if constructed, would be formed out of elements of the four-year course. Then a six-year course was framed, containing everything in the four-year course, together with such amplifications and additions as would render the six-year course a rationally connected whole. The five-year course, being intermediate between the four-year and the six-year courses, appeared in one aspect as an extension of the four-year course, and in another as on uncompleted six-year course. Inasmuch as, in many instances, the conversion of a four-year into a six- year course might be made, not by establishing a six-year course imme- diately, but by passing thru a transitional five-year course, it seemed best to draw up a five-year course in such a manner that it would serve as a transition from the four-year to the six-year course, and would at COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 63 the same time preserve its own rational unity, so that schools which might never attain to a six-year course should nevertheless find all the parts of a five-year course thoroly co-ordinated with one another. Moreover, since schools with younger pupils naturally find it better to spend more time on the elements, while schools with older and presumably maturer pupils may prefer to do a larger amount of reading, the five-year course has been drawn up in a double form, with this alternative in view ; but in either form it will serve as a logical transition from the four-year to the six-year course, and likewise as a course complete in itself. The proposed arrangement, whereby it was made possible for schools to devote either four, five, or six years to Latin in accordance with a common plan, traveling the same road together, and parting company only where one stops and another goes on, will greatly reduce the practical difficulties arising from the present lack of uniformity in the length of Latin courses. In dei ling with the second problem, that of using to better advantage the time now allowed to Latin, thru inner modification of the existing cour e of study without increase of length, the committee found it necessary to construct, piece by piece, a standard course. Again the four-year course of five exercises a week had to be assumed as a standard. This number of exercises forms a fourth of the usual school week of about twenty periods. The proportion of time thus assumed for Latin corre- sponds closely, as has already been intimated, with the present practice of most of the schools possessing a four-year course. For some of them such a standard would represent an increase, tho a very slight one, beyond the amount of time now given. A standard of five exercises weekly for four years is, therefore, a practicable one for most of the schools that now give four years to Latin. This amount of time being assumed as available, or obtainable with- out great effort, the next question which confronted the committee was to determine what subjects should be included in the four-year Latin course, how far each should be carried, and in what order they should be taken up. It would have been an easy task to draw up an inflexible program based solely on theoretical considerations ; but such a program would show little wisdom. The only course left open to the committee was to endeavor to find a feasible way of improving upon our present practice, keeping constantly in mind the limitations prescribed by existing condi- tions. The stock and staple of our Latin instruction in the existing four- year courses consists of Latin grammar — usually taught in the form of Latin lessons — Latin prose composition, four or five books of Caesar's Gallic War or some equivalent, six orations of Cicero, and six books of Virgil's y^neid. These may be taken as constituting a substantially irre- ducible minimum. Most schools having a four-year course do as much as this ; some do a good deal more, many a little more. The contents of 64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION this minimum enter solidly into college-entrance requirements thruout the country, and the propriety of regarding them as essential elements in any Latin program will not be questioned. At times, indeed, some opposition has been made to the study of Caesar, as too difficult for stu- dents in the second year of the course. But this objection loses its validity when the study of Caesar is preceded by the reading of an ade- quate amount of simple Latin, as recommended in the program below. At all events, the objection suggested may be met by allowing an equiva- lent from some easier author to be offered for a part of the Commenta- ries; to omit Caesar entirely would be a retrograde step in the framing of Latin programs. Apart from this question with regard to the availability of Caesar, no serious difference of opinion exists. If, then, we assume that Latin grammar, Latin composition, some easy reading, four or five books of Caesar (with a partial equivalent allowed), six orations of Cicero, and six books of Virgil may be considered as forming the assured basis of a standard four-year course, the question at once arises whether this is all that shou-ld enter into such a course. It has already been said that these subjects represent nothing more than the average practice of the majority of schools with four-year courses, and something less than' many such schools are actually giving — and that, too, without being able to allow quite as much time as five exercises weekly thruout the four years. To accept this substantially irreducible minimum found in the great majority of four-year courses, without adding anything to allow for the extra work now actually done in many places, and without taking account of the present marked tendency to increase the amount of Latin taught, would be equivalent to the proposing of a standard actually lower than our present practice. Accordingly it is necessary to strengthen the pro- posed standard four-year course to an extent which will make it some- what better than some of the existing four-year courses ; otherwise no proper model will be presented, in conformity with which our presenffour- year courses may be made not only more nearly uniform, but also a little better intrinsically. The small increment thus desired may be added in either of two ways. One is by an increase of the amount of work in the present subjects — a little more grammar, or easy reading, or prose com- position, or Caesar, or Cicero, or Virgil. The other is by increasing the variety and interest of the course by adding other subjects. There is merit in both methods, and neither is to be generally recommended to the entire exclusion of the other. In laying out a four-year course with five exercises weekly, it will be fourtd practicable to take advantage of both methods. The desired increment, if it is to be obtained without adding to the list of existing subjects, may be secured by devoting more time to the grammar lessons, the written prose exercises, and the easy reading which precedes and prepares for the reading of Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil ; or it may be secured by an increase in the amount of reading COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 65 in the works of one or more of these authors, provided it always is understood that, in case a school cannot both improve the quality of the more elementary work and at the same time read the maximum quantity suggested in any or all of the authors, it is better to do with thoroness the elementary grammar, written prose exercises, and easy reading, and to read the minimum amounts of the authors, than to sacrifice in any degree the earlier and fundamental work. But in many schools, for various reasons — principally the desire foi greater variety to enliven the interest of pupils — other authors are intro- duced in addition to Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil. Many teachers favor Cornelius Nepos for easy reading just before Caesar, or in place of a part of the Commentaries. The plan proposed by the committee, while not giviijg Nepos a fixed place, leaves ample room for such use as has been indicated. Selections from Eutropius, Florus, and the Fables may, of course, be employed, or the useful *' made-Latin" of Lhomond's Viri Romae. The committee, however, does not find it expedient to recom- mend any one of these classes of material, or any special combination of them, as a fixed part of a course. They may all be made to serve one purpose, and, while uniformity may appear desirable at this point, it is by no means essential. In the list of authors two additions are proposed — the Catiline of Sallust and a small amount of Ovid Sallust, indeed, has of late years been less read in schools than formerly, but there are excellent reasons in favor of this author. His Catiline forms the best bridge over the gap between Caesar and Cicero. Even young pupils find it attractive. It is not too hard. It helps to illustrate from a different angle of vision the intensely interesting age to which Caesar and Cicero also belong. Its fine portrai- tures and graphic style give it merited rank as a classical masterpiece. And, finally, it is so brief that, while adding little to the amount read, it affords a special satisfaction in that it enables the young student to com- plete an entire work, instead of constantly occupying himself with selec- tions ; while at the same time it introduces variety into his reading. Hav- ing made the acquaintance of Caesar, Sallust, and Cicero, the pupil has gained a considerable knowledge of the golden age of Latin prose — the foundation of all his subsequent study of the literature — as well as of the most important period of Roman history, that immediately preceding the downfall of the republic. In like manner the study of Ovid forms a useful preparation for the reading of Virgil. Even a few hundred lines will serve to give variety to the poetical reading of the student, and enhance his appreciation of the golden age of Roman poetry, the period of Augustus, which forms the literary as well as the historical sequel to the great republican period. It will be seen that a preference is here indicated for a particular order of authors : first, the prose writers of the republic, represented by Caesar, 66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Sallust, and Cicero ; and then the poets of the Augustan age, repre- sented by Ovid and Virgil. The prose writers give the normal syntax and the general standards of literary expression, thus providing the young student with the proper foundation for all subsequent study of the language. The poets selected not only belong to a later age than the prose writers named, but are read with greater ease and profit after the student's knowledge of prose usages is established. A further considera- tion in favor of the order recommended may be found in the relation of the authors read to the exercises in prose composition. Prose composition should be taught thru the whole four years of the course, and the exercises should be formed upon the best prose models. In the program of the first year provision is made for easy written exercises in connection with lessons in grammar. In that of the second year the Latin writing will naturally be based on Caesar. If Cicero is read in the third year, the Latin writing will, of course, be based on Cicero, and may continue to be based upon this author in the fourth year, even if poetry be read exclusively. If, on the other hand, Virgil is read in the third year, it will be difficult to main- tain the course in Latin writing, in either that or the following year, on as high a level as is possible under the other arrangement. Still, the fact remains that there is a division of opinion upon this one phase of the sub- ject. In many schools Virgil is read before Cicero. If the adoption of a model four-year Latin course were to turn upon this one point of the order in which the two authors should be read, probably no agreement would be reached. It is, of course, more important that the two authors be read, in whatever order, than that the order of the reading should be uniform. It is also important that the reading of additional writers, such as Sallust and Ovid, shall not be made to depend upon any considerations of order. In the four-year course outlined below, the last two years are mainly occupied with Sallust, Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil. The order in which these four authors are placed in the program indicates the clear preference of the committee, reached after extended conference with representative schoolmen in the auxiliary committees ; while, on the other hand, the omission of any line of separation between the third and fourth years is intended to express the recognition, on the part of the committee, of the existence of differing opinions on the subject. The arrangement of the earlier part of the four-year course naturally involves several questions connected with the methods to be pursued in the elementary study of the subject. The work of the earliest stage must, of course, be mainly disciplinary. The study of grammar gives acquaint- ance with the forms and laws of the language, and the progressive acquisition of vocabulary gives the material for reading, while easy exercises in the writing of Latin prose and training in simple reading 'organize this material again under the forms and laws of grammar. It is assumed that these principles govern all sound elementary teaching in the COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 67 subject. At the same time emphasis needs to be laid on the spirit and perspective characterizing this earlier work. Easy reading should be begun at the earliest possible moment. The writing of easy sentences, even if consisting of only three or four words, should be commenced at the very outset, and out of this writing should be developed gradually the fuller practice in connected expression which ought to be continued thru the entire course. In all written exercises, of whatever kind, the long vowels should be marked. There should be abundant practice in reading Latin aloud, pains being taken to make the pronunciation conform to the quantities ; while, at the same time, great emphasis should be laid upon intelligent expression. The student should be carefully trained to take in the meaning of the sentence in the order in which it stands, and before trans- lating. The English of the translation, too, should be genuine English, not Z«//;?-English. As a help to the pupil's understanding, he should memorize short prose passages, maxims, and bits of poetry. These will remain with him, and will ever afterward contribute to his enjoyment of the classics. The proposed standard four-year course has been drawn upon the basis of these convictions. It has not, to be sure, been the intention to represent our present practice without change ; and we accordingly can hardly expect that all of the schools which give four years to Latin will immediately adopt the course as it stands. In the case of most schools, however, it seems reasonable to look forward to the acceptance of as strong a program as is here given, even if only the minimum amounts of the authors recommended shall be read. The plan is proposed as a model toward which all our present four-year courses can be made to approach closely, and thus to conform to one another in a degree which in no other way seems possible of attainment. Tho uniformity in the particular parts of the authors read may be desirable, no recommendation is made in this respect, except in the case of Sallust's Catiline. Teachers naturally will not be in perfect agreement in regard to the particular, books of Caesar and orations of Cicero which they would prefer to have their classes read. In most cases the selection is influenced by tradition, and, in any event, it is impossible to arrive at uniformity, for the reason that many teachers prefer to make changes from year to year. In relation to college- entrance requirements, however, this diversity occasions no especial difhculty, because the colleges are inclined more and more to be liberal in accepting equivalents. Embodying in a program the suggestions which have been offered, we obtain the following standard four-year Latin course : PROPOSED FOUR-YEAR LATIN COURSE {Five periods weekly thruout the four years) FIRST YEAR Latin lessons, accompanied from an early stage by the reading of simple selections. Easy reading : twenty to thirty pages of a consecutive text. 68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION In all written exercises the long vowels should be marked, and in all oral exercises pains should be taken to make the pronunciation conform to the quantities. The student should be trained from the beginning to grasp the meaning of the Latin before translating, and then to render into idiomatic English ; and should be taught to read the Latin aloud with intelligent expression, SECOND YEAR Selections from Caesar's Gallic War equivalent in amount to four or five books; selections from other prose writers, such as Nepos, may be taken as a substitute for one, or at most two, books. The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Caesar. Reading aloud and translating, together with training in correct methods of appre- hending the author's meaning, both prepared and unprepared passages being used as material. The memorizing of selected passages. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS Sallust's Catiline.^ Cicero : six to nine orations (including the De Imperio Cn. Pompeii). Ovid : 500 to 1,500 verses. Virgil's yEneid: six to nine books. The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. The bearing which the adoption of a standard four-year course would have on college-entrance requirements is obvious. The minimum amounts proposed — consisting of Latin grammar, prose composition, four books of Caesar, Sallust's Catiline, six orations of Cicero, a little Ovid, and six books of Virgil — may easily be accepted as a fixed mini- mum entrance requirement. The question may be raised whether the proposed standard four-year course is sufficiently elastic in the choice of subjects. If it is not, it is in so far impracticable. Nevertheless, if a standard is made too elastic, its value as a standard is destroyed. American schools exhibit a marked diversity, such as, perhaps, will not be found in the schools of all Europe. This striking individuality is not a thing to be rashly denounced or unduly discouraged. It is in accord with our diversified and free Ameri- can life. But in the case of our schools, and of our colleges too, the individuality is certainly excessive, and detrimental to the interests of scholar and teacher alike. The effect upon the colleges produced by this individuality on the part of the schools may be imagined when it is remembered that a single class in one of the former is sure to contain students from a large number of the latter. The differences in our Latin programs ought not to be so great as to preclude agreement upon a list of fundamental subjects, their general order of presentation, and their mode of treatment. The line between tolerable and intolerable differ- ences may, like some other boundary lines, be impossible to draw with *The Committee on College -Entrance Requirements adds the worcf "selections" after Sallust's Catiline. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 69 precision; yet, even when we cannot draw exact boundaries, it is usually possible to distinguish regions, and to define, and even reduce, the area under dispute. Such disagreement as actually exists in the present instance is mainly the result merely of particular preferences in matters of detail. The principal difference, as already mentioned, concerns the reading of Caesar; but the difficulty occasioned by the difference is met, in the proposals of the committee, partly by the suggestion of an equiva- lent for a part of Caesar in the program of the school, and partly by the willingness of colleges to accept still other equivalents at the entrance examinations. There is also a minor difference of opinion in relation to the use of Sallust and Ovid ; but, with these exceptions, there is no important disagreement regarding the minimum amounts. Where so much is unanimously approved, and where the preponderating weight of opinion is strongly fixed in regard to even the mildly disputed points, it is certainly time to agree upon a minimum standard for gradual imita- tion, especially when the proposed standard is homogeneously consistent, and embodies a fundamental principle. Up to this point the question of flexibility has remained untouched, but agreement as to the mode of attaining flexibility has been made pos- sible. In the framing of a standard course, the committee found itself concerned, not so much with the question whether it should recommend more or fewer subjects, but whether it should recommend a greater or less amount of each subject. In the case of grammar and prose compo- sition, it was recognized that the determination of the amount of ground to be covered must be left to the individual teacher; tho the committee i*s clearly of the opinion that the systematic study of both of these sub- jects should be carried thru the entire course. As regards the ground to be covered in the authors, while it is desirable that as much reading as possible should be done, nevertheless thoroness should never be sacrificed to quantity. Only a moderate range of variation is, therefore, suggested — which amounts, for example, to a single book in the case of Caesar, three orations in the case of Cicero, a thousand lines in the case of Ovid, and three books in the case of Virgil. This additional reading can be done rapidly, if the earlier work in the authors has been sufficiently accu- rate and painstaking. It may not be expedient for all schools at once to read the maximum amounts suggested. But the program presented pos- sesses the advantage of conforming closely, in the statement of maxi- mums, to the actual practice of many schools — a practice which is not beyond the attainment of any school that is able to devote five exercises weekly to Latin for four years — while in the statement of minimums it presents a standard easily reached under almost any conditions. The committee, however, would not have been justified in limiting its attention to the problems presented by the four-year course. It was sur- prised to find in how many schools five-yea and six-year cour'-es are in 70 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION actual operation today. The demand seemed imperative that it should undertake to formulate courses extending beyond the four-year limit. It has accordingly presented a five-year course, drawn in double form. The first form is the standard four-year course, with the work of the first year extended over two years in order to give twice the amount of time for grammar lessons, the writing of simple exercises, and easy reading. This form is intended to meet the needs of students who commence Latin a year earlier than in the ordinary four-year course. All educational expe- rience shows that the best results may be secured from the study of Latin when the subject is commenced somewhat earlier than is usual in this country, and at least two years are given to the elementary work before the pupil begins the reading of Nepos or Caesar. The second form is designed for schools which have more mature and stronger pupils. The work of the first four years of this course coincides with that of the four- year standard course ; the additional year is devoted mainly to reading. The recommendation is made that Virgil's ^«^^V/ be completed, in order that pupils who have the time for a five-year course may enjoy the satis- faction of reading the greatest Latin epic to the end, and viewing it as an artistic whole. An additional amount of Cicero is also recommended : the two essays On O id Age and On Friendship, which are short and com- plete in themselves, together with some of the briefer and more interest- ing Letters. Thus the pupil's acquaintance with Cicero's many-sided literary and intellectual accomplishments will be extended, while the selections suggested will furnish the best possible model of style for the writing of Latin in the latter part of the course. A six-year course may be established at once by introducing Latin into the last two years of the grammar schools ; such was the method adopted in the city of Chicago. Or a six-year course may be developed out of the five-year course, thru the use of either of the forms which have been suggested. In either case it is obviously desirable to aim at a fair degree of uniformity in such courses, and thus avoid for them the inconveniences from which our present four-year courses suffer. In the six-year course, at any rate, two years can be given to that careful and thoro preparation for reading which not only forms the best foundation for all later work in Latin, but also constitutes, for this period of the student's education, the most effective instrument of training in exact habits of thought and of expression. If two years are given to this sort of work, most of the difficulties felt by the young pupil in entering upon the study of Caesar will have been anticipated and overcome. Thus arranged, the first five years of the six-year course and the five-year course in the first form presented will be identical in respect of the subjects taken up and the order of arrangement. The work of the sixth year will then correspond closely with that of the last year of the five-year course as given in the second form ; that is, it will be devoted to the finishing of COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 7 I the yEneid, to the reading of Cicero's essays On Old Age and On Friendship, and of selected Letters, and two weekly exercises in prose composition based on Cicero. As in the case of the five-year course, the principal object should be, not to extend widely the range of authors taken up, but so to adjust the work of the course to the needs of the pupil's intel- lectual life as most effectively to promote his development at this period. In a number of cities it has been thought advantageous to give two years of Latin in the grammar school rather than one. The reason is that, since the length of the high-school course, by common consent, remains fixed at four years, the study of Latin for only a single year before entrance into the high school is not only less fruitful in itself, but is also less easily adjusted to the other studies of the grammar-school course. The arrangement is also found to be advantageous from the point of view of the adjustment of the grammar-school and high-school courses to each other. In a city in which two years are given to Latin in the grammar school, the high school also will undoubtedly continue to give a four- year course. Pupils, then, wl^ come up from the grammar schools with two years of Latin will in the high school find it possible to enter upon work which corresponds with that of the third, fourth, and fifth years of the six-year course, and will need to be taught separately from other high-school students only in the sixth year of their Latin study ; in other words, immediately upon entering the high school they may be united with the second-year students in the four-year course. In large high schools separate sections need to be formed in any case for each Latin class, and probably it will be found advantageous to teach the stu- dents of the six-year course by themselves. In like manner, the adjust- ment of a six-year or five-year course to an already existing four-year course will be found easy in the case of academies and private schools. A plan by which the work of the four-year Latin course may be correlated with that of the six-year course is indicated in the following diagram : 72 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION SIX-YEAR COURSE Next-to-ia:>t grade in grammar school First year of Latin Last grade in grammar school Second year of Latin First year in high school Third year of Latin Second year in high school Fourth year of Latin Third year in high school Fifth year of Latin Fourth year in high school Sixth year of Latin FOUR-YEAR COURSE First year in high school First year of Latin Second year in high school Second year of Latin Third year in high school Third year of Latin * Fourth year in high school Fourth year of Latin Led by the considerations which have been briefly presented above, the committee, after careful deliberation, has framed the three programs subjoined : one for a four-year course, one for a five-year course (in two forms), and one for a six-year course. We commend these programs to the consideration of the schools, hoping that they may not only be found convenient as standard or model courses, but may also contribute to the general advancement of sound education in the United States. FOUR-YEAR LATIN COURSE {^Five periods weekly thruout the four years) FIRST YEAR Latin lessons, accompanied from an early stage by the reading of very simple selec- tions. Easy reading : twenty to thirty pages of consecutive text. In all written exercises the long vowels should be marked, and in all oral exercises pains should be taken to make the pronunciation conform to the quantities. The student should be trained from the beginning to grasp the meaning of the Latin before translating, and then to render into idiomatic English ; and should be taught to read the Latin aloud with intelligent expression. SECOND YEAR Selections from Caesar's Gallic War equivalent in amount to four or five books ; selections from other prose writers, such as Nepos, may be taken as a substitute for an amount up to, but not exceeding, two books. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 73 The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Caesar. Reading aloud and translating, together with training in correct methods of appre- hending the author's meaning, both prepared and unprepared passages being used as material. The memorizing of selected passages. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS ^ Sallust's Catiline. Cicero : six to nine orations (including the Manilian Law). Ovid : 500 to 1,500 verses. Virgil's ^neid; six to nine books. The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. FIVE-YEAR LATIN COURSE FIRST FORM {Five periods weekly thruout the five years) • FIRST AND SECOND YEARS The same as the first year of the four-year course. THIRD YEAR * The same as the second year of the four-year course. FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS The same as the third and fourth years of the four-year course. FIVE-YEAR LATIN COURSE SECOND FORM {Five periods weekly thruout the five years) FIRST YEAR The same as the first year of the four-year course. SECOND YEAR The same as the second year of the four-year course. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS The same as the third and fouth years of the four-year course. FIFTH YEAR Virgil's yEneid: completed. Cicero : De Senectute and De Amicitia; selected Letters. The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. SIX-YEAR LATIN COURSE {Five periods weekly thruout the six years) FIRST AND SECOND YEARS The same as the first year of the four-year course. THIRD YEAR The same as the second year of the four-year course". FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS The same as the third and fourth years of the four-year course SIXTH YEAR Virgil's Mneid: completed. Cicero : De Senectute and De Amicitia; selected Letters. The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. 74 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION c H J W ^ H O ~ j2 „ . 2 ;^ c ao ^ To 11^ I '*"ii g-^ £«£ CS O « ^ C B WOO « «5 1 ="§ 3^ S :s .y >u w* P!j y t2 X o V H u fc; « ^ m <; "t^ < M •h 01 >< ^ U ^ Z 2 > 5 Is. CO [I. o u 5 „ c cs-^ o 6X 12 c* O !> > Ph H ^ Ejs ^^ 0-2'-' ae Won • . p c o .« o-o a ►^ o ca v pl^ v m « « ?< t3 8 "Q § « V < "y >< « tc^ ^ > ta ^^ ■« "y ►*; IT) o'5 J « i C C 4) CM o'S a^c t58 C.S o ^ ^iS « « Mo CXI 3 o W . « ^ H Si c .5 « "Vj ■" "' . _ '^ '0^'° " •^ o„ CJ ~ b c 64 ii-c-^ 2 c ^ s§a^.s§ . *" 6^ wE w CS ^ «;> ** C ^ tn U puHHH o i 8 I ^ ■^ c o. c e "-5 8 S E 5 O O > Pk H H -nJ^n. rt u 0. M .e^s, i tn D ■-" W > 0 COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS APPENDIX B ON THE ENROLLMENT OF PUPILS IN THE VARIOUS STUDIES IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEARS 189O-98 Chap, xl of the Report of the. United States Commissioner of Education for i^qb-QJ (Washington, 1898) fs devoted to the statistics of secondary schools, and contains comparative tables showing the percentages of pupils in the principal studies for each year from 1890 to 1897. In order to be able to exhibit the numerical totals as well as the percentages, and to bring the figures down to 1898, a member of the committee addressed an inquiry to Hon. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, who furnished the appended statistical table : O O X u > z f O O u o W QO w wT < > Q 1 Per cent. to total hO inTj-o-O>mO00 m rovo 00 -<*• 0 0 00 w ■ m T}- N N inoo Tj- Ti- in ovo mvo en O vo ■* > ■♦ 0 'I- mvo P) Tfooo -*- t>oo t^ . 0 . It pi \ ^A ? ^ ^S, ^^. ? t ? ^ 8 ^^ : ~ : tC otTrOMi-diniointitCtCiAioo^Tf . \o^- 10 N 0* ^^ -.MiHiH-M- rg^i woomovOMmOuiior^OooPit^ '. r? I Nin-N-4-t^wM00-_O>W0004u=>£mN ; )J> ; 1 1 Pi t- •<«- T»- rs. m o^ t-oo (st^t-.-*o«woo • "o • •^ t ^ ':: ^, ^ <^, "^ ". t y? t "^ •?'^, ^, ; °- : 1 ^1^1 m-N >noo c^ m • 4 • ■«■ l-iu-)N N N N f! f>r 1 1 vO XO OvO ►> in f«^ M 0 00 t^ -^vo ■♦ t^ « • \0 ^ "* 0>r)-^NvOM-«- ovO 0 N VO 0 t~- r^ • r»^ • ■<♦■ O- t» t^ O- •*00 N vO t^vo M 0 fO\0 vO • m • 00 in cT inoo in^in^t^rncoinini-' invo ' N • VO ON-^mM-Mwwo-^ONrOi-i-*. VO- 1 u a 0 S O.S-0 Sgf;=^j:-S' oomNN^«^•<^g••<^0•■^I•• g>- ^ cg^U^^li^SS^Si :^^ : : : : : : § : 1 ^^^^s"^- :^^ ; : : : : : ^ : I 5HoS Oh J>-0 0^ O" Qv 0 o> r^o 'no- .11!! •>«• ! ►"■•^Ovrod-Tf-cn pid- ro- 00 -r, ■* m M moo in^ooooiiiii: o- ^ ^^^^^^^ ;g^^ : : : : : : J? : 1 w c 0 2 Ci, «- 0 00 vo invo VO m 0 . 0 0 ; ; ; ; : ; m ; co^coM^gjcJ go : : : : : : h : 1 f z a m voo-i-inininin^fiin;:.:;: ^o '. 1 ^:i?^^i^2 llC^ : : ; : : : ^ : 5> 1 ^1-1 o;4 : 1 i li ov m 4^<» 00' ■,«*.■.::*; cT : 0 NMW'4-int^..t^rc Ov. 1 ^I'-i vSS.^'^f^S- : :^v2 : : : : : : ; if- ■ ; ^-f-^: fiisl^sllii;i; S 0 0-- g ^:^-5;^ 0^ 0 S u 76 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION An examination of the Commissioner's report and these statistics brings to light the following interesting facts : 1. In the nine years covered by the table the'total enrollment of pupils in the second- ary schools of the United States has risen from 297,894 to 554,814. This is a gain of 86 per cent., a rate probably five times that of the increase in population. 2. The remarkable increase just noted is found mainly in the high schools,^ the enroll- ment in which has increased from 202,963 to 409,443, a gain of more than 100 per cent. The enrollment in other secondary schools has risen from 94,931 to 107,633, a gain of only 13-5 per cent., the rate of increase being about the same as that of the increase of population. 3. The statistics show that in these nine years marked progress has been made toward the concentration of school work upon a few central studies, in place of the tendency toward scattering which was formerly manifest. The rate of increase in the number of students pursuing such studies as algebra, geometry, history, Latin, and German far exceeds the rate of increase in the total enrollment. This fact indicates that studies of central importance are receiving recognition of their proper place and value ; while other studies are being relegated to a secondary position or altogether excluded from the schools. " Many hundreds of schools, " says the Commissioner in his report, "which formerly offered courses of study made up of elementary and secondary branches, now confine their instruction strictly to high-school studies. This maybe seen in the steady increase in the proportion of students pursuing these secondary studies.'" So, too, in the private schools there are " indications of the strengthening of the secondary courses of study as in the case of the public high schools. Mixed courses made up of elementary and secondary studies are being replaced by courses in which only secondary studies proper are included. The demand for a better preparation of students for college is being met by private schools of secondary grade in all parts of the country. " 3 4. If now we arrange the studies of our table with statistics running from 1889-90 to 1897-98 according to the rate of increase in the enrollment of students pursuing them in the period extending from 1889 to 1898, we have the folloVl^ing order : Studies 1. Latin 2. History (except U. S.) 3. Geometry 4. Algebra 5. German 6. French 7. Greek 8. Physics 9. Chemistry Enrollment in 1889-90 100,144 82,909 59.781 127,397 34,208 28,032 12,869 63,644 28,665 Enrollment in 1897-98 274,293 209,034 147,515 306,755 78,994 58,165 24,994 "3,650 47,448 Per cent, of increase 174 — 152 + 147 — 141 — 131 — 107 -*■ 94 + 79 — 65 + From these figures it appears that the study of Latin in the last eight years has gained in the enrollment of pupils at a rate greater than that of any other high-school study. The total gain of 174 percent, is more than double the percentage of increase in the total enrollment of pupils in the schools. While the enrollment of pupils in Latin has thus increased 174 per cent., the increase of enrollment in German has been 131 per cent., and in Greek 94 per cent. In the same period the increase in the enrollment in physics has been only 79 per cent., and in chemistry only 65 per cent., a percentage smaller than that of the increase in the total enrollment in the schools. »The figures for this are given up to i8q7 in the Commissioner's Report, p. 1874. a See Commissioner's Report, p. 1877. 3 See the same, p. 1880. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 77 5. It is at least encouraging to the friends of classical study to notice that in 1897-98 almost one-half of all the pupils enrolled in the secondary schools ( 49.44 per cent.) were engaged in the study of Latin. With this general increase of interest in Latin studies undoubtedly will come also a fuller recognition of the importance of Greek as an educa- tional instrument. In the next decade an even more rapid increase in the enrollment of students in Greek may be expected than the very promising one of 94 per cent, reported for the period covered by the table. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA The committee appointed two years ago to make recommendations upon the subject of preparatory requirements in French and German has the honor to submit the following report :* SECTION I. PRELIMINARY It will be remembered that the appointment of the committee grew out of a request of the National Educational Association, which has for some time been endeavoring to bring about a better regulation of second- ary instruction in the subjects usually required for admission to American colleges. In pursuing this laudable undertaking the National Edu- cational Association very properly saw fit to ask for the advice of various professional bodies, our own among the number. In particular, it was desired that we draw up model preparatory courses in French and Ger- man, and make recommendations concerning the practical management of these courses. The matter was brought to the attention of both branches of this association at the sessions of 1896, and we were asked to take appropriate action. As the business appeared to be of very great importance, it was thought best to turn it over to a large committee hav- ing a somewhat general mandate to investigate and report. The resolu- tion under which the committee was appointed reads as follows : That a committee of twelve be appointed {a) to consider the position of the modern languages in secondary education ; {b) to examine into and make recommendations upon methods of instruction, the training of teachers, and such other questions connected with the teaching of the modern languages in the secondary schools and the colleges as in the judgment of the committee may require consideration. * The report was submitted in December, 1898, to both branches of the Modern Lan- guage Association, but owing to its length it could not be read in its entirety. The chairman of the committee was accordingly directed to have the report printed and mailed to the members of the association, who would thus be in a position to consider the docu- ment intelligently and vote upon the question of its adoption at the session, or sessions, of December, 1899. At the same time permission was given to hand in the report, with the necessary explanation, to the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements of the National Educational Association. 78 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION That this committee shall consist of the present president of the association, Profes- sor Calvin Thomas, as chairman, and eleven other members of the association, to be named by him. That the association hereby refers to this committee the request of a committee of the National Educational Association for co-operation in the consideration of the subject of college-entrance examinations in French and German. In pursuance of this resolution the committee was made up early in the year 1897, and began its work by preparing a circular, which was sent out to some 2,500 teachers. The object of the circular was to obtain information with regard to the present status of secondary instruction in French and German in the country at large, and also to elicit opinions with respect to a number of more or less debatable questions which, as was thought, would be likely to arise in the course of the committee's deliberations. Several hundred replies were received and collated, and the information thus obtained was laid before the committee at a session held in Philadelphia one year ago. We have not thought it wise to cumber this report, which will be long enough at the best, with a detailed recital of these statistics. Suffice it to say that, taken as a whole, they give us a picture of somewhat chaotic and bewildering conditions. Under various names our secondary schools have a large number of courses in which French and German figure as prominent or as subordi- nate subjects of instruction ; courses of one, two, three, and four or more years ; courses providing for two, three, four, or five recitations a week, and for recitation periods ranging from twenty-five to sixty minutes. And when we come to the colleges and higher scientific schools, the requirements for admission are hardly less multifarious. Various bache- lor's degrees are conferred, and for admission to the courses leading to these degrees French and German figure variously, according as the mod- ern language is offered in addition to the Latin and Greek of the classi- cal preparatory course, or in place of Greek, or as the main linguistic study. Some of the colleges have also an elementary and an advanced requirement, with options variously managed. Upon surveying the intricate problem thus presented, the members of the committee perceived at once that any report which they might make, if it was to be really useful, must be adapted, so far as practicable, to the conditions as they are. It was not for us to recommend radical changes in the American system, or lack of system, which has grown up in a nat- ural way and must work out its own destiny. It was not for us to attempt to decide which of the various competing courses is the best course, or to antagonize any particular study. Nor could we assume to dictate to the colleges just how much knowledge of French or German, or both, they shall demand for admission to this, that, or the other undergraduate course. The colleges would certainly not consent to any surrender of their liberty to regulate their requirements in their own way. Most important of all, it was Aot for us to propose any arrangements which COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 79 could be taken to imply that secondary instruction in French and Ger- man exists only for the sake of preparation for college. The great majority of those studying the modern languages in school do not go to college at all. Our secondary education must be recognized as having its own function, its own aims and ideals. In the great mass of the schools those who are preparing for college receive instruction in the same classes with those who are not preparing for college. And this must always be so. These considerations seem to indicate that the proper line for the committee to pursue was as follows : To describe a certain number of grades of preparatory instruction, corresponding to courses of different length ; to define these grades as clearly as possible in terms of time and work and aim ; and to make a few practical recommendations with regard to the management of the instruction — recommendations having as their sole object the educa- tional benefit of the pupil. The members of the committee are naturally of the opinion that the study of a modern language in school has a dis- tinct educational value of its own. The teacher's problem is to realize this value from the study. Whether the learner is going to college or not makes no difference, save as this consideration affects the amount of time he can devote to the modern language while preparing himself in the other necessary subjects. If such courses could be wisely drawn up, and if then they were to be recommended to the country upon the com- bined authority of the Modern Language Association and the National Educational Association, it seemed reasonable to expect that they would soon become the national norm of secondary instruction in the modern languages. It also seemed reasonable to expect that the colleges would be not only willing but glad to adopt the practice of stating their require- ments in terms of the national grades. Such a mutual understanding between the colleges and the secondary schools should do much to bring a definitely understood order out of our existing chaos. Having come a year ago to this general conclusion as to what could and should be done, the committee saw that it would be impossible to submit a satisfactory final report at the Philadelphia meeting. There were various matters that required further study. First, there was the question as to how many grades were really needed — whether two, or three, or more. Then there was the question of French and German in the lower school grades. This subject, it is true, had not been expressly committed to us ; but it was known that many private schools, and not a few of our best public schools, already provide instruction in French or German in grades below the high school. It was also known that many good teachers strongly advocate this idea. But if it is wise to begin a modern language some time before the high school is reached, and if this practice is to be extended and to become more and more a part of our national system, it is evident that the modern-language work of the 8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION secondary schools must be more or less affected. Again, there was the per- plexing question of method. In view of the sharp differences of opinion and of practice known to exist among teachers, the committee thought it best, before undertaking to advise teachers how to teach, to re-examine the whole matter carefully in the light of experience and in the light of recent contributions to the subject, to the end that its final recommenda- tions might be as free as possible from any vagaries of personal prejudice. Finally, there was the large task of drawing up the proposed courses and formulating the recommendations. Seeing all this work ahead, the com- mittee decided, at the Philadelphia session, to report progress, ask for additional time and money, and, if this request should be granted, to appoint a number of subcommittees whose task it should be to inquire into and report upon the various questions just enumerated. The request was granted, and the committee adjourned after passing unanimously a single resolution, the import of which will be apparent from what was said a little while ago. The resolution was to the effect that secondary instruc- tion in French and German should not be differentiated, according as the pupil is, or is not, preparing for college. During the first half of the year 1898 the subcommittees worked at their several tasks by means of circulars and correspondence. Early in November a three-day session of the general committee was held in New York city. The meeting was attended by ten of the twelve members, two being unavoidably absent. The reports of the various subcommittees were received and discussed, together with other matters germane to the com- mittee's general task. As a result of the three-days' discussion, the sub- stance of the following report was agreed upon. Since the November meeting the report, as hereinbelow drawn up, has been submitted to the members of the committee, and, after some further interchange of views by mail, has been agreed to by them unanimously. SECTION II. VALUE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION Aside from the general disciplinary value common to all linguistic and literary studies, the study of French and German in the secondary schools is profitable in three ways: first, as an introduction to the life and litera- ture of France and Germany; secondly, as a preparation for intellectual 1 pursuits that require the ability to read French and German for informa- tion ; thirdly, as the foundation of an accomplishment that may become useful in business and travel. Under each of these heads a great deal 1 might be said ; but an exhaustive discussion of the several topics would ' swell the volume of this report beyond the limits within which it is likely to be most useful. A few words nmst therefore suffice. What we have called the general disciplinary value of linguistic and literary study is well understood the world over, and has long been COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 8i recognized in the educational arrangements of every civilized nation. The study of a language other than the mother-tongue requires the learner to compare and discriminate, thus training the analytic and reflect- ive faculties. The effort to express himself in the unfamiliar idiom, to translate from it into his own, makes him attentive to the meaning of words, gives a new insight into the possible resources of expression, and cultivates precision of thought and statement. Incidentally the memory is strengthened and the power of steady application developed. In time such study opens the gate to a new literature, thus liberalizing the mind and giving an ampler outlook upon life. Thru literature the student is made a partaker in the intellectual life of other times and other peoples. He becomes familiar with their manners and customs, their ideals and insti- tutions, their mistakes and failures, and with the artistic forms in which the national genius has expressed itself. When he leaves school, such knowledge not only enriches his personal life, but makes him a more use- ful, because a more intelligent, member of society. It exerts a steadying, sanative influence, for it furnishes him with standards based upon the best performance of the race everywhere. For us Americans, with our large confidence in our own ways and destiny, there is special need of the wisdom that comes from familiarity with the life, literature, and history of the great makers of European civilization. What has been said up to this point relates to the profit of linguistic and literary study in general, a matter about which there is no serious difference of opinion among intelligent people. When, however, we come to consider the relative value of the ancient and the modern languages, we raise a moot question over which there has been endless discussion. Here, again, we refrain from lengthy argument. Let it be remarked, however, that the question is a very large one, to be decided only in the light of long and wide experience. To reach a sane view of the matter it is necessary to make some allowance on both sides for the partisanship of the professional teacher, who is generally more or less prone to overstate the importance of his specialty. Nor should we allow too great weight to the views of publicists, men of letters, and so forth, who treat the ques- tion from a purely personal point of view. The man in middle life, who has the advantage of knowing just what knowledge is most useful to him in his own work, can usually look back upon his early education and tell a tale of neglected opportunities and misapplied energy. Educational arrangements must be made for the many, and human tastes, needs, and aptitudes are various. For the boy or girl who must select a course of study long before he or she can know just what special attainment will be the most useful in after-life, it is enough to be assured that the discipline and culture derived from the study of foreign languages, whether ancient or modern, will certainly prove valuable. The committee is of the opinion that the best course of study for the 82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION secondary school will always provide instruction in at least one ancient and one modern language. Beyond this we do not undertake to pass judgment upon the comparative merits of competing courses. It has always been the policy of the Modern Language Association not to antagonize the study of Latin and Greek. We ask for the modern languages in school and college nothing more than a fair chance to show what they are worth. We believe that they are worth, when properly taught, no less than the ancient languages.' It is, of course, conceded that the Latin and Greek are the more "difficult" in the initial stages. But difficulty cannot be the highest test of educational utility, else Latin and Greek should themselves give way to Sanskrit and Chinese. Evidently it is the goodness of the kernel, and not the thickness and hardness of the shell, that we are mainly to think of. The kernel is the introduction to the life and literature of a great civilized people, which it is, for some reason, very important for us to know about. And here it may properly be urged on behalf of the modern languages that, just in proportion as they are easier to acquire, the essential benefit of the acquisition is the sooner realized. They give a quicker return upon the investment. This is a consideration that is of special importance for the secondary school. It is quite possible in an ordinary school course to learn to read French and German easily. The high-school graduate who has acquired this ability can at once turn it to account, even if he does not go to college. If he allows his ability to slip from him thru lack of prac- tice, it is at least his own fault. In the case of the ancient languages, on the other hand, it is a well-understood and oft-lamented fact that the great majority, even of college graduates, never learn to read Latin and Greek with ease. Up to the last the effort is more or less painful. After leaving college they usually drop their Latin and Greek, and in a short time they cannot read at all. The profit of the study thus reduces, for the many, to its purely gymnastic value. That value, we are prepared to admit, is very great; but we would urge that the purely gymnastic value of the modern languages is, potentially, also very great. The argument of "difficulty" is often misused. There may be as much valuable exercise in walking five miles up a gentle slope as in climbing a mile up a sharp acclivity. The first and greatest value of the study of the modern languages must be looked for, then, in the introduction of the learner to the life and literature of the two great peoples who, next to the English stock, have made the most important contributions to European civilization. That these literatures are as important, as worthy of study, as full of instruction for the modern man and woman as are those earlier literatures that once formed the great staple of education, is a proposition that we do not I " It seems to me that the teaching of modem languages in many of the schools .... has now reached such a stage that we may fairly say that a training in French or German, or both, can be given which is just as substantial, strong, and useful a training as any other that is given in the same period." (President Eliot, Educational Reform, p. 378.) A COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 83 think necessary to argue, tho it is sometimes denied in toto by zealous advocates of classical study. For the peculiar intellectual myopia that can see nothing new and nothing good in modern literature the only remedy is the classical hellebore. We attach greatest importance, then, to linguistic discipline and literary culture. But the ability to read French and German has also another value not directly connected with the study of belles-lettres. In nearly all branches of knowledge at the present time a large part of the best that has been written is to be found in the German and French languages. One who wishes to study anything thoroly, no matter what, finds it highly convenient, if not absolutely necessary, to be able to read these languages in the pursuit of information. The high-school graduate who brings this ability with him to college has a great advantage in that he can at once begin to use it as a tool in prosecuting his studies. Of those who do not go to college it is fair to presume that a considerable portion will continue some line of private study, if not as a vocation, then as an avocation. For all such the ability to read French and German will be of great service. It is next in order to remark briefly upon what is popularly called the "practical" value of French and German, that is, their utility as a means of intercourse. The practical command of a foreign language has a potential value that is at once perceived by everyone. It is felt to be desirable by multitudes who would probably care but little for the con- siderations presented in the preceding paragraphs of this section. The committee holds, however, that in our general scheme of secondary educa- tion the ability to converse in French or German should be regarded as of subordinate importance. We by no means say that it should be ignored, or that colloquial practice may safely be neglected in teaching. With this point the report will deal further on. Here we merely express the opinion that the ability to converse should not be regarded as a thing of primary importance for its own sake, but as auxiliary to the higher ends of linguistic scholarship and literary culture. The grounds of this opinion are briefly as follows : \ The practical command of a living language, such as will be really useful for the ordinary purposes of life, presupposes a large amount of practice in speaking. The requisite amount of practice cannot possibly be given in an ordinary school course, even in a course of four years in length, in which the pupils come together four or five times a week, per- haps i classes of considerable size, remain with the teacher for three- quarters of an hour, and the rest of the time speak English. With the most skillful teachers, working with the best methods that can be devised, and concentrating their effort upon the one aim of teaching the pupil to talk, the results of such a course, unless the work of the school is supple- mented by practice at home, is only an imperfect command of the 84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION language, which is of little use outside the class-room. Meanwhile the concentration of effort upon this one object necessarily involves the neglect of other things that are of more importance in the end. For it must be remembered that the process of learning to speak a foreign lan- guage has no educational value except as it is connected with, and grows out of, the improvement of the mind. In the second place it is to be remarked that, while in certain European countries, by reason of their geographical position, or the character of the population, it is of very great practical importance that the rising generation learns to speak two or three languages with facility, the conditions in the United States are different. If it were possible in the secondary school to impart a good practical command of French, it is evident that all but a minute proportion of those leaving school with this accomplishment would soon lose it for lack of occasion to use it. We have, it is true, a number of communities in which the ability to speak German is highly convenient, and may even have a local market value. But nowhere in the United States is this ability indispensable. The Eng- lish language is the vernacular of the country and the medium of our civilization, and we wish it to become more so, rather than less so, with the lapse of time. So far as purely practical considerations go, it is for those who come to us to learn our language, not for us to learn theirs. If we teach a foreign language in our schools, it should be for the sake of its general educational value. At the same time, its potential value as a means of intercourse may very properly be kept in view. One who has received the best training that the secondary school can give may not be able to speak his modern language with facility for the practical purposes of life; but he will have been started in the right way, will have obtained a good general knowledge of the language, and will have had some prac- tice in speaking. If, then, after leaving school, he needs to be able to speak the language, he has an excellent foundation on which to build. Proficiency will come rapidly with practice. SECTION HI. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF METHODS OF TEACHING THE GRAMMAR METHOD When the modern languages first became a regular subject for serious study in secondary schools, it was natural that teachers, having no other model to imitate, should adopt the time-honored plan followed in the department of Greek and Latin. According to this method the pupil is first put thru a volume of paradigms, rules, exceptions, and examples which he learns by heart. Only when he has thoroly mastered this book is he allowed to read ; and even then his reading is usually regarded as a means of illustrating and emphasizing grammatical principles, rather than as a source of inspiration or of literary education. The amount of foreign I COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 85 literature studied by the class is, moreover, extremely small ; but it is all carefully analyzed and translated, every lesson being, in general, repeated several times. Composition is used as an instrument for increasing still more the student's familiarity with inflections and rules. The foreign lan- guage is never spoken, and pronunciation is considered unimportant. This method has fallen into discredit ; and while it is not yet entirely banished from classical instruction, it can scarcely be found, in its origi- nal purity, among the modern-language courses of any civilized region. It has, however, certain undeniable advantages. In the first place it trains the mnemonic faculty; in the reaction against the hard, unattractive schooling of our fathers, modern pedagogical fashion has gone so far that the power of conscious acquisition and retention is hardly exercised at all; children go to college or out into life with an embryonic memory, and the teacher's task rivals the labor of the Danaides. Secondly, the care- ful study of grammatical rules and their nice application in translation and composition form one of the best possible exercises in close reason- ing. It may be urged that logical processes are not natural to the child ; neither are they natural to the uninstructed adult ; but to be a successful student or an intelligent citizen, a boy or man must be able to arrive at rational conclusions. Hence it is one of the chief duties of education to afford practice in clear and orderly thinking. The principal value of arithmetic and algebra as secondary-school studies lies in the fact that in them right and wrong reasoning are immediately and unmistakably dis- tinguished by their results. In most subjects the white and black are not so clearly defined; between them lies abroad gray zone, the region of " not quite correct " and ''not altogether bad," and it is toward this neu- tral belt that nearly all the pupil's efforts bend. The children "don't see why " their answer is not as good as any other, and the sloth and slovenli- ness native to the untrained human mind remain undisturbed. Now, grammatical analysis and synthesis, while less mechanical and more varied in their operations than elementary mathematics, are nearly or quite equal to it as a means of inculcating the habit of accurate ratiocination. On the other hand, the grammar method is open to criticism on the ground that it neglects two of the most important objects of foreign-lan- guage study : the broadening of the mind thru contact with the life, the ideas, and the forms of thought and expression of different times and countries ; and the cultivation of the artistic sense by the appreciative study of liter- ary masterpieces. A still more potent objection is the contention that pure grammar is not calculated to inspire interest in pupils of the high- school age. This objection seems to be well founded, and, if so, it is a fatal one ; for modern pedagogy, if it has accomplished nothing else, has estab- lished the fact that interest is absolutely essential to the performance of the best work in any field. It appears, then, that the day of the pure grammar method is past ; but while devising a system more in accordance 86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION with the principles and the possibilities of our time, let us not forget that the old-fashioned way had its good features. THE NATURAL METHOD At the opposite pedagogical pole from the process just described, we find the conversational or *' natural " method. This educational " natu- ralism " is a reaction against the inflexible systematism of earlier teachers ; we should, therefore, expect it to be somewhat aggressive and somewhat formless, more given to pulling down than to building up. It is a prin- ciple, an impulse, rather than a plan ; and its products depend, to a greater extent than those of any other school, on the personality of the instructor. Too often the results of a protracted and supposedly success- ful course of unalloyed conversation are a rapid but unintelligible pro- nunciation, the fluent use of incorrect forms, and, worst of all, a most discouraging self-complacency. Some peculiarly gifted teachers have suc- ceeded in combining alertness with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but it will probably be found, in all such cases, that the instructor has resorted to devices not strictly "natural." What is the genuine " natural method" ? In its extreme form it con- sists of a series of monologs by the teacher, interspersed with exchanges of question and answer between instructor and pupil — all in the foreign language ; almost the only evidence of system is the arrangement, in a general way, of the easier discourses and dialogs at the beginning and the more difficult at the end. A great deal of pantomime accompanies the talk. With the aid of this gesticulation, by attentive listening, and by dint of much repetition the beginner comes to associate certain acts and objects with certain combinations of sound, and finally reaches the point of reproducing the foreign words or phrases. When he has arrived at this stage, the expressions already familiar are connected with new ones in such a way that the former give the clue to the latter, and the vocabu- lary is rapidly extended, even general and abstract ideas being ultimately brought within the student's comprehension. The mother-tongue is strictly banished, not only from the pupil's lips, but, as far as possible, from his mind. Not until a considerable familiarity with the spoken idiom has been attained is the scholar permitted to see the foreign lan- guage in print ; the study of grammar is reserved for a still later period. Composition consists of the written reproduction of the phrases orally acquired. This method — if " method " is the proper term — is based on two general ideas ; one true, the other false. The first is the belief that the interest so necessary to the successful prosecution of any study (and especially of language work) can most easily be aroused by the actual spoken use of the foreign tongue. The second is the theory that a boy or man can best learn a new language in the manner in which an infant COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 87 first acquires its native speech. Hence comes the epithet ** natural." The advocates of this view overlook, first, the fact that the child requires eight or ten years of incessant practice to gain even a tolerable command of its own tongue, and, secondly, the vast difference between the mind of the baby and that of the youth. The really natural methods of acquisition at these two stages of development are almost diametrically opposed. Let us consider, for instance, the learning of pronunciation. The newborn child, after various unsuccessful experiments, reproduces sounds correctly because it has no previous habits of speech to contend with. The boy or man, unless he is phonetically trained, or exceptionally acute of hearing, does not imitate at all. He merely substitutes for the several strange vowels and consonants the English sounds which the foreign ones happen to suggest to him. That is why the pronunciation of conversational classes is gen- erally not a whit better than that of scholars taught after the most anti- quated fashion. In the attempt to inculcate the other elements of speech — inflections, syntax, and phraseology — the purely imitative process shows itself to be almost equally inadequate. We may justly urge, furthermore, against this style of teaching, that it provides little discipline for the intel- ligence; that it affords only the poorest kind of mnemonic training; that it favors vagueness of thought and imprecision of expression, and, finally, that it sacrifices the artistic interest of language study to a so-called "prac- tical" one. On the other hand, it certainly does awaken enthusiasm among its disciples, and it stimulates and holds the attention. The natural method has been vehemently attacked and just as vigor- ously defended. At present the violence of the contest has abated, and we are able to judge dispassionately the results of its introduction into our educational life. Those results have been mainly good. In summer schools and other institutions that have used the imitative process exclu- sively most of the pupils are persons who have had or will soon ^et some practice in grammar and reading. For them the conversation lessons are supplementary and form a useful addition to their training. In schools and colleges that have not accepted the "naturalistic" theory the fame of the new method has obliged teachers to adopt some of its practical fea- tures, thus bringing much needed life and variety into their instruction. It seems probable that the next generation will regard "naturalism" rather as a vivifying influence than as an independent method.' THE PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD Out of the conviction that modern-language study should be made attractive, and out of the desire to adapt instruction to the known work- ings of the human mind, has come a system that seems more deserving of I For a description of the natural method see Der Leitfaden fur den Unterricht in der deutschen Spracke, by G. Heness, and L. Sauveur's Introduction to the Teaching of Living Languages. The method is well exemplified, not only in the Leitfaden, but in Der Sprachiehrer unter seinen Schulern, by Heness, and in Sauveur's Causeries avec vies eleves and Petites causeries. All these works arc »0W published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., of New York, 88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION serious attention than the grammar method or the " natural " style of teaching. This is the system invented by Gouin and brought into general notice by B^tis.' The psychological method rests on the principle of the association of ideas and the habit of " mental visualization." The whole current vocabu- lary of a language, in the form of short, idiomatic sentences, is divided up into groups, every group consisting of phrases that are intimately con- nected in subject. One group forms a lesson. These brief divisions are gathered together in chapters, each of which treats of one general topic, and several chapters make a "series." When a pupil has gone thru all the series, with numerous reviews, he will have mastered (so we are told) the whole spoken language. Every lesson is first worked out orally and then studied by the pupil from his book. On presenting each new word to the beginner the instructor exhorts him to close his eyes and form a distinct mental picture of the thing or act represented. This image (it is affirmed) will remain indissolubly connected with the word, and the evo- cation of the one will always recall the other. Sometimes real objects or drawings are used, and pantomime is frequently resorted to ; but in most cases reliance is placed on the child's active imagination. It is never con- sidered a sin to put in a word or two of English, and at the outset that language is very freely employed. Altho most of the talking is done by the teacher, the pupils are constantly called upon to repeat his sentences and to answer questions. After the first lessons written compositions may be prepared, made up of phrases already acquired. Grammatical instruc- tion is begun early, concurrently with the other exercises, but the reading of consecutive texts is postponed until the bulk of the ordinary vocabulary has been learned. Many innovations have been introduced into the pres- entation of grammar, but most of them are more radical in appearance than in reality. Some, however, are extremely ingenious, and will doubt- less be copied by instructors who do not see fit to adopt the whole system. The Betis method has the following obvious advantages : it trains the memory ; it fascinates the student and holds his attention more closely than any other mode of teaching now in vogue ; it gives the pupil, in a reason- ably short time, a ready command over a large, well-arranged, and well- digested vocabulary ; it affords, thru some of its conversational groups, an I Its operation and results are described at considerable length in Die neueren Sprachen, by R. Kron. in III, I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (published separately under the title Dze Methode Gouzn, oder das Serien- System in Theorie und Praxis, Marburg, 1896), and by V, Knorr in III, 8, and V, g. The method has been subjected to a searching criticism by Traugott in the same periodical, VI, 6. It should be said here that Betis has con- siderably altered the original plan ; and opinions are divided concerning the respective advantages of the two versions. The real Gouin system can be studied in the author's A rt d^enseigner et d'etudier ies lattgues, Paris, 1880 (third edition in 1897) ; the Betis or " psychological " method is illustrated by a volume called The Facts of Life (New York, 1896), by Betis and Swan. Without presuming to pass judgment on the merits of the case, we shall confine ourselves to the revised plan, since that is the one more widely known and the only one that has been tried in America. It was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world in 1892 and 1893 by the articles of W. T. Stead, in the Review of Reviews. In the years 1895 97 it was used in Bos- ton, Mass., by Betis himself, and it is now on trial in one of the public high schools of the same city. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 8q insight into the life of a foreign country. As for the other side, the sys- tem seems, as far as we can ascertain the facts, to lay itself open to these criticisms : it affords but little opportunity for the exercise of judgment; it entirely neglects, in the first years, the cultivation of the aesthetic sense, and assigns literary study to a stage which high-school pupils will scarcely ever reach. Moreover, its treatment of pronunciation is decidedly unsat- isfactory ; but this defect can probably be remedied without disturbing the rest of the scheme. THE PHONETIC METHOD Pronunciation, neglected in the three modes of instruction just men- tioned, is the very foundation of a system that has of late years attracted attention in all northern Europe, and has gained a considerable footing in Germany and Scandinavia.' Its advocates, while not entirely free from the intolerance and the self-confidence so characteristic of enthusiastic reformers, are men of sound scholarship, successful experience, and good standing in the educational world. As far as can be ascertained, they have arrived at results which go far toward justifying their seemingly extravagant claims. There have been few attempts to introduce the pho- netic teaching in this country ; probably the most extensive trial of it has been made at the Johns Hopkins University. The phonetic method resembles the "natural" and the "psychologi- cal " schools in that it t^kes the modern spoken language as a basis, and at first relies mainly on oral instruction, using, as far as possible, the for- eign language itself as a medium of communication. Unlike most "con- versation " courses, however, it is very systematically constructed, and its beginning is strictly scientific. It begins with a training of the ear and the vocal organs, the pupils being thoroly drilled in the vowels and con- sonants of the strange tongue. These sounds are considered both as iso- lated phenomena and as elements of idiomatic phrases. The phrases, in turn, are combined into dialogs, descriptions, and stories. At this stage printed texts are used, but only in phonetic notation. The ordinary I The names by which it is known are the " refoim," the " new," and the " phonetic " methods. It was outlined by Victor in his famous monograph Der Sprachunterricht musz umkehren (1882, new edition, Heilbronn, 1886), and its principal features are set forth on the cover of every number of the Ma^tre phone- tique. Both this periodical (the organ of the Association Phonetique Internationale) and Die neueren Sprachen, edited by Vietor, are devoted to the propagation of the phonetic method. The list of publications — books, pamphlets, and articles — which deal with the " reform method" is-very large. A complete biblio- graphy down to 1893 is given by H. Breymann in Die neusprachliche Reform- Litteratur von iSjb-iSqj: Eine bibliographisch-kritische Uebersicht (Leipzig, 1893). Two articles by leading exponents of the method have appeared in American journals, viz., '"A New Method of Language Teaching," by W. Vietor, in the Educational Review, Vol. VI, p. 351, and " Phonetics and Reform Method," by A. Rambeau, in Modern Language Notes, Vol. VIII, p. 161. An excellent report of observations made during a six-months' tour of inspection of German schools is given by Mary Brebner in The Method of Teaching Moder?t Languages in Germany (New York: Macmillan, 1898). A conservative, and, at the same time, fairly representative, pres- entation of the aims and methods of the "reformers" is given by W. Miinch in his and F. Glauning's Didak- tik und Methodik des franzosischen und englischen C/«^i?rrzV^z'i^, Sonderausgabe aus A. Baumeister's Handbuch der Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre fur hohere Schitlen, On pp. 102 f. is to be found a select list of the more important writings on method in modern -language teaching which have appeared in recent years. 90 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION spelling is carefully kept from the students during the elementary period. It is said that the transition from sound symbols to standard orthography presents no serious difficulty. Objects, pictures, and maps are constantly displayed, and every effort is made to familiarize the class with the sur- roundings, the institutions, the habits, the character, and the mode of thought of the people whose language it is learning. The phonetic texts gradually increase in length and difficulty, and some of the latest are representative of literature. Inflections and syntax are studied induct- ively. Composition consists first of the oral and written reproduction of matter already heard or read, then of combinations of familiar phrases. Systematic grammar is reserved for a late stage, and translation comes last of all. It is evident that this sort of instruction requires a special preparation and a special apparatus. Altho the pupils are not taught phonetics, it is essential that the teacher be something of a phonetician ; and the present difficulty of obtaining adequate instruction in the science of speech-sounds has doubtless done much to hinder the rapid general adop- tion of Vietor's program. Let us hope that in the near future such training will be brought within the reach of all by means of courses con- ducted, in our universities and in our summer schools, by men who unite with the necessary scientific attainments a practical knowledge of the requirements of American pedagogy. Phonetic texts, too, tho not abso- lutely indispensable, are of the greatest assistance.' This method, while it lacks the logical discipline of the old grammati- cal instruction, is more successful than any other in forming a good pro- nunciation and in giving pupils a ready and accurate control of the spoken language. The training it affords can hardly fail, moreover, to improve the quality of the student's voice and his enunciation of his mother-tongue. From the standpoint of mnemonic education, too, it ranks high. In stimulating interest it is nearly equal to the ''natural" and " psychological " courses, and it is second only to the latter in hold- ing the attention. The training of the attention should, by the way, be regarded as an important part of any pedagogical scheme ; for the habit of inattention — the utter inability of pupils to fix their minds on any- thing for more than a few minutes at a time — is the most serious obstacle that confronts our secondary teachers. The attempt to give scholars, by ear and eye, by description, and by the use of objects and pictures, a cor- rect and vivid idea of foreign life has been carried farther by the pho- neticians than by any other school ; but there is no reason, save the lack of rightly prepared instructors, why this feature should not be introduced into every method; the neglect of it defeats one of the principal objects of modern -language study. Another means to the same end is the system I Some good ones are already avafValjle: For French, by Beyer and P. Bassy. Rambeau and J. Passy have provided us with suitable chrestomathies. In German we have a little book by Vietor, The Maitre pho- netique, furthermore, is constantly furnishing ihaterial in various languages, \ COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 9 1 of international correspondence between school children of different countries.' What are the disadvantages of the "phonetic' plan, when we con- sider it from the point of view of our American high schools ? In the first place, it seems, like other " oral " methods, to overlook the impor- tance of literary education, for it postpones the reading of real books to a stage that is beyond our secondary period. In Europe, where inter- course between foreign countries is easy and frequent, and a command of several languages has a recognized commercial value, it is natural that a practical mastery of the strange tongue should seem highly desirable. With us, isolated as we are, a speaking knowledge of French and Ger- man has, except for teachers, but little pecuniary worth ; and even in the case of a student, who has acquired it for pleasure alone, the opportuni- ties for practice are so few that his hardly won accomplishment will soon slip from him. Familiarity with pronunciation and a certain ability to handle foreign constructions are, indeed, essential to a proper apprecia- tion of the literature; but if literary study is not reached, of what* avail is the preparatory training ? For we must bear in mind that the vast majority of our pupils — those for whom the course should be planned — will not continue their education beyond the high school. It has been pointed out that oral work, besides exercising the organs of speech, arouses interest and fosters a certain alertness of mind, and is therefore valuable for its own sake. We may question, however, whether these benefits make up for the sacrifice of all the aesthetic culture and the intel- lectual broadening that come only from the reading of good books. To this criticism the European advocates of the method would surely reply that they believe in abundant reading, after the student has mas- tered the spoken idiom. It appears, then, that the real fault of their program, as applied to our conditions, is not so much that its underlying I Mentioned by Vietor in Die neueren Sprachen, V, 3, 165, and described by Professor Magill in Mod- ern Language Notes, XIII, 3. The plan was first suggested in the Revue universitaire for June, 1896, by Professor P. Mieille, who gave an account of his efforts to bring about an interchange of letters between French children studying English and English children studying French. His Idea attracted immediate atten- tion in France and England, ere long also in Germany, Italy, and the United States, and it was soon perceived that it could be turned to profit, not only for school children, but also for adults, especially for teachers. Having already been tried on a large scale, the plan has passed the experimental stage, and may be confi- dently recommended as a valuable aid in the learning of a living language. At first, correspondents could be secured only thru certain journals, which published lists of names in consideration of a subscription. Later, on the initiative of the Manuel general de rinstruction primaire, a large committee was appointed, which now undertakes gratuitously to bring correspondents together. The vice-president of the English section for women is Miss E. Williams, professeuraux £coles de Sevres et de Fontinay, whose address is No. 6 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris. Miss Williams' secretary, who conducts her correspondence, is Mme, Rossignol, 117 rue Notre Dame de Champs, Paris. The vice-president of the English section for men Is Profes- sor A. Mouchet, 16 rue de St. Guillaume, Asnieres (pres Paris). Either of these three can be addressed by American teachers desiring French correspondents for themselves or for their pupils. In Germany theplayihas been taken up prominently by Dr. K. A. Martin Hartmann, of Leipzig, who has reported upon a trial of it in the Saxon schools and published a body of Vorschl'dge relating to it. The advantages of the system are well set forth by Petri In Die neueren Spracken, VI, 511, and objections to it are answered by Hartmann in the same journal, VI, 324. A second and more extended article by Professor Edward H. Magill, of Swarth- more College, Pennsylvania, may be found in Modern Language Notes for February, 1899, 92 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION principle is entirely incompatible with our creed as that it calls for much more time than we allot to foreign language. In fact, we may well doubt whether, with our three or four hours a week for three or four years, our scholars would ever reach the end even of the elementary stage ; they certainly would not go beyond it; their acquisition would be only a frag- ment. If we should wish to introduce this or any other thorogoing method, we should be obliged to increase the importance of French and German in the school curriculum ; and such increase is desirable from every point of view. Not only should the pupils who are intending to continue these studies in college receive the best possible preliminary training, but all children who begin the subjects at all should give them time enough to admit of an extended course, conducted according to the most enlightened principles. In order to gain the necessary hours, the foreign language must be taken up earlier, or some other high-school topic must be sacrificed. A few things thoroly and intelligently done make the best secondary discipline. As long, however, as our present conditions last it is clear that we must give up something. Until we are all willing greatly to lengthen the time given to the linguistic part of our children's education, we shall have to renounce the idea of a full, well- rounded knowledge of French and German, and, selecting the portion of the subject that appears most important for the greatest number, devote ourselves to the cultivation 5f that restricted field. Considerations of this nature have led many thoughtful teachers to adopt a mode of instruc- tion that we may call the " reading method." THE READING METHOD The title explains itself. The study of texts from the very begin- ning of the course, abundant practice in translation at sight, leading ultimately to the ability to read the foreign language with ease and with- out the interposition of English, are the principal features of this pro- gram. Grammar and composition are regarded merely as a help to read- ing, and are reduced to the essentials ; sometimes accidence and syntax are first learned inductively, but oftenera small text-book is. used concur- rently with translation. Great importance is attached to the use of good English in the renderings. Pronunciation receives scant attention ; there is little or no oral exercise. This method has been much used of late in our schools and colleges, especially in those that have large classes, a short course, and an American teacher. The great advantage of the process is that it quickly enables the student to read French and German literature — not with the complete appreciation that only an all-around command of the language can give, but with the same kind of intelligence and enjoyment with which good classical scholars read Latin. Indirectly it helps the pupil to form a good style, and to increase the volume and precision of his English COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 93 vocabulary ; it cultivates the taste by dwelling upon delicacies of expres- sion; it exercises the memory thru the enforced retention of words and idioms ; it trains the linguistic sense by calling attention to the points of resemblance and differences in various tongues; and the exact fitting of phrase to thought forms an excellent discipline for the judgment. On the other hand, in addition to the fact that it deals with only one aspect of language, the reading method is lacking in vivacity and in stimulus to the attention ; it interests only the more serious pupils. Moreover, the continued use, year after year, of an easy way of teaching — for it is comparatively easy, and requires but little special training — may prove demoralizing to the instructor, dull his appetite for self- improvement, and make him indolent and easily satisfied with his qualifi- cations. SECTION IV. METHOD AS RELATED TO THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS If all our classes were in the hands of born teachers, ideally prepared for their work, advice with respect to method would be quite superfluous. Every teacher would create for himself the method best suited to his class and to his own peculiar gifts. His personality would infuse life and efficacy into any process he would be likely to adopt. But in a profession so widely pursued we cannot expect the majority of its followers to show genuine vocation. The most of our teachers are made, and we must see to it that they be as well made as possible. It cannot be too strongly urged upon school authorities that, if modern-language instruction is to do the good work which it is capable of doing, it must be given by thoroly competent teachers. The committee's investigations show, and it is a pleasure to testify to the fact, that we already have a goodly number of secondary teachers who answer to that description. Nevertheless, our general standard is still far too low. For some time to come the majority of our teachers will necessarily be guided to a large extent, in the choice of methods, by the consideration of their own competence. But, while it is easy to insist, broadly, upon the importance of adequate preparation for teachers, it is not so easy to define, in exact terms, the minimum of attainment which can be regarded as sufficient. Much will always depend upon personality, upon general alertness of mind, and aptitude for teaching. The best of teachers learn with their pupils, and it will sometimes happen that one who knows too little of his subject will teach it better than another who knows more. Nevertheless, it remains broadly true, and should never be forgotten for a moment, that what the teacher most needs is to be a master of his subject. With the sense of all-around mastery come independence of judgment and the right kind of self-assurance. Without this sense the attempt to follow someone else's method, however good the method may be in the hands of its inventor, can never produce the best results. 94 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION To be ideally prepared for giving instruction in a modern language, even in a secondary school, one should have, aside from the ability to teach and the general culture necessary to secure the respect and attach- ment of pupils, a thoro practical command of the language to be taught, a solid knowledge of its literature, and a first-hand acquaintance with the foreign life of which the literature is the reflection. To be decently prepared, he should, at least, have read so much in the recent literature of the language that he can read about as easily as he would read matter of the same kind in English. He should have studied the principal works of the great writers, and should have taken a course in the general history of the literature. He should know thoroly the grammar of the language in its present form. If he has some knowledge of the historical develop- ment of forms, such knowledge will help him in his teaching, especially in the teaching of French to pupils who have studied Latin. He should be able to pronounce the language intelligently and with reasonable accuracy, tho he may not have the perfect ''accent" of one who is to the manner born. He should be able to write a letter or a short essay in the language, without making gross mistakes in grammar or idiom, and to carry on an ordinary conversation in the language without a sense of painful embarrassment. Even this degree of attainment will usually require residence abroad of those for whom English is the mother-tongue, unless they have enjoyed exceptional opportunities in this country. In any case, the residence abroad is greatly to be desired. In insisting that secondary teachers of a modern language should be able to speak the language with at least moderate facility and correctness, the members of the committee are well aware that they set up a standard higher than that which has very generally been deemed sufficient. But it is a standard to which we must come. Many of the best schools have already come to it. Nor need we fear that such a standard will result permanently to the advantage of the foreign-born teacher in the competi- tion for positions. If we leave out of account cases of exceptional individual talent for teaching, the general principle holds good that the best teacher of a foreign language is a person of the same nationality as his pupils, who is thoroly at home in the language to be taught. The American-born teacher will thus have a substantial advantage over his foreign-born competitor, but he cannot afford to be vulnerable in so vital a point as the practical command of the language in which he undertakes to give instruction. To many of our teachers residence in Europe will probably seem out of the question. Those who, by dint of thrift and sacrifice, contrive to cross the ocean can now enjoy fine opportunities in the way of summer courses at Paris, Geneva, Jena, Marburg, Greifswald, and elsewhere. The others must content themselves, for the time being, with a somewhat inade- quate equipment, the defects of which, however, can be to a great extent COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 95 remedied by the reading of well-chosen books, by work in American sum- mer schools, and by association with foreigners in this country. It is to be hoped that our colleges and universities will recognize, more largely than they have heretofore recognized, the need of practical courses for teachers of the modern languages. With respect, now, to the main subject of this section, it is hardly necessary to observe that the teacher who cannot himself speak his modern language should not attempt seriously to teach his pupils to speak it. He should not try to work the " natural method," or any private variation there- of ; if he does, he will be almost certain to do more harm than good. He may and should provide memory exercises that exhibit natural colloquial forms, but in so doing he should be guided by some good manual, and make that the basis of the class-room work. The native German or Frenchman will naturally think that success will be easy for him in a "conversation" course, but it is for him to remember that he can accomplish nothing worth while without system ; that he must have the proper books ; that he cannot comprehend his pupils' difficulties unless he knows English well, and that he can never govern his class unless he has a sympathetic under- standing of American character. For the "psychological," and still more for the "phonetic," program special study is necessary, and no one, foreigner or native, should imagine that he can cope with such a method off-hand. But if the availability and goodness of the several methods described in the preceding section depend mainly upon the fitness of the teacher, they also depend upon the age of pupils, the probable length of the course, and the size of classes. If the study begins in childhood, and the beginner is looking forward to a long and thoro course of the best pos- sible kind, it is obviously the right thing that he devote a large amount of time at first to the acquisition of a faultless pronunciation and an easy command of the colloquial language. He will then have the best possible foundation for literary study. But if he begins later in life and the prob- lem is to realize the maximum of benefit from a limited course, he should devote less time to the colloquial language and proceed more quickly to the study of literature. It is also evident that in classes of considerable size the most efficient colloquial practice cannot be given ; the pupils may learn to understand the language (and this is, of course, well worth while), but they will not learn to speak with much facility. If this report were intended to meet ideal conditions, that is, if it were addressed to teachers whose training would permit them to choose freely from the methods that have been described and to combine them with wise discretion, the committee might be disposed (altho in that case, as we have already remarked, advice with regard to method would hardly be needed) to make some such recommendations as the following: For very young children, say up to the age of ten, the " natural " or imitative method of the nurse or I y 96 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION the governess, with some help, perhaps, from the " psychological " method. For a course of six years, beginning, say, at the age of twelve, a combina- tion during the first three years of the "psychological" and "phonetic" methods, accompanied by some study of grammar; after that a more thoro study of grammar, together with the reading and translation of good lit- erature, suplemented by oral practice in the language and written compo- sition. For a four-years' course, beginning in the high school, we should recommend a similar procedure, the division between the "psychological- phonetic" and the "reading " methods coming, however, somewhat earlier, say, after the first year. In combining the "psychological" and "phonetic" methods the general plan of the former would be followed, while the latter would be imitated in its treatment of pronunciation and, so far at least as French is concerned, in its use of phonetically transcribed texts. For any shorter course we should advise the "reading" method, accompanied, how- ever, by scientific training in pronunciation, drill in the rudiments of gram- mar, and a moderate amount of oral practice. Recognizing the somewhat idealistic character of these recommenda- tions, the committee will present further on a scheme of secondary courses, with suggestions relating thereto, which are meant to be adapted to existing conditions. First, however, it is necessary to deal briefly with another subject, or rather with two closely related subjects, which are more or less involved in any consideration of the modern languages in second- ary education. SECTION V. MODERN LANGUAGES IN THE PRIMARY GRADES ; THE EXTEN- SION OF THE HIGH-SCHOOL COURSE In a number of American cities modern-language instruction, mainly German, has already been introduced in the primary' grades of the public schools, and the propriety and value of such instruction have been warmly debated in the newspapers and in local educational circles. On the one hand, it is urged that in any community where Germans preponderate or constitute even a large minority of the taxpayers, they have a right to demand that the German language be taught in the public schools. The reply is made that the primary schools of the Unites States have an impor- tant function to perform in preparing children for life and citizenship in an English-speaking country, and that this mission will best be performed if the English language and no other is made the subject and the medium of instruction. To this it is rejoined that the learning of a foreign language in childhood need not prejudice the learning of English or any other important subject, that the rudiments are quickly and easily acquired, and that the early beginning is in accordance with sound pedagogical prin- ciples. This line of assertion, in turn, is met with the reply that the primary schools have all they can do in teaching the subjects that are of obvious I We use the word " primary " to denote in a general way all grades below the high school. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 97 and undeniable use to everybody, and that the smattering of a foreign lan- guage which they can impart serves no educational purpose and is of no practical value in life. When the issue is thus stated, one sees at once that there is a measure of soundness in all these contentions. The committee feels that it would be futile to attempt here an answer to the question whether it is or is not desirable, in the abstract, that a foreign language be taught in the primary grades of our public schools. The question in its politico-social bearings is a very large one, but it is a question which every community must and will decide for itself in view of local conditions, and the wisdom of its decision must abide the test of experience. We believe, however, that experience is already sufficient to enable us to formulate certain general principles which should always be kept in view in the practical manage- ment of the matter under consideration. In the first place, if a foreign language is taken up in the primary grades, it should always be as an optional study. This point seems to require no argument. The value of the study is at best so uncertain, so dependent upon circumstances of one kind or another, that the work should not be made obligatory for anyone. In the second place, it is not worth while, as a rule, that the study of a foreign language be taken up in the primary grades, unless the beginner has at least a prospect and an intention of going on thru the second- ary school. The reason for this opinion is that what can be acquired of a foreign language in the primary grades, even with the best of teaching, and under the most favorable conditions, is good for nothing except as a foundation. For while it is true that children learn quickly and easily the rudiments of " conversation " in a foreign tongue, it is also true that they forget them no less quickly and easily. The children of parents who speak German at home, and expect to speak it more or less all their lives, may be taught in tne primary school to use the language a little more cor- rectly; but if they leave school at the age of twelve or fourteen, they inevi- tably drop back into the speech habits of those with whom they associate, and their school training thus becomes, so far as the German language is concerned, a reminiscence of time wasted. The children of parents who speak English at home may get a smattering of German at school ; but if they leave school at the age of twelve or fourteen, they soon forget all they have learned. In the third place, if a foreign language is taught in the primary grades, it should be by teachers who handle the language easily and idiomatically. Classes should be as small as possible, and there should be at least one exercise on every school day. Infrequent lessons in large classes amount to nothing. It is important that the teacher know his pupils intimately and be able to adapt his instruction to their individual needs. The general aim should be to familiarize the learner with the 98 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION vocabulary and phraseology of the spoken language, and to teach him to express himself readily and correctly in easy sentences. The free use of Realien is to be recommended. In what has just been said we have had in view the usual arrangement of work, in accordance with which the secondary or high school is sup- posed to begin with the ninth grade (the average pupil being then about fourteen years old) and to extend over a period of four years. Grades below the ninth we have classed as primary. But while this is still the typical arrangement for the country at large, schoolmen have here and there lengthened the high school by extending it downward ; in other words, by making provision that some of the solid disciplinary studies of the secondary period shall begin in the seventh or eighth grade. There appears to be strong argument in favor of this plan. It is urged by thoughtful schoolmen that our American high school has become con- gested ; that the increased requirements of the colleges and the pressing demands of new subjects for "recognition" have given to the secondary school more work than it can do thoroly in the traditional allotment of time. When, as sometimes happens, the colleges are blamed for this state of affairs, and it is suggested that they reduce their requirements for admission, they are able to reply with much force that present require- ments, even where they are highest, are none too high, unless we are willing to fall far below the standard of the Old World. The average graduate of an American high school is of about the same age as the average graduate of a German gymnasium, but the latter is farther along in his studies and better prepared for higher work. We have, therefore, to consider the problem of strengthening the preparatory course, while recognizing that the ordinary four-year curriculum can bear no further burdens, and should, if anything, be simplified. Of this problem the obvious solution is to begin the proper work of the high school at an earlier date. Instead of dividing our educational years into eight pri- mary, four secondary, and seven or eight higher, we should divide them into six primary, six secondary, and six higher. It is probable, then, that the six-year high-school course will meet with increasing favor, for the idea is a good one. At the same time we can not expect that the now usual organization of school work will be changed immediately or even rapidly, and for this reason the model courses to be described below have been drawn up primarily with reference to existing conditions. Our principal object in touching here upon the subject of the six-year secondary curriculum was to prepare the way for an expres- sion of the opinion that, where such extended courses are provided, a modern language can be very advantageously begqn in the seventh grade. Whether Latin or a modern language should come first' in a well- ordered course of study is a question upon which teachers differ. It is I COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 99 one of the questions upon which, in the existing state of psychological and pedagogical science, it is just as well not to dogmatize. In fixing the order of studies in any school course, practical considerations of one kind or another will often outweigh general argument. Probably the sanest view of the matter is that it does not make very much difference whether Latin or a modern language precedes, if only the elementary instruction in either case be rightly adapted to the learner's age and mental condition. It is often urged that the discipline afforded by the study of Latin makes the subsequent learning of a modern language easier. This is true, but the converse is no less true. In beginning the serious study of any foreign language there are certain mental habits to be formed, certain faculties to be called into play and exercised. The pupil must learn how to study. He must become familiar with strange forms and with their equivalent in his own tongue. He must learn what idiom means and how to translate ; must learn to observe, compare, and think. For the purpose of this elementary discipline one language is as good as another, if only the teaching be intelligent ; and the discipline of the first linguistic study makes the second easier. In general, it is safe to assert that the average boy or girl of twelve will take more kindly to French or German than to Latin. The modern language is easier and more interesting. It seems more real and practical. Progress is more rapid. The value of the Latin has to be taken on trust, that of the modern language is more obvious to the juvenile mind. For the children of twelve the Latin grammar is a very severe study. It means usually for many months little more than a loading of the memory with paradigms, a blind investment of labor for the sake of a mysterious future profit which the learner cannot comprehend. The elementary reading matter is usually dull stuff, devised to illustrate grammar. Up thru Caesaj's Commentaries there is almost nothing to touch the feeling, to feed the imagination, to suggest a real connection with the pupil's own life. It is all a grind ; in its time and place, to be sure, a very useful grind. We believe in it heartily. But the question is whether for children of twelve it is not best to break the force of the initial impact with Latin by using a modern language as a buffer. It may also be remarked, finally, that one who wishes to acquire a modern language thoroly will always do well to begin in childhood. The later period of youth is distinctly a bad time to begin. In child- hood the organs of speech are still in a plastic condition. Good habits are easily formed ; bad habits more easily corrected. The mind acts more naively, and the memory is tenacious of whatever interests. Forms of expression are readily m^astered as simple facts. Later in life, in pro- portion as the mind grows stronger, it also grows more rigid. The habit of analyzing and reasoning interferes more or less with the natural recep- tivity of the child. The fixation of speech habits in the mother-tongue lOO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION makes it increasingly difficult to acquire even a moderately good pro- nunciation, and perfection is usually out of the question. SECTION VI. PROPOSAL OF THREE NATIONAL GRADES OF PREPARATORY INSTRUCTION IN THE MODERN LANGUAGES Thus far this report has not dealt specifically with requirements for admission to college. In accordance with the idea embodied in the resolution referred to in Section I, we have approached our subject from the point of view of the secondary schools. We have endeavored to state and explain the principles which should be kept in view in order to render our school work in French and German as valuable as possible to the learner. We have recognized that the secondary school does not exist solely, or even mainly, for the sake of its preparatory function ; and what we have said would be in the main true, and we hope valuable, even if there were no colleges. Nevertheless the preparatory function of the secondary school is obviously of very great importance. In practice secondary courses are shaped quite largely with reference to college requirements. The school naturally -looks to the college as a regulative influence. It turns to the college catalog, learns what must be done to prepare its pupils for admission, and concludes, not unnaturally, that this is about what ought to be done from an educational point of view. In the absence of any central control of education in the United States his regulative influence of the college is the most potent agency at our command for creating and maintaining a high standard of secondary teaching. We come, then, to the subject of secondary instruction as related to college requirements. For the purpose of simplifying the relation between the colleges and the secondary schools, and for the purpose of securing greater efficiency and greater uniformity in the work of the schools, it is hereby proposed that there be recognized, for the country at large, three grades of pre- paratory instruction in French and German, to be known as the elemen- tary, the intermediate, and the advanced, and that the colleges be invited to adopt the practice of stating their requirements in terms of the national grades. Explanatory. — The proposed three grades are designed to correspond normally to courses of two, three, and four years, respectively, the work being supposed to begin in the first year of a four-year high-school course, and to proceed at the uniform rate of four recitations a week. The elementary course is designed to furnish the minimum of prepara- tion required by a number of colleges in addition to the Latin and Greek of the classical preparatory course. The intermediate course is designed to furnish the preparation required by many colleges which permit the substitution of a modern language for Greek. The advanced course is \ COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS lOI designed to furnish the highest grade of preparation of which the second- ary school will ordinarily be capable in a four-year course. With respect to the time required, in years and in hours per week, for the satisfactory completion of the work to be outlined below, it should be said that the committee has no thought of imposing upon the schools an inflexible program. Teachers will continue to make their programs in accordance with their own judgment and convenience. The rapidity with which the proposed work can be done will, of course, vary greatly in different schools, with the age and aptitude of pupils, the size of classes, the efficiency of teaching, and according as the beginner of French or German has or has not studied Latin. It makes no small difference whether the modern language is begun in the first year or in the third year of the high-school course. In attempting to draw up model courses, however, the committee obviously had to make some definite assumption with regard to the time of beginning and the number of recitations per week. It was also necessary to provide for the case of the work beginning in the first year, since many of our best schools already have four-year courses in German or French, or both. It is clearly desirable thatsuch courses be made as good as possible, and that they have a recognized place and value in our general scheme of require- ments for admission to college. With regard to the four recitations per week, let it be observed that that number has been made the basis of our calculations, not because the committee prefers it to five, or wishes to recommend it to the schools instead of five, but because it is believed to be the smallest number that will permit the proper completion of the work pro- posed, if the work begins in the first year. When a modern language is begun in the third year of the high school, it may be possible to com- plete the intermediate course in two years at the rate of five recitations a week, and the elementary course in proportionally less time. Where French is taken up in the last year of the classical preparatory course, it may be possible sometimes to meet the elementary requirement in one year at the rate of five recitations a week. But this will almost never be possible in the case of German, and in general the committee does not recommend one-year courses. The attempt to meet the elementary requirement in one year will result usually in a cramming process, with neglect of that thoro drill upon the rudiments which is necessary for a good foundation. In drawing up model courses the committee has had in view the needs and the conditions of the United States at large.' The work of the I In the spring of 1896 representatives of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, and the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania met in New York and, in conference with representatives of a number of prominent eastern preparatory schools, agreed upon a scheme of uniform requirements which has since been accepted by the institutions concerned. The modern -language conference framed an elementary and an advanced requirement in French and in German. The elementary requirement of the New York conference is substan- tially the same as that proposed by this committee, and its advanced requirement is nearly identical with NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION subcommittee charged with the matter was first submitted for criticism and suggestions to some two hundred secondary teachers of known ability and experience. It was then carefully revised in the light of the information and opinions gathered, and finally ran the gauntlet of thoro discussion in the Committee of Twelve. It is believed to represent the best intelligence of the country; to set a standard which is high, but not too high, and to be thruout entirely practicable. Teachers who do not find their own ideas perfectly expressed by the scheme will please remember that the committee had to find its way among a multitude of counselors. RECOMMENDED COURSES OF STUDY SECTION VII. THE ELEMENTARY COURSE IN GERMAN A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION At the end of the elementary course in German the pupil should be able to read at sight, and to translate, if called upon, by way of proving his ability to read, a passage of very easy dialog or narrative prose, help being given upon unusual words and construc- tions, to put into German short English sentences taken from the language of everyday life or based upon the text given "for translation, and to answer questions upon the rudi- ments of the grammar, as defined below. B. THE WORK TO BE DONE During the first year the work should comprise : (i) careful drill upon pronunciation •, (2) the memorizing and frequent repetition of easy colloquial sentences; (3) drill upon the rudiments of grammar, that is, upon the inflection of the articles, of such nouns as belong to the language of everyday life, of adjectives, pronouns, weak verbs, and the more usual strong verbs ; also upon the use of the more common prepositions, the simpler uses of the modal auxiliaries, and the elementary rules of syntax and word order; (4) abundant easy exercises designed not only to fix in mind the forms and principles of grammar, but also to cultivate readiness in the reproduction of natural forms of expres- sion; (5) the reading of from 75 to 100 pages of graduated texts from a reader, with constant practice in translating into German easy variations upon sentences selected from the reading lesson (the teacher giving the English), and in the reproduction from memory of sentences previously read. During the second year the work should comprise: (i) the reading of from 150 to 200 pages of literature in the form of easy stories and plays ; (2) accompanying practice, as before, in the translation into German of easy variations upon the matter read, and also in the off-hand reproduction, sometimes orally and sometimes in writing, of the substance of short and easy selected passages ; (3) continued drill upon the rudiments of the grammar, directed to the ends of enabling the pupil, first, to use his knowledge with facility in the formation of sentences, and, secondly, to state his knowledge correctly in the technical language of grammar. C. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER ^ The following paragraphs are submitted in the interest of good teaching, and not in the interest of the most expeditious preparation for college. It is well known that a our intermediate requirement. Slight differences appear in phraseology, in estimates of time required, and in the number of pages suggested for reading. But these differences are insignificant. It is believed, therefore, that the six prominent institutions which have already made so good a beginning in the unification of entrance requirements will have no difficulty in adapting their statements to the scheme which is here proposed for the pountry at large, COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 103 capable boy or girl can be crammed for a college examination in any subject in much less time than a proper training in the subject would require. Here, however, we are con- cerned with the proper training. The college-entrance examination is admittedly an imperfect test of attainment in a modern language. Where candidates are numerous and the time limited, the examination is necessarily in writing ; and then the only available test of the ability to read is the ability to translate, while pronunciation and readi- ness of speech are not tested at all. It is evident, then, that a good symmetrical training in the secondary school must keep in view more things than are likely to be " required " of the candidate at his examination for admission to college. In what follows we shall take up the more important points that are involved in the teaching of beginners, and make some practical suggestions — suggestions that are by no means intended to pre- scribe a routine, but rather to state and explain guiding principles. I. Pronunciation. — It is hardly necessary to say that the first matter of importance for the beginner is the learning of a good pronunciation. Drill upon the subject should be kept up steadily and inexorably until right habits are firmly fixed ; because wrong habits formed at the outset are very persistent and very difficult to correct. In attempt- ing to imitate his teacher's utterance of the strange German sounds the learner will at first neither hear nor reproduce correctly, but will utter rough approximations of his own. It is necessary to train both his ear and his vocal organs. In doing this most teachers rely only upon oft-repeated imitations of their own pronunciation ; and this is the best reliance, always supposing that the model itself be good. What usually happens, how- ever, is that teachers cease or slacken their drill too soon. They find it dull business. After correcting some faulty utterance a score or two of times, they conclude that the result obtained will "do," that it is the best obtainable, that practice will make perfect — in the future. But the learner, being no longer regularly brought to book for his faults, perpetuates them, and makes no further progress except to pronounce badly with greater facility. In this way is acquired the slovenly pronunciation with which too many leave school. The opinion is sometimes expressed that it is not worth while to take great pains in the teaching of pronunciation, since perfection is out of the question. The argument is that American youths will not learn in school, however they may be taught, to pronounce German as Germans pronounce it ; and that, since they will speak badly anyway, the question of more or less cannot greatly matter. But this is not the right attitude. For, altho one who is not a German will very rarely learn after childhood to use the organs of speech precisely as Germans use them, so that his pronunciation will ring absolutely true, still any boy or gin of average apitude may, by careful attention to the subject, acquire a pronunciation so good that it will be pleasing rather than displeasing to a cultivated German ear ; just as, in the case of Germans learning English, that which is called the foreign " accent " may be reduced to such minute proportions that it does not offend, tho it is noticeable. Now, this is a result worth working for ; but it can only be obtained when the teacher is interested in pronunciation and well informed with regard to it. And right here comes in the great value of a knowledge of phonetics. Without such knowledge the teacher's only resource is the imitation of himself as model; his own personal habits of utterance become the standard of the class. But his habits may not be the best. If an American, he may have received a faulty training ; if a German, he may have dialectic peculiarities which should not be taught to a class. One who knows just how the German sounds are produced, and how they differ from the English sounds with which they are most apt to be confounded, has a great advantage in teaching pronunciation. If he hears a faulty utterance, he will know what is the matter and can correct it in the most effective way. If he knows something of German dialects, of provincial or local peculiari- ties of pronunciation, of the nature and claims of the so-called standard pronunciation, he will know what " correctness " means and will be able to teach more intelligently. I04 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION And, what is most important of all, for one who has a scientific interest in pronunciation the class-room drill upon the subject will not be a dull, mechanical routine, but a highly- interesting employment. He will himself learn much incidentally, and will make his teaching of pronunciation useful to his pupils, not only for German, but also for English. It is, therefore, very much to be desired that teachers of German in the secondary schools be qualified to deal scientifically ^with the subject of pronunciation. For this pur- pose it is not at all necessary that they be accomplished phoneticians. A very rudimen- tary knowledge of general phonetics will suffice. Of greater importance is it to have at hand, and to have carefully studied, a good treatment of the special problems of German- English phonetics.^ 2. The memorizing of colloquial sentences. — If there is any point upon which progres- sive teachers of living languages the world over have lately been coming to an agreement, it is that, in any course of study making the slightest pretension to thoroness, the proper starting-point in teaching is the vocabulary and phraseology of the language as repre- sented in its everyday forms of expression. It is, of course, possible to learn to read a language with some facility and still not be able to utter a sentence in it intelligibly or to understand a sentence uttered by another ; in short, without acquiring any feeling for the language in its characteristic modes of expression. Scholars and men of science who find it necessary in their work to read a number of foreign languages can very quickly, by the aid of grammar, dictionary, and translation, reach a point at which they can "make out the sense " or "get the drift" of an article or a pamphlet. But this is not learning the language any more than " picking up " a few tunes on the piano is learning music. Such reading, tho better than nothing and useful for certain purposes, is unsatis- factory. In the field of belles-lettres, where so much depends upon style, upon niceties of expression, and the subtle association of ideas, it is extremely unsatisfactory. The school, in dealing with languages so important as German and French, should aim at something . better. It should aim to be thoro ; to begin in the best way, and lay a good foundation. For literary appreciation — that is, for reading of the most profitable kind — one needs before all things a sensitive feeling for the language. One needs the sense of being at home in it. In teaching, this principle should be recognized from the outset The learner's knowledge is to be made second nature. His facilities and organs must be taught to respond instantly and naturally to the foreign symbols, whether they are seen or heard. Idea and form of expression must become so intimately associated that the one suggests the other without any intervening process of ratiocination. To accomplish this, there is no kind of drill so good as the memorizing and frequent repetition of easy col- loquial sentences. Such sentences can be given out and learned without any attempt at grammatical analysis and quite in advance of the pupil's grammatical knowledge. To know the meaning of es thut mir leid, and to be able to handle the sentence appropriately, it is not at all necessary that one be able to parse a single one of the words. It is to be borne in mind that psychologically the unit of speech is the sentence or the phrase, and not the individual vocable. Thoughtful teachers sometimes object to this form of drill on the ground that it is mere memory work, that it does not teach the pupil to think or to I Such a treatment can be found in Hempl's German Orthography and Phonology (Boston, 1897). The second " book " of Professor Hemprs work gives, in chap. 1, a sufficient introduction to general pho- netics, with bibliography on p. 61 ; then, in chap. 2, a scientific description of German speech sounds. Chap. 3 discusses such topics as " A Standard of Pronunciation," "Stage Pronunciation," "The Best German," "The Difference between German and English Pronunciation," and, very fully, " The Values of the Let- ters." Bibliography, on p. io>. From the works there mentioned we select, as likely to be most useful to the teacher (aside from Professor Hempl's own booki : Grandgent's German and English Sounds f Boston, 1892) ; Brandt's Ger7na?i Grammar (second part) (Boston, 1888) ; Victor's Ger*naft Pronu7iciation^ 4th ed., 1890 (Lemcke & Biichner 812 Broadway, New York, American agents) ; also Victor's German essays, Die Aussprache des Schriftdeutschen, 1890, and Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen zu lehren? 1893. It is hardly necessary to say that the most widely used school grammars deal very briefly and super- ficially with the subject of pronunciation, and are an insufficient reliance, even when free from positive error. I COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 1 05 reason. This, however, is not a valid objection. Such drill does much more than to load the memory. It develops aptitude by making psychological reactions instantaneous ; in short, by creating Sprachgefiihl. Its value has some analogy to that of the finger exercises of the incipient pianist. It is obviously important that what is given out to be learned in this way should consist of nothing but natural, oft-recurring forms of expression. The pupil is to learn how Germans actually say things, and not how they might possibly say something which no one would ever have occasion to say outside the class-room. The ideal condition is, of course, that the teacher have such a command of colloquial idiom that he will be able to furnish the necessary materials from the resources of his own knowledge. It will, then, be best that the pupil's repetitions be elicited by questions addressed to him in German ; in other words, that the drill take the form of short dialogs without the use of English. But, as we have already intimated, the teacher who does not command the lan- guage should not attempt this, but follow a book or note down suitable sentences from his reading of realistic stories and plays. Such sentences may then be given out to be learned and repeated frequently, the teacher giving the thought in English.^ This is, perhaps, an appropriate .place to say a word upon the subject of memorizing poetry, a kind of drill which is highly thought of and largely practiced by many teachers. The argument in its favor generally takes some such form as this : Boys and girls are apt to memorize easily, and they must memorize something ; then why not have them memorize gems of poetry and great thoughts of great writers rather than the banalities of ordinary discourse ? But this argument is fallacious. The object of the drill in col- loquial German is, as we have already remarked, not to load the memory with things supposed to be highly valuable in themselves, but to create an instinctive feeling for the language in its usual and natural modes of expression. Now poetry, as the language of emotion, is a more or less artificial — often a highly artificial — form of expression, and it is better that the natural become lodged in the mind first. The beginner who has learned to recite " Sah ein Knab' ein Roslein stehn, Roslein auf der Heiden," is hardly in a better, but rather in a worse, position for learning how a German would ordinarily express that idea. It may further be remarked that in simply hearing recitations of poetry in the class-room the teacher can be of little use except to see that his pupils have done their task, which is, to make the best of it, one of his lowest functions ; to correct mis- takes of pronunciation, and to give points in elocution, if his talent runs in that direction. It is an easy business for him, but it is apt to involve a great waste of valuable time for all except the reciter. Finally, it is not to be forgotten that this kind of exercise, if it is felt as an irksome task, may easily create a positive distaste, instead of a liking, for the gems of poetry. We must remember Lord Byron's pathetic exclamation : Then farewell, Horace, whom I hated so. To sum up, we would not be understood as condemning altogether the exercise of mem- orizing poetry, but we have not thought it of sufficient importance to deserve a place in the scheme of work outlined above. At any rate, it should not be made much of in the early stages. The poems given out for committing to memory should be few and short, and selected with reference to their simplicity and naturalness of expression. The teacher who omits the exercise altogether during the first year will make no great I For reasons sufficiently obvious the committee does not undertake to recommend particular American text-books for class use. There are a number of publications from which material more or less suitable can be culled. The test in choosing is whether a sentence represents (i) a natural and (2) a usual or oft-recurring form of expression. A scientific manual of spoken German, on the general lines perhaps of Sweet's Elemen- tarbuch des gesprocheyten Englisch, is a desideratum. Worthy of recommendation for its thoro trust- worthiness in respect of idiom, and equally good for German and French, is the German edition of Storm's Dialogues franqais, i.e., Franzosische Sprechubu7igen (Leipzig, 1888). For an excellent theoretical discussion of colloquial German, containing many useful hints to the teacher, we call attention to Wunder- licb's Unsere Umgangsprache (Weimar, 1894). Io6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION mistake. The recitation of well-chosen dialogs, with the parts assigned, is a better exer- cise, and, we believe, is usually found more interesting to learners, 3. Grammar. — It is assumed that simple exercises in colloquial German will begin with the very first lesson and take a portion of each recitation period, even when the pupil is learning the alphabet and becoming familiar with the values of the letters. It goes without saying that the sentences learned should occasionally be written down, as well as often repeated orally. Practice in writing German from dictation is helpful in learning to spell, and should be kept up for some time. It may, however, be discon- tinued earlier than in case of French, because German spelling (is ^much easier to learn than French. Whether the script letters should be learned at the same time with the print letters and regularly used in all written work is a question upon which opinions differ. On the one hand, it is urged that the script letters are not at all difficult to master, and that the use of them facilitates learning to spell ; that such spellings as musz, miissen, Herz, stizen, and others come more easily in the German than in the Roman script. It is also urged that, as Germans use the script in their ordinary writing, those who are studying the language should learn to use it. The opposing .arguments are that there is nothing educational or practically useful about learning to write the German script; that for Americans it is quite sufficient to be able to read it, in case they should some time get a letter written in it ; that boys and girls of high-school age have usually formed their hand in English, and that, unless great pains be taken with them at the start — that is, unless the teacher be both able and willing to teach penmanship for its own sake — they are almost sure to learn to write the script in an ugly un-German hand, like nothing ever met with outside the class-room. From this it is clear that there is something to be said upon both sides. Upon the whole, the committee is of the opinion that the use of the German script in the schools should not be regarded as a matter of great importance, and should never be required at a college examination. Teachers who write it well, and are willing to take the time to teach it well, may very properly insist upon it. Others will be upon safe ground if they permit the use of the Roman letters in all written work. In that case, however, they should sooner or later give their pupils some practice in reading German handwriting. It is assumed that learners who are of high-school age will take up the study of grammar after a few preliminary lessons. But for several weeks the grammar lessons should be short and easy, so as to allow an abundance of time each day for colloquial exercises and drill upon pronunciation. As the course proceeds, the study of grammar and the doing of exercises directly related to the study of grammar may properly be allowed to absorb an increasing portion of the time, but the colloquial practice should be kept up. In the teaching of grammar the most important principle to be kept in view is that the grammar is there for the sake of the language, and not the language for the sake of the grammar. The recitation of paradigms, rules, and exceptions is always in danger of degenerating into a facile routine, in which there is but little profit. The important thing is not that the learner should acquire facility in telling off paradigms, quoting statements, and explaining principles according to the book, but that he should acquire facility in understanding and using the language. The maxim should be : Little theory and much application. It is of small use to be able to state correctly the principle of adjective declension, so long as the pupil, in attempting to apply the principle in a simple case, is obliged to stop and think, to recall his grammar, and perhaps to guess after all. The right forms must be so bred into the blood that they come naturally from tongue and pen. This, of course, requires an endless amount of repetition, which may at times become tedious. But the time spent upon this elementary drill is well spent and tells for good thruout the course. Teachers should not be in too great haste to get to reading good literature. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 07 The first difficulty of practical importance in teaching German grammar relates to the gender and declension of nouns. If the attempt is made to master the gender and declension of every noun that is met with, either progress will be very slow (as in case of German children learning the mother-tongue), or the learner's memory soon becomes overtaxed. Trying to remember everything, he soon ceases to remember anything with absolute confidence. The best way to deal with this difficulty is to concentrate attention from the start upon those nouns that belong to tJie language of everyday life — the names of familiar objects, relationships, and ideas — to make sure of these and let the others go. A list of such nouns can be made out which need not contain more than, say, three hundred words. The pupil who at the end of a two-years' course has really learned that number of nouns, so that the right gender and the right plural come to him instantly, has done quite enough. More should not be expected by the college examiner, so far as concerns those nouns the gender and declension of which cannot be determined by inspection. It is, of course, assumed that the candidate will know about nouns in -chen,-lein, -ei, -heit, -keit, -in, -schaft, ''-ung. Whether he knows any other rules for gender is not very important. After the inflection of the noun the other grammatical topics that require the most attention are the inflection of the adjective, the forms of the strong verbs and modal auxiliaries, the use of prepositions, and the subject of word-order. In dealing with these and the minor difficulties of German grammar it is customary to rely, first, upon gram- matical exercises — that is, the translation from German into English and from English into German of collections of sentences devised or selected for the express purpose of illustrating some grammatical point]; and, secondly, upon \ drill connected with the German reading lesson. Both these resources are good, if properly handled, and neither should be neglected. To do its proper work the grammatical exercise should not be simply worked thru once and then dismissed, but reviewed and repeated until the right forms come instantly from the tongue and pen. From this it follows that the sentence of the grammatical exercise, no less than those learned in colloquial practice, should represent natural forms of expression — things that Germans say or might say under easily supposable conditions. It used to be thought — and perhaps some teachers and text-book makers still think — that anything grammatical will do for teaching grammar. And so, perhaps, it will ; but it is possible to teach the grammar at the expense of the language, and the language is what we are after. To ask a learner to upset into alleged German such sentences as : " The pupils' coats and shoes are in the maids' hands," or, "I give warm clothes and red apples to poor little children," is, to say the least, inexpedient. Instead of a help, it is a hindrance to the acquisition of a sensitive feeling for the language. Rather than exercise his wits upon the translation of such English into such German it were much better that the learner should do no English- German translation whatever, but simply read German and learn the grammar by observation and appropriate drill. Perceiving rightly that the translation of bad exercises is a waste of time and positively harmful, some teachers have been led to the position that all English-German translation is out of place in a beginner's course. They argue that one should not be expected to translate into a language until he knows something about it, until he has a certain working capital in the way of a vocabulary, phraseology and linguistic feeling ; that so long as he must look up his words in the vocabulary and painfully and faultily piece them together, according to his understanding of the gram- mar, it is better for him to occupy himself with German produced by those who know the language. This reasoning is not altogether unsound, but properly applied it does not lead to the rejection of all English-German translation in the early stages of study. On the contrary, such translation is itself highly useful in acquiring that larger working capital which is desired. All that is necessary is to avoid difficult or independent trans- lation. Thruout the elementary course the English-German translation should consist Io8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION of little else than easy variations upon a German text already studied. The German Vorlage should furnish or suggest substantially all that the learner needs to know, pre- vious acquirements being, of course, taken into consideration. Here the maxim should be : A great deal of the easy rather than a little of the difficult. We come now to the subject of drilling upon the reading lesson. There are various kinds of questions that can be asked about a text, but three types are prominent ir> the practice of teachers. In the first type the questions call for the recitation of paradigms and rules and the explanation of grammatical principles. In the second type the ques- tions call for the translation into German of English sentences based upon the text. In the third the object is to draw the pupil out and induce him to talk about what is said in the text. To illustrate, supposing the text in hand to be, Der See macht eine Bucht ins Land: 1. Decline der See. What is the meaning of die See? Decline ^zV 6sorbing and hold- fast organ. a) Relations to soil, water, air, mechanical support, etc. b) Demonstrations of absorption, geotropism, hydrotropism. c) Structure of roots. d) Absorption and grappling by plants without roots. 3. The Plant Societies. — This is a study of natural plant areas, such as forest, meadow, swamp, etc., and is very desirable if practicable. It is recognized that in city schools, and in those with very large classes, the study of natural areas can form no large part 174 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION of the formal training, but it may always be encouraged. The conditions of several plant societies, however, may be imitated in the schoolroom, and many of the adapta- tions of plants observed. (i) Water plants. — An aquarium stocked with characteristic water forms, a collection of marine seaweeds, and some swamp plants are things to be obtained by any school. The structures of such plants should be contrasted with those of plants living under different conditions. {'Z) Drought plants. — Characteristic drought plants can be cultivated, and also the effect of drought conditions upon ordinary plants can be noted. The various methods of regulating transpiration and of storing water should be observed. (3) Ordinary plants, — To contrast the plants growing in genial conditions with those growing in water or drought conditions is a fruitful subject of observation. SECOND COURSE Plant Structures. — Such a course needs no outline. Types lepresenting each great plant group should be selected and the essential structures observed, unessential details being passed over. Naturally the structures will fall under two physiological heads, the nutritive and the reproductive. In the selection of types the following groups should be represented : algoe, fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses, ferns, horsetails, club- mosses, conifers, monocotyledons, and dicotyledons. In connection with this course it would be well to continue some work in plant physiology, a number of simple experiments being "set up" to illustrate the more important functions of the structure under observation. Such a course also incidentally involves the fundamental classification of plants, which phase of the subject may be carried into greater detail in connection with the study of the monocotyledons and dicotyledons by teaching the use of the ordinary manuals of seed plants. G. In connection with both of these courses your committee would call special attention to the great importance of drawing as a means of securing definite observation. It is also the judgment of your committee that to obtain the best results the work, as herein outlined, should be done during the last two years of the secondary-school period. BOTANICAL MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE REPRESENTING: 1. New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools: Professor W. F. Ganong, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Mr. David W. Hoyt, English High School, Providence, R. I. 2. Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of ^Middle States and Maryland: Professor B. D. Halsted, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J. Mr. Frank Owen Payne, High School, Glen Cove, N. Y. 3. North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools: Professor Charles R. Barnes, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. Mr. E. R. Boyer, High School, Chicago, 111. (Who has not indicated his assent to this report.) 4. Southern Association of Colleges: Professor Albert H. Tuttle, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. Mr. Albert Ruth, High School, Knoxville, Tenn. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS I 7 5 5. A. A. A. S.: Professor Charles E. Bessey, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. (See dissenting opinion.) Mr. J. Y. Bergen, Jr., High School, Boston, Mass. 6. National Educational Association : Professor John M. Coulter, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111., chairman. Mr. I. N. Mitchell, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis. DISSENTING COMMENTS OF CHARLES E. BESSEY While cordially agreeing with the majority of the committee in the general spirit of the foregoing report, and in many of its propositions and recommendations, I cannot subscribe to it in its present form. The essential points in which I dissent are as follows : I cannot agree to say, with the majority of the committee, that the compound microscope "is a difficult piece of apparatus for the young student to use intelligently," since I have known of its very successful use in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of certain public schools in Nebraska. For pupils in the eleventh and twelfth grades (third and fourth years of the high school, where alone botany should be first taken up) the compound microscope is not as difficult to handle as the chemical and physical apparatus necessarily handled in a good high-school course in chemistry and physics. We are not called upon to make botany a simpler science than chemistry and physics in the secondary schools. I must dissent emphatically from the proposition that "the first con- tact [of the pupil] should be with plants in their general relations, form- ing the natural covering of the earth's surface, and holding definite rela- tions to their environment." This refers to the newest department of modern botany, viz., ecology, which is just now, for the first time, finding its way into the botanical courses of our foremost universities. We who have to deal with advanced students, well prepared in general and system- atic botany, find it hard enough work to study the general relations of plants referred to above, and I hold it to be impossible to take up this work successfully in the secondary schools without a much better prepara- than than suggested in the report of the committee. I must dissent from much of the detail in the suggested course for the first half year. Instead of attempting the impossible task of teaching the pupil in a few exercises " to recognize, in a general way, algae, fungi, liverworts, mosses, ferns, equisetums, club-mosses, gymnosperms, mono- cotyledons, and dicotyledons," it will be far better to devote the half year to this work, giving the pupil the opportunity of becoming person- ally acquainted with enough kinds under each head given above to enable him to recognize them in something more than "a general way." As to the " life-relations and -processes " I dissent from the prominence which the report gives them thus early in the course in botany. Many 176 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION of the suggestions are useful, e. g., those pertaining to the position, form, and mutual relations of leaves ; the stems bearing foliage leaves ; prostrate, climbing, and erect stems; relations of roots to soil, water, air, etc.; and some of the experiments and demonstrations are suggestive; but others, again, are impossible of performance in any but the loosest way by sec- ondary-school pupils, e. g., the demonstration of photosynthesis, respira- tion, and movements of water and elaborated material. The inclusion by the committee of the study of ''plant societies" in the suggested work of the secondary- school pupils is, to say the least, untimely. The pupils with no further preparation than that allowed by the committee are not able to designate the members of the plant socie- ties, and, on account of the newness of this department of botany in America, there are practically no teachers in the secondary schools who are able to give any instruction in it. I recommend that the committee's "second course" be more fully elaborated, and suggested to the secondary schools as the outline of work to be followed. Charles E. Bessey. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ZOOLOGY The committee takes it for granted that, in accordance with the gen- eral report of the Committee of Ten, published some time ago, the subject will be awarded a place in the curriculum, and hence the present report covers its position, the character of the course, and extent of the same. POSITION IN CURRICULUM Studies on living things appeal more strongly to students of fifteen than to those of seventeen years of age, whereas the reverse is true of precise formal argument. The power of exact reasoning cannot be said to develop early, and the less formal methods of biological science are also transitional to those of both physics and chemistry. Furthermore, the mathematical training necessary for physics particularly is not obtained by the pupil, under present programs in secondary schools, early enough to allow the introduction of work in physics before the third year of the secondary course; hence your subcommittee is all but unanimous in recommending that, since work in -zoology does not require the rigid training necessary for more formal work in physics and chemistry, it should precede work in these branches. It should, however, be preceded, in its opinion, by a year in general science and physiography. Whether illustrated by the study of plants or animals, the phenomena of life are so similar and so clearly complementary that a rational arrange ment of courses calls for a study of botany and zoology in successive ve fl J COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQ ULREMENTS 1 7 7 terms or years. Various circumstances may determine in the individual case the order to be followed, yet neither should be studied at the expense of the other, but both receive a due share of attention. CHARACTER OF THE COURSE 1. Probably the most general method of teaching zoology in sec- ondary schools at present is the text-book method. A large amount of information about zxiwudX^ is acquired thereby in a limited time, and the minimum of attainment and preparation is demanded of the teacher. Your Subcommittee on Zoology is unanimously opposed to this method, for not only is undue emphasis laid on the larger forms of animal life, but also no course has any right to be regarded as a course in science unless it include laboratory work. 2. The systematic method involves the detailed study of a group or groups in the most careful manner from a taxonomic standpoint. This plan has the advantage of bringing the pupils in contact with the objects studied, and trains powers of discrimination and analysis, but it gives the student an exaggerated idea of the importance of certain structural parts and of limited animal groups, and fails to develop general biologi- cal ideas. 3. The laboratory study of a series of animals is the method now used with the greatest success. Two tendencies are observed here : («) the rapid superficial examination of a large number of forms, and {b) the more accurate study of a limited series of types. Your subcommittee is of the opinion that the thoro, careful study of a few types, emphasizing the quality of the work rather than the amount of ground covered, should be recommended as yielding the best results, tho " the course should not be exhaustive to the extent of becoming exhausting." In content some change in the prevalent character of zoological courses seems desirable. The systematic and morphologic work of colleges is not most profitable to the student ; minute anatomy is clearly out of place, and exclusive dissecting is too time-consuming. External morphology, life-histories, habits, economic interests, are of far greater interest and value to the pupil, and all members of the subcommittee are united in emphasizing the necessity of paying greater attention to observations on the living ani- mal and its activities. A series of types can be selected on which it is possible to work with- out the use of a compound microscope, thus adapting the course to schools having a minrmum equipment. The course may, however, be somewhat improved by the addition of a little work on lower forms by the aid of that instrument. The types may be selected with reference to the material available for use, but always with regard to preserving the balance of the course in getting some idea of the wide variation in animal struc- ture, and should be so arranged that related formg" come in succession. 178 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION • — — — — — — « ■ It is essential that the student find individually the answers to ques- tions from the objects before him, record independently his observations in the form of notes, and especially of drawings portraying the essential features with accuracy, and should himself conduct experiments of a harmless and simple character on the living animal. The definite infor- mation gained in this way and by comparison with other types should be broadened by reading and class instruction on allied topics outlined by the teacher. Of fundamental importance are field excursions for the study as far as practicable of organisms in their natural environment, to collect and compare other forms, to observe and record their habits and activities. For the comparison of types not native to a given region a school museum is desirable, but it should be a small working collection and be put to constant use. The collateral reading of the course should be broad enough to include, not only work of immediate bearing on the topic in hand, but also the records of great naturalists and explorers, which will add to the interest as well as encourage love for nature. EXTENT OF THE COURSE Not less than one year of continuous work should be given to biologi- cal science, and half of the time should be devoted to zoology. Of the five hours per week spent in the study, two may be used for class-room work and three in the laboratory ; altho, by virtue of lack of outside preparation for laboratory work, some think that double time should be devoted to it for a given credit. The choice of type forms used in the laboratory is subject to individual variation, but should not exceed ten for a half year's work. The line of study to be followed for each form is indicated by the following analysis: 1. External anatomy : {a) general form and symmetry, regions, parts ; (<^) comparison with other individuals of the same species, emphasizing points of variation and constancy ; {c) comparison with other types. 2. Observations on the living animal, simple physiological tests, emphasizing care with regard to the inferences drawn from the reactions. 3. Class topics, including talks by the teacher, selected readings, class work, analysis of results. As a specific instance of the application to the individual form, the following instance is taken from the report of one member of the com- mittee : BUTTERFLY Any one of various species whose larvae can be obtained alive near the end of Sep- tember may be employed. The cabbage butterfly (Pieris), the milkweed butterfly (Danais), or the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio) will meet these conditions. DRAWINGS 1. Imago : dorsal view, wings expanded. X, i or 2. 2. Imago : left side, wings closed. (The bodies in i and 2 are to be drawn parallel to each other). X, i or 2. COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 7 9 3. Imago : front of head. X, 10. 4. Pupa : left side. 5. Full-grown larva : dorsal view. 6. Full-grown larva : left side. QUESTIONS eN EXTERNAL ANATOMY 1. How many segments behind the head in (a) the imago; {b) the larva; (^) the pupa? 2. What external organs of the imago can be identified in the pupa ? 3. Which feet of the larva correspond with those of the imago ? OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIVING LARVA Each student (or group of students) should be provided with a glass vessel covered with netting and containing food leaves, for keeping the larva during pupation. 1. How is locomotion effected ? Illustrate by diagrams. 2. How does the larva feed ? Observe and record the movements of the mouthparts and of the head during feeding. Draw the outline of a partly eaten leaf. 3. (This observation must extend thru several days.) Make and record observations upon the act of pupation. TOPICS FOR THE TEACHER (i) The habits and food of butterflies. (2) The number of broods of butterflies during a single season and seasonal dimorphism. (3) Protective resemblance and mimicry. (4) The larger divisions and commoner native forms of lepidoptera. (Exam- ples of lepidoptera illustrating the commoner native types should be shown, and students encouraged to collect and classify them.) (5) The hymenoptera ; their structure, classi- fication, and habits. ZOOLOGICAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE OF SIXTY, NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1. From the Northeastern Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools: Professor William T. Sedgwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. Mr. William Orr, Jr., High School, Springfield, Mass. 2. From the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Mary- land: Professor E. G. Conklin, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Oliver D. Clark, Boys' High School, Brooklyn, N. Y. 3. From the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools: Professor Henry Baldwin Ward, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., Secretary- Chairman. Mr. J. W. Matthews, Principal of High School, Grand Rapids, Mich. 4. From the Southern Association of Colleges and High Schools: Professor Henry B. Orr, Tulane University, New Orleans, La. Mr. C. E. Harris, McDonough High School No. i. New Orleans, La. 5. From the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Professor Alpheus Spring Packard, Brown University, Providence, R. I. Mr. Franklin W. Barrows, Central High School, Buffalo, N. Y. 6. From the Department of Natural Science Teaching, National Educational Association : Dr. Charles Benedict Davenport, Harvard University, Caml)ridge, Mass. l8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION PHYSICS The Committee on Physics of the Science Department of the National Educational Association did not submit a regular report signed by the members of the committee. These were : Professor E. H. Hall, Harvard University, chairman. Professor H. S. Carhart, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. R. B. Fulton, Chancellor, University of Mississippi. C. L. Harrington, Sachs' Collegiate Institute, New York, N. Y. Julius Hortvet, East Side High School, Minneapolis, Minn. C. J. Ling, Manual Training School, Denver, Colo. Professor E. L. Nichols, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. E. D. Pierce, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. Professor Fernando Sanford, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Cal. Professor B. F. Thomas, Ohio State University, Columbus. Edward R. Robbins, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J. The basis of a report, suggested by Professor Hall, and consisting of a list of laboratory experiments, is given below. Comments by the mem- bers of the committee, in case they dissented from any part of this, were to be sent at once to the chairman of the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements. It may be assumed that the list met with the approval of those who did not so indicate dissent. Such comments as have been received are given after Professor Hall's statement. OUTLINE OF LABORATORY WORK IN PHYSICS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS At least thirty-five exercises, selected from a list of sixty or more, not very different from the list given below. In this list the divisions are mechanics (including hydrostatics), light, heat, sound, and electricity (with magnetism). At least ten of the exercises selected should be in mechanics. The exercises in sound may be omitted altogether ; but each of the three remaining divisions should be represented by at least three exercises. The division of the list into a first part and a second part is intended to facilitate and encourage beginning the study of physics very early in the school course. Most of the exercises in the first part have proved to be within the power of boys of fourteen or fifteen years, altho older pupils can do them more readily, as they can do all other work except tasks of pure memory. The cost of apparatus for the exercises of the fisrt part is very small. i J COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS ~ l8l FIRST PART PRELIMINARY EXERCISES [Recommended, but not to be counted] A. Measurement of a straight line. B. Lines of the right triangle and the circle. C. Area of an oblique parallelogram. D. Volume of a rectangular body by displacement of water. MECHANICS AND HYDROSTATICS 1. Weight of unit volume of a substance. 2. Lifting effect of water upon a body entirely immersed in it. 3. Specific gravity of a solid body that will sink in water. 4. Specific gravity of a block of wood by use of a sinker. 5. Weight of water displaced by a floating body. 6. Specific gravity by flotation method. 7. Specific gravity of a liquid : two methods. 8. The straight lever : first class. 9. Center of gravity and weight of a lever. 10. Levers of the second and third classes. 11. Force exerted at the fulcrum of a lever. 12. Errors of a spring balance. 13. Parallelogram of forces. 14. Friction between solid bodies (on a level). 15. Coefficient of friction (by sliding on incline). LIGHT 16. Use of Rumford photometer. 17. Images in a plane mirror. 18. Images formed by a convex cylindrical mirror, ^ 19. Images formed by a concave cylindrical mirror. 20. Index of refraction of glass. 21. Index of refraction of water. 22. Focal length of a converging lens. 23. Conjugate foci of a lens. 24. Shape and size of a real image formed by a lens. 25. Virtual image formed by a lens. SECOND PART MECHANICS 26. Breaking-Strength of a wire. 27. Comparison of wires in breaking-tests. - 28. Elasticity; stretching. 29. Elasticity: bending; effect of varying loads. 30. Elasticity : bending ; effect of varying dimensions. 31. Elasticity: twisting. 32. Specific gravity of a liquid by balancing columns. 33. Compressibility of air : Boyle's law. 34. Density of air. 35. Four forces at right angles in one plane. 36. Comparison of masses by acceleration-test. 37. Action and reaction : elastic collision. 38. Elastic collision continued : inelastic collision. 1 82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 39. Testing a mercury thermometer. 40. Linear expansion of a solid. 41. Increase of pressure of a gas heated at constant volume. 42. Increase of volume of a gas heated at constant pressure. 43. Specific heat of a solid. 44. Latent heat of melting. 45. Determination of the dew-point, v 46. Latent heat of vaporization. SOUND 47. Velocity of sound -in open air. 48. Wave-length of sound. 49. Number of vibrations of a tuning-fork. ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM 50. Lines of force near a bar magnet. 51. Study of a single-fluid galvanic cell. 52. Study of a two-fluid galvanic cell. 53. Lines of force about a galvanoscope. 54. Resistance of wires by substitution : various lengths. 55. Resistance of wires by substitution : cross-section and multiple arc. 56. Resistance by Wheatstone's bridge : specific resistance of copper. 57. Temperature-coefficient of resistance in copper. 58. Battery resistance. 59. Putting together the parts of a telegraph key and sounder. 60. Putting together the parts of a small motor. 61. Putting together the parts of a small dynamo. Professor Carhart suggests forty experiments similar to these. Twenty- four of these coincide exactly in title with items in the above list. The following fourteen are new, but many of them are probably implied in the list of sixty-one. The Jolly balance. Laws of the pendulum. Pressure. Curve of magnetization. Action of current on needle. Fall of potential in conductor. E. M. F. of cell. The tangent galvanometer. Velocity of sqund in solids (Kundt). ^ Law of length for strings (sound). Law of diameter for strings (sound). Law of tension for strings (sound). Law of reflection (light). Measurement of angle of prism (light). PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE WHO HAVE ASSISTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT JIerbert B. Adams^ Professor of American and Institutional History, Johns Hopkins University, Bal- timore, Md. George B. Aiton, State Inspector of High Schools, Minneapolis, Minn. Edwin A. Alderman, President of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. E. H. Babbitt, Instructor in German, Columbia University, New York city. Cecil F. P. Bancroft, Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Charles R. Barnes, Professor of Botany, University of Chicago, Chicago, IlL , Franklin W. Barrows, Central High School, Buffalo, N. Y. W. H. Bartholomew, Principal of Girls' High School, Louisville, Ky. G. W. Benton, High School, Indianapolis, Ind. J. Y. Bergen, Jr., High School, Boston, Mass. Charles E. Bessey, Professor of Botany, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. J. Remsen Bishop, Principal of Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, O. B. L. Bowen, Professor of Romance Languages, University of Ohio, Columbus, O. E. R. Boyer, Assistant to Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, 111. H. C. G. Brandt, Professor of German, Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y. Albert Perry Brigham, Professor of Geology, Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y. John T. Buchanan, ' Principal of Boys' High School, New York city. William H. Butts, Instructor in Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. James H. Canfield, President of Ohio State University, Columbus, O. H. S. Carhart, Professor of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. W. H. Carruth, Professor of German, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. 183 1 84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Franklin Carter, President of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Edward B. Clapp, Professor of Greek, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. Collier Cobb, Professor of Geology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. G. L. Collie, Professor of Geology, Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. • , David Y. Comstock, Principal of St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vt. . E. G. Conklin, Professor of Comparative Embryology.. University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- phia, Pa. R. H. Cornish, Assistant in Physics, Girls' High School, New York city. John M. Coulter, Professor of Botany, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. E. G. Coy, Principal of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. E. W. Coy, Principal of the Hughes High School, Cincinnati, O J. G. Crosswell, Principal of the Brearley School, New York city. S. W. Cutting, Associate Professor of German, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. Charles Benedict Davenport, Professor of Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Ellery W. Davis, Professor of Mathematics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. W. M. Davis, Professor of Physical Geography, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Melvil Dewey, Secretary of the Board of Regents and State Librarian, Albany, N. Y. W. L. Dudley, Professor of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. A. M. Elliott, Professor of Romance Languages, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Arthur Fairbanks, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Wilson Farrand, Associate Principal, Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. Henry B. Fine, Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. George L. Fox, Principal of the Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven, Conn. P. C. Freer, Professor of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Charles W. French, Principal of Hyde Park High School, Chicago, 111. R. B, Fulton, Chancellor, University of Mississippi, University, Miss. NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1 85 William Gallagher, Principal of the Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass. W. F. Ganong, Professor of Botany, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. Charles B. Gilbert, Superintendent of Schools, Newark, N. J. C. H. Grandgent, Professor of Romance Philology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. W. B. Graves, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Edward H. Griffin, Professor of the History of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins Univeprsity, Baltimore, Md, William Gardner Hale, Professor of Latin, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. E. H. Hall, Professor of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. B. D. Halsted, Professor of Botany, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J. Paul H. Hanus, Assistant Professor of the History and Art of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. William R. Harper, President of the University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. C. L. Harrington, Sachs' Collegiate Institute, New York city. C. E. Harris, McDonough High School No. i, New Orleans, La. Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Charles H. Haskins, Professor of European History, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. C. A. Hench, Professor of Germanic Languages, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Burke A. Hinsdale, Professor of the Science and Art of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Thomas F. Holgate, Professor of Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, 111. Julius Hortvet, East Side High School, Minneapolis, Minn. David W. Hoyt, English High School, Providence, R. I. L. S. Hulburt, Collegiate Professor of Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Ray Greene Huling, Principal of English High School, Cambridge, Mass. Lawrence C. Hull, Principal of Academic Department, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, New York city. Edmund J. James, Professor of Public Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 1 86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION J. M. Jameson, Professor in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York city. William Carey Jones, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. R. P. Keep, Principal of the Free Academy, Norwich, Conn. Francis W. Kelsey, Professor of Latin, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. George L. Kittredge, Professor of English, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Abby Leach, Professor of Greek, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. C. J. Ling, Manual Training School, Denver, Colo. C. W. Lyon, Jr., Principal Grammar School No. 78, Brooklyn, New York city. C. F. Mabery, Professor of Chemistry, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, O. Andrew C. McLaughlin, Professor ot American History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. J. W. Matthews, Principal of High School, Grand Rapids, Mich. Richard A. Minckwitz, Principal of Kansas City High School, Kansas City, Mo. C. A. Mitchell, Classical Master of the University School, Cleveland, O. I. N. Mitchell, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis. W. D. MOONEY, Principal of the Mooney School, Franklin, Tenn. H. B. Newson, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Kansas State University, Lawrence, Kan. E. L. Nichols, Professor of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. A. F. Nightingale, Superintendent of High Schools, Chicago, 111. Henry B. Orr, Professor of Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, La. William Orr, Jr., High School, Springfield, Mass. W. F. Osgood, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Alpheus Spring Packard, Professor of Zoology, Brown University, Providence, R. I. • Charles Skeele Palmer, Professor of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. Frank Owen Payne, High School, Glen Cove, N. Y. E. D. Pierce, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn, NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 187 J. H. Pratt, Principal of the Milwaukee Academy, Milwaukee, Wis. H. H. Rennert, Professor of Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. William North Rice, Professor of Geology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. Edward R. Robbins, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J. Oscar D. Robinson, Principal of the Albany High School, Albany, N. Y. Frank Rollins, ^oys' High School, New York city. James E. Russell, Dean of Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York city. Albert Ruth, High School, Knoxville, Tenn. Julius Sachs, Principal of the Collegiate School, New York city. Lucy M. Salmon, Professor of History in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Fernando Sanford, Professor of Physics, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Cal. J. J. SCHOBINGER, Principal, Harvard School, Chicago, 111. William T. Sedgwick, Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. Thomas Day Seymour, Professor of Greek, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. J. B. Shaw, Department of Mathematics in Michigan Military Academy, Orchard Lake, Mich. H. G. Sherrard, Classical Master of the High School, Detroit, Mich. William H. Smiley, Principal of High School, District No. i, Denver, Colo. Alexander Smith, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. Charles Forster Smith, Professor of Greek, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Clement L. Smith, Professor of Latin, Harvard University, Cambridge Mass. E. F. Smith, Professor of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. Herbert Weir Smyth, Professor of Greek, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. William B. Snow, Teacher of P>ench, English High School, Boston, Mass. W. H. Snyder, Master in Science, Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass. H. Morse Stephens, Professor of Modern European History, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 1 88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Ralph S. Tarr, Professor of Dynamical Geology and Physical Geography, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. v. John Tetlow, Head Master of the Girls' High School and of the Boys' High School, Boston, Mass. B. F. Thomas, Professor of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, O. Calvin Thomas, Professor of Germanic Languages, Columbia University, New York city. Charles H. Thurber, Associate Professor of Pedagogy, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. William P. Trent, Professor of English and History, University of the South, Suwanee, Tenn. A. W. Tressler, Superintendent of Schools, Monroe, Mich. Albert H. Tuttle, Professor of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. George R. Twiss, Head Science Teacher, Central High School, Cleveland, O. W. T. Van Buskirk, High School, Peoria, 111. B. M. Walker, Professor of Mathematics in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, Agricultural College, Miss. Henry Baldwin Ward, Professor of Zoology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. Minton Warren, Professor of Latin, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. W. R. Webb, Principal of Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn. B. W. Wells, Professor of Modern Languages, University of the South, Suvi^anee, Tenn. Andrew F. West, Professor of Latin, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. J. W. A. Young, Assistant Professor of Mathematical Pedagogy, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. m J RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (415) 642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW JUN 1 1392 TU b/4Zd ^S ^3jr/