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ROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



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DEPARTMENT OF 
SUPERINTENDENCE 



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of the NATIONAL 
EDUCATIONAL 
ASSOCIATION.* 



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AT ITS MEETING IN 

COLUMBUS. OHIO 

FEBRUARY 21 

22, and 23 

J899 



OS- 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 



AT THE ANNUAL MEETING HELD AT COLUMBUS, OHIO 

FEBRUARY 21-23, 1 899 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION 

1899 



PRINTED AT 

Gbe THnfver6fts of Gbfcago press 

1899 



cJIjuu^Ij^ja 



CONTENTS 

COLUMBUS MEETING 

PAGE 

Secretary's Minutes .....-_. 5 

Public Lands and Public Education, Prettyman - - • - 13 

Discussion - - - - -- - - -20 

Relation of Public Libraries to Public Schools, Williams - - 24 

Discussion .........29 

The Unseen Force in Character-Making, Martin - - - 30 

Discussion - - - - - - - • - -38 

The Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools, Russell - - - 39 

Discussion - - - - - - - ---50 

Efficient and Inefficient Teachers, Soldan - - - -- -52 

Discussion -..-..-..60 

What the Superintendent is Not, Winship - - - - 61 

How to Make Good Teachers out of Poor Ones, Harris - - 64 

Authority of the School Superintendent, White ----- 68 

The Implications and Applications of the Principle of Self-Activity in Educa- 
tion, Tomkins --------74 

Discussion .--------79 

To What Extent should the High-School Pupil be Permitted to Elect his 

Work? Steele -------- 85 

The School Director as a Factor in Education, Hamilton - - - 90 

Report of Committee on Uniform Financial Reports, Pearse - - - 98 

Report of Committee on Amended Spelling, Buehrle - - - 106 

Round Table of City Superintendents - - - - - - 109 

Supplementary List of Active Members - - - - - - 120 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 

COLUMBUS MEETING 



SECRETARY'S MINUTES 



FIRST DAY 

MORNING SESSION. — Tuesday, February 21, 1899 

The Department of Superintendence was called to order at 9 : 30, in the auditorium 
of the Commercial Club, by the president, E. H. Mark, of Louisville, Ky. 

After music by pupils of the eighth grade of the First Avenue School, Columbus, an 
invocation was offered by Dr. Washington Gladden. 

Dr. James H. Canfield, president of Ohio State University, and Dr. J. A. Shawan, 
superintendent of schools, Columbus, O., welcomed the convention. 

President E. H. Mark responded to the words of welcome on behalf of the depart- 
ment. 

E. B. Prettyman, state superintendent of public instruction, Baltimore, Md., read a 
paper on " Public Lands and Public Education." 

Superintendent R. C. Barrett, of Iowa, opened the discussion of Superintendent Pret- 
tyman's paper, which was further discussed by Dr. George T. Fairchild, Berea College, 
Kentucky; Dr. B. A.Hinsdale, University of Michigan; John MacDonald, of Kan- 
sas, editor of the Western School Journal, and Superintendent H. G. Weimar, of Mary- 
land. Superintendent Prettyman closed the discussion. 

Sherman Williams, Glens Falls, N. Y., read a paper on the subject, " Relation of 
Public Libraries to Public Schools." 

The paper was discussed by State Superintendent L. D. riarvey, of Wisconsin ; Dr. 
Arthur Allen, University of Colorado; Superintendent W. C. Martindale, Detroit, Mich.; 
Supervisor R. C. Metcalf, Boston, Mass.; Superintendent Aaron Gove, District No. 1, 
Denver, Colo.; Superintendent Eugene Bouton, Pittsfield, Mass.; Principal A. S. 
Downing, New York city ; Superintendent L. E. Wolfe, Kansas City, Kan.; Superin- 
tendent Orville T. Bright, Chicago, 111.; Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y. 

The president appointed the following 

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS 

Superintendent H. S. Tarbell, Rhode Island. Superintendent E. P. Seaver, Massachusetts. 
Superintendent G. R. Glenn, Georgia. Superintendent W. C. Martindale, Michigan. 

Ossian H. Lang, New York. Superintendent F. 6. Dyer, Kansas. 

Superintendent W. H. Hershman, Indiana. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The afternoon session was devoted to round tables, as follows : round table for state 
superintendents, conducted by John W. Abercrombie, state superintendent of public 
instruction, Alabama ; and round table of the National Herbart Society. 



6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

EVENING SESSION 

Supervisor George H. Martin, Boston, Mass., read a paper entitled "The Unseen 
Forces in Character-Making." 

The paper was discussed by Superintendent S. B. Laird, Lansing, Mich. 

The next number 'on the program, " Shall the Sexes and Classes Have the Same 
Course of Study in the Schopls ? ", was omitted on account of the absence of Superintend- 
ent David K. Goss, who had been appointed to present that subject. 

Mrs. Alice White Duval entertained the department by reciting from " The Blessed 
Damosel." 

The department then adjourned. 

' » . 

SECOND DAY 

MORNING SESSION. — Wednesday, February 22 

The department was called to order at 9 : 30 by President Mark. 

Music was furnished by pupils of the Columbus City Normal School. 

Prayer was offered by Dr. E. E. White. 

Dr. James E. Russell, dean of Teachers' College, Columbia University, N. Y., pre- 
sented a paper on " The Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools." 

The paper was discussed by Joseph H. Stewart, president of North Georgia Agricul- 
tural College, and by Mr. Thorndike, of the Cleveland High School. 

Hon. Howard J. Rogers, director of education and social economy, United States 
commission to the Paris exposition, was accorded the floor to explain the plans for 
"The United States Educational Exhibit at Paris in 1900." He spoke as follows : 



Mr, President, Members of the Association: 

I come before you this morning thru the courtesy of your president, not having a 
definite place upon the program, but interpolated, as it were, owing to the present interest 
in my subject. I assure you that I shall not keep you long from the enjoyment of the 
regular program, as what I have to say can be stated briefly. 

The Paris exposition of 1900 is avowedly to be one of excellence and selection, and 
the best products of men's thought and labor in science, art, and industry will be on view 
to the world. Education and instruction are given the place of honor in the French 
classification, because, in the language of the French commissioner-general, " they are 
the source of all progress, and thru them man enters into the work of life." 

It is a matter of some regret that in their representation the French officials have not 
made the portals to this entrance a little larger, as they have assigned to the United 
States only about 4,000 feet to show the working of the mill which grinds out American 
citizens. But we accept the conditions without complaint, chiefly because we find that 
we cannot better ourselves if we do complain. We are, at least, treated as generously as 
any other foreign nation. 

< The exposition will open April 15, 1900, and continue till November 5 of the same 
year. The grounds are in the heart of the city of Paris, and include the Champs de Mars, 
the Esplanade du Trocadero, both banks of the river Seine for almost a mile, and the 
Esplanade des Invalides. Education and liberal arts have a special building on the west 
side of the Champs de Mars, and the space for education proper is in the gallery of this 
building, between the spaces assigned to France and Germany. Special forms of educa- 
tion are provided for elsewhere — as agricultural schools in the agricultural building, art 
schools in the art building, and, under the present ruling of the exposition authorities, 
schools for defectives in the social-economy building, altho we hope to bring these 
schools back to the education group. 



Superintendence! SEC RE TAR Y'S MINUTES 



Now, gentlemen, I am here today for two purposes : first, your support ; second, your 
advice. To secure the former I must outline the plan of the exhibit. I take it for 
granted that this assemblage is a unit in recognizing the value of an educational exhibit, 
its opportunities for comparison, its convenience for investigation. I have appeared of 
late before assemblages which have seriously questioned the advisability of spending 
any money in presenting to the world our educational resources. I will not say where, as 
it might seem to be discourteous to that distinguished body of gentlemen which presides 
so ably over the destinies of our nation. 1 will not stop to discuss with you the nature 
of the material to be exhibited, or the methods of best displaying such material. You 
are familiar with them, and at most it is a matter of detail to be worked out by the one 
in charge. There remains, then, to be considered this point — the scientific arrangement 
of the exhibit as a whole, with a view of presenting to the world most clearly the educa- 
tional system of our nation. 

Of course, we have no national system. We have forty-five sets of systems, with a 
few territorial annexes thrown in. That is our problem — to show what we have not 
But upon analysis the problem is not so much of a paradox as it seems. The French 
rules compel us to do that which, in our inner consciousness, we know we ought to do, viz., 
to exhibit as a nation. States, or any part thereof, cannot be recognized. It is a matter 
of no moment to any foreigner to know that Kentucky has a better or a worse educational 
system than Virginia ; or whether California and Ohio are on an equality or not. We 
are faced front, shoulder to shoulder, with nations, and as a nation we must present our 
case and be judged. 

Our exhibit will be divided, generally speaking, into the kindergarten, elementary 
schools, secondary schools, normal and training schools, colleges and universities, and 
technical schools. Now, while we have not, strictly speaking, a national system in any 
respect, we have many places in our country where the elementary schools, for example, 
are doing magnificent work ; schools that are setting the standard for the rest of the 
country, and to which the work of other localities is approximating. We will ask such 
schools to furnish us an exhibit in that line. There are other sections where secondary- 
school work has been strongly developed and stands pre-eminent in the country. Those 
schools will be invited to contribute to that section. Colleges and universities will be 
selected with reference to their adaptability to bring out certain salient and characteristic 
features of our higher educational work. 

By this means we expect to develop an exhibit in entire harmony with the dominant 
motive of the exposition ; and an exhibit which will be collective, scientifically graded, 
and distinctly national in character, inasmuch as it will represent the most advanced 
thought of our country in every department of education, irrespective of section or 
locality. 

Now, I realize fully that it is no small thing to ask a man who is proud, and justly 
proud, of the school or system under his supervision, to sink his identity and join in a 
general exhibit from a purely national standpoint. But we do ask it, on the grounds 
before stated. We believe that, if this presentation of the case does not convince you, 
upon further deliberation you will recognize the justice and sound logic of the propo- 
sition. 

Our national pride in the proper presentation of our school interests demands a sac- 
rifice of individual preference and prejudice, as well as the loyal support of every school- 
man. We must not repeat the mistake of 1889. I have not the slightest wish to criticise 
that exhibit or those who prepared it. It is all a matter of history. I know they did not 
have time enough, and I presume they did not have money enough ; but it is better not 
to be represented at all than to be misrepresented. It is almost painful to read the report 
of the French 'commission on the American educational exhibit, and see the painstaking 
way in which it seeks to find something to praise ; and it even goes so far as to mention 



8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

things which it knew to exist in our educational system, but for which it could find no 
presentment in the exhibit. 

I think most Americans who visited Paris in 1889 were of the opinion of Chauncey 
M. Depew. He said that when he started he was firmly of the opinion that any Ameri- 
can was the peer of any king or emperor, and a great deal better than most princes and 
potentates, and that the proper thing to do was to get an American flag, about forty feet 
square, and wave it over his head as he approached every American exhibit. But after 
hunting closely for a day or two, with the aid of a guide, for the exhibits, and comparing 
them with those of other countries, he did not have a bit of trouble in folding up his flag 
and bringing it home in his vest pocket. 

I said, a few moments ago, that I wanted not only your support, but your advice. 
And I want the latter particularly in the matter of selecting those schools and institutions 
which are to represent the United States abroad. 

I cannot assume the egoism, nor do I care to undergo the criticism, of arbitrarily 
selecting these schools myself, and I shall rely upon the National Educational Associa- 
tion, thru its constituted committees, to relieve me of this responsibility. I believe this 
plan will commend itself to you as a fair and a just one, for certainly nowhere else than 
in the ranks of our association, which contains on its rolls every prominent educator in 
every part of our country, can competent advice be sought. 

In conclusion I wish to say that the headquarters of the department of education, 
during the organization of the exhibit, will be at Albany, N. Y., and its officers will wel- 
come at all times suggestions, advice, and criticism. We may not always adopt the sug- 
gestions, we may not always follow the advice ; there may be reasons why we cannot ; 
there may be reasons why we should not. But we shall welcome it none the less. The 
department of education, under the United States commission, has in view one object in 
this exposition, and will employ every means to attain it. We believe the American citi- 
zen — the composite type, if I may use the phrase — is superior to that of any other 
nation. We wish to demonstrate this to every foreign nation, and put before them clearly 
and understandingly the system of education which produces this type. For this reason 
we feel that we can appeal, not only to your professional pride, but to your patriotism 
and loyalty. The National Educational Association will be in the highest degree respon- 
sible for this outcome, and we expect from its members their good wishes, their good 
advice, and their good help. 

Dr. F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of schools, St. Louis, Mo., spoke on the subject, 
" Efficient and Inefficient Teachers." 

The subject was discussed by A. S. Downing, New York city ; John MacDonald, 
Topeka, Kan.; Superintendent Coleman, Lemars, la.; Orville T. Bright, Chicago, 111.; 
Albert Salisbury, president of the State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis.; Superintendent. 
R. K. Buehrle, Lancaster, Pa.; Superintendent J. A. Carr, Anderson, Ind.; Superintend- 
ent J. F. Keating, Pueblo, Colo.; Dr. Charles A. McMurry, Normal, 111.; Superintend- 
ent Charles W. Deane, Bridgeport, Conn. 

The president announced the following 

COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS 

• 

O. T. Corson, Ohio. A. G. Lane, Illinois. 

C. G. Pearse, Nebraska. G. H. Conley, Massachusetts. 

McHenry Rhoades, Kentucky. 

The department then adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The afternoon was devoted to round tables, as follows : round table of city super- 
intendents, conducted by J. P. Sharkey, superintendent of schools, Van Wert, O.; 



Superintendence] SECRETARY'S MINUTES 9 

Educational Press Association of America, under the leadership of President John Mac- 
Donald, Topeka, Kan. 

EVENING SESSION 

The department was called to order at 8 o'clock by the president. 

The following addresses were made : 

" What the Superintendent is Not," Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the Journal of 
Education, Boston, Mass. 

" How the Superintendent can Make Good Teachers out of Poor Ones," Dr. W. T. 
Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. 

Authority of the School Superintendent," Dr. E. E. White, Columbus, O. 



K 



THIRD DAY 
MORNING SESSION. — Thursday, February 23 

The department was called to order at 9 : 30 by President Mark. 

After music by the pupils of the Columbus City Normal School, Rev. Dr. Hillman, 
of Columbus, offered prayer. 

Dr. Arnold Tompkins, professor of pedagogy, University of Illinois, addressed the 
department on the subject, " The Implications and Applications of the Principle of Self- 
Activity in Education." 

The subject was discussed by Superintendent L. H. Jones, Cleveland, O.; Superin- 
tendent F. Treudly, Youngstown, O.; Professor Samuel Weir, New York University 
School of Pedagogy ; Dr. Arthur Allin, professor of philosophy and pedagogy, University 
of Colorado ; Professor Reuben Post Halleck, Louisville, Ky.; Louis Galbreath, New 
York city; Dr. E. E. White, Columbus, O.; Dr. J. W. Bashford, president of the Ohio 
Wesleyan University. Dr. Tompkins closed the discussion. 

Superintendent W. L. Steele* Galesburg, 111., read a paper entitled, •' To What Extent 
should a High-School Pupil be Allowed to Elect His Work?" 

Mr. Steele's paper was discussed by Superintendent T. J. Merrill, Cedar Rapids, la.; 
and by Superintendent Coleman, Le Mars, la. 

The Committee on Nominations presented the following report : 

Your committee unanimously recommends the following persons for the offices named for the ensuing 
year: 

For President — A. S. Downing, New York. 
For First Vice-President— G. R. Glenn, Georgia. 
For Second Vice-President — J. A. Shawan, Ohio. 
For Secretary— C M. Jordan, Minnesota. 

By order of committee, 

O. T. Corson, Chairman. 

On motion, the secretary was instructed to cast the ballot of the department for the 
officers so nominated. This having been done, the persons named were declared elected. 

On motion of Mr. Bright, the Executive Committee was instructed to employ a 
stenographer to report the next meeting. 

Hon. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Hygiene and Sanitation appointed at the Chattanooga meeting, read the report 
of his committee. 

The following resolution was presented by Dr. Harris : 

Resolved, That the preliminary report of the Committee on Hygiene he referred back to said committee 
for further consideration and completion, and that' the same committee be directed to bring the attention of the 
National Council of Education to said report, and convey to the president of said Council the request of this 
department to take up this report, if possible, at the coming meeting at Los Angeles, and consider its recom- 
mendations ; and, if the same meet with approval, to ask the Board of Trustees, in the prescribed form, to set 
apart the sums required for the specific purposes mentioned. 



IO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

Superintendent Soldan moved that the report be received and filed, and that the 
resolution be adopted. Carried. 

State Superintendent G. R. Glenn, of Georgia, invited the department to hold its 
next annual meeting in Atlanta. 

Dr. E. B. Andrews, superintendent of schools, Chicago, 111., invited the department to 
meet in Chicago. 

Mr. Hope, member of the Atlanta city council, spoke in support of Superintendent 
Glenn's invitation. Superintendent E. B. Prettyman, of Maryland, and President Joseph 
S. Stewart, of Georgia, also spoke in favor of Atlanta. 

Superintendents Soldan and Pearse advocated Chicago as the next place of meeting. 

The result of the vote was as follows : Atlanta, 42 ; Chicago, 52. 

President Mark declared Chicago the next place of meeting. 

Superintendent Gove, Denver, Colo., offered the following : 

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, with instructions to report on the first day of the 
meeting of 1900, recommending a place for the meetings of the department for the two succeeding years, 1901 
and 1902. 

The resolution was adopted. 
The department then adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The convention was called to order at 2 : 45 by Second Vice-President A. T. Barrett, 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 

The Committee on Resolutions made its report thru its chairman, Superintendent 
H. S. Tarbell, Providence, R. I., as follows : 

To the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association: 

The Committee on Resolutions respectfully presents for your consideration the fol- 
lowing report : 

1. Resolved, That the thanks of this department are due, and are hereby tendered, to 
the officers of the department for the zeal and efficiency with which they have discharged 
their duties; to those who have presented the valuable papers that have been read, and 
made the eloquent and suggestive addresses that have been delivered ; to the people of 
Columbus for their generous hospitality, and particularly to the board of trade and the 
local committee, which have contributed so much to the success of this meeting ; to the 
press for its extended and satisfactory reports ; and to the railroads for reduced rates of 
transportation. 

2. Resolved, That the adequate representation of the schools of the United States at 
the Paris exposition of 1900 is of great importance, and that the efforts being made to 
secure such representation deserve our cordial co-operation. 

3. Resolved, That the Directors of the National Educational Association be requested 
to provide an adequate appropriation for the meetings of this department, and that the 
officers of this department be directed to present this request at the next meeting of the 
board. 

4. Resolved, That we are greatly gratified by the growing recognition and appreciation 
of the teaching profession, and especially by the growing tendency of school committees 
and the public to regard the competent superintendent as an educational expert, whose 
matured opinions on questions of educational principles and processes are deserving the 
recognition accorded to the judgment of experts in other professions. 

5. Resolved, That the tendency, widely shown, so to reconstruct the organic law gov- 
erning the election and powers of boards of education as to diminish to the lowest possible 
point the opportunity of their members to use their office for their personal interests, is an 
indication of how abhorrent to the feelings of the better portion of every community is 



Superintendence! SECRETARY'S MINUTES II 

any attempt to use the public schools for any purpose less worthy than training the 
rising generation to honorable citizenship and efficient industrial life. 

6. Resolved, That the increasing co-operation of the home and the schools, and the 
library and the schools, the establishment of vacation schools, the greater extension in 
recent years of educational advantages to those not regularly enrolled in the schools, the 
increasing attention to the artistic decoration of the schoolrooms and to the hygienic 
conditions of the schools, the growing interest in educational reforms exhibited by the 
magazines and the daily press, are all evidences of educational progress, on which we 
may sincerely congratulate ourselves. 

7. Resolved, That the growth of the attendance at the meetings of this department 
and the interest of others than superintendents in our meetings show how attractive a cen- 
ter of educational life we have become. We welcome most cordially our visiting friends ; 
but feel alarmed lest numbers shall so react upon ourselves as to lead us in our papers, 
our addresses, and our debates to lose sight of the professional and technical side of our 
work. The time has come when we can properly insist that those who speak to us shall 
recognize the professional character of an audience of superintendents, and shall appeal 
to our deepest thought and closest attention. 

8. Resolved, That we recommend the appointment of an advisory committee on pro- 
gram, whose duty it shall be to assist the president in the selection of topics to be pre- 
sented at these meetings, and in such careful formulation of questions for discussions as 
shall lead to most definite and fruitful debate. This committee should "be practically 
continuous ; its members should be three in number, each holding office for three years, 
and one member retiring each year. We recommend that for the present year this com- 
mittee be appointed by the retiring president, one member for one year, one for two 
years, and one for three years ; and that hereafter the place of the retiring member 
be filled by the Committee on Nominations. 

Horace S. Tarbell, Rhode Island. 
Ossian H. Lang, New York. 
Frank R. Dyer, Kansas. 
W. H. Hershman, Indiana. 
W. C. n Martindale, Michigan. 

The report was received and adopted. 

Samuel Hamilton, superintendent of schools, Allegheny county, Pa., read a paper on 
"The Director as a Factor in Education." 

Superintendent C. G. Pearse, chairman of the Committee on Uniform Financial 
Reports, appointed at the Chattanooga meeting, presented the report of that committee. 

After an animated discussion, in which Superintendents Griffith, Emerson, Bouton, 
and others participated, Mr. Pearse offered the following : 

Resolved, That this form of report, presented by the committee, be approved by the department, and 
that the Directors of the National Educational Association be asked, to authorize the Secretary of the National 
Educational Association to have printed a sufficient number of the forms recommended so that a copy of the 
form may be sent to the superintendent of schools in each city or village in the various states, as well as to all 
state superintendents of public instruction, explaining to them the indorsement of this department, and the 
desire that a report upon the form proposed be embodied in all their formal published school financial reports. 

Mr. Pearse's resolution was adopted. 

Moved by William J. Cox, superintendent of schools, Moline, 111., 

That a committee of three be appointed by the President of this association to confer with the state 
departments and the United States Commissioner of Education with a view to securing the adoption of this 
form of statistical report by all to whom school superintendents are expected to report. 

Superintendent Cox's motion prevailed. 

On. motion, the president was instructed to appoint an advisory committee of three 
on program, said committee to be so made up that one of its members shall serve for 



12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION • [Columbus 

three years, one for two years, and one for one year ; the department hereafter to elect 
one member of this committee each year, with the other officers ; said member to serve 
three years. 

The Committee on Amended Spelling made its report thru its chairman, R. KL. 
Buehrle, superintendent of schools, Lancaster, Pa. 

Superintendent O. T. Bright moved that the report be received. 

After listening to objections by Mr. John MacDonald and Dr. E. £. White, and to 
further argument by Mr. Buehrle, the department passed affirmatively upon Mr. Bright's 
motion. 

President Mark announced the following committees : 

COMMITTEE ON PERMANENT LOCATION • 

Aaron Gove, Colorado. George H. Martin, Massachusetts. 

O. T. Corson, Ohio. 

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL REPORTS 

Hon. William T. Harris. Superintendent John W. Abercrombie, Alabama. 

Superintendent N. C. Schaeffer, Pennsylvania 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM 

Superintendent L. H. Jones, one year. Superintendent H, S. Tarbell, two years. 

Superintendent L. D. Harvey, three years. 

The department then adjourned. 

EVENING SESSION 

The department was called to order at 8 o'clock by President Mark, in the audito- 
rium of the Ohio State University. 

Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, 
Mass., addressed the department upon the subject, " Some Neglected Factors and For- 
gotten Facts." 

Following this address, President Mark introduced President-elect Augustus S. 
Downing, and presented him with the official gavel of the department, welcoming him to 
the responsibility of the office to which he had been elected. President Downing 
responded in a graceful speech, thanking the members of the department for the honor 
conferred and inviting their co-operation. 

The department thereupon adjourned sine die. 

The members then repaired to the armory of the University of Ohio, where, under 
the leadership of President and Mrs. Canfield, a reception was tendered to them by the 
faculty of the university, the teachers of the city schools, and the citizens of Columbus. 

J. H. Van Sickle, 

Secretary, 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 1 3 



PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS 



THE PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 



BY E. B. PRETTYMAN, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, 

MARYLAND 

In order to realize the relation of the public lands of the United States 
to public education, it may be well to review briefly some of the legisla- 
tion and history of our country. 

CLAIMS OF SIX STATES TO OWNERSHIP OF THE WESTERN LANDS 

When, in the year 1777, the Continental Congress had framed the 
"Articles of Confederation," and submitted them to the several states for 
ratification, six of the thirteen states claimed the ownership of the immense 
tracts of unsettled country extending from the Alleghanies to the Mis- 
sissippi. Massachusetts claimed a strip of land equal in width to the width, 
north and south, of the state, based upon the charter of the colony, granted 
by William and Mary in 1691, which described the lands granted thereby 
as extending " from the Atlantick or Western Sea and Ocean on the East 
to the South Sea on the West parte." (Which and where was "the South 
Sea" the charter does not state.) 

The claim of Connecticut was based on its charter from Charles II., 
in 1662, which describes the territory granted as extending "from the 
Narragansett Bay on the East, to the South Sea on the West" (the same 
" South Sea.") 

New York claimed all the lands between Lake Erie and the Cumber- 
land mountains — in other words, what is now the state of Ohio and a 
portion of Kentucky — |by virtue of various treaties with the Six Nations 
and their allies. 

Virginia claimed the entire region occupied by Kentucky and all the 
lands north of the Ohio river. Her claim was based partly upon the 
original charter granted by James I. to South Virginia, in 1609, which 
makes the seacoast two hundred miles to the northward from Cape or 
Point Comfort, and two hundred miles to the southward from the said 
Point or Cape Comfort, the eastern boundary of the territory granted ; 
"and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea coast of the 
precinct aforesaid, up into the land throughout, from Sea to Sea, West 
and North-west." If it was intended that the west line was to begin at 



14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

the southern end of the coast line, and the northwest line from the north- 
ern end of said coast line, then Virginia would have included nearly all 
of the entire Northwest. 

Dr. Herbert B. Adams, in his extremely valuable paper upon the "His- 
tory of the Accession of Public Lands," remarks that 

It is not very surprising that the ideas and language of the privy council should 
have heen somewhat hazy as to the exact whereabouts of the " South Sea," for Stith, one 
of the early historians of Virginia, tells us that in 1608 .... an expedition was organ- 
ized under Captain Newport to sail up the James river and find a passage to the South 
Sea. Captain John Smith also was once commissioned to seek a new route to China by 
ascending the Chicahominy ! 

A much stronger claim on the part of Virginia to the ownership of 
the great Northwest, however, arose from actual conquest and possession. 
By act of the British Parliament, in 1774, the crown lands northwest of 
the Ohio river were annexed to the royal province of Quebec — which 
was one of the acts complained of in the Declaration of Independence. 
In 1778 a secret expedition was undertaken by Virginia, at her own 
expense, under Colonel George Rogers Clarke, who was commissioned by 
Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia ; the result of which was the 
complete conquest of the northwestern lands ; whereupon Virginia pro- 
ceeded to annex the conquered territory under the name of the " county 
of Illinois." 

These several claims conflicted, as the lands thus claimed overlapped, 
and it is probable that, had there been no cession to the general govern- 
ment, disputes, and possibly serious collisions, * between the claimants 
would have occurred. 

The Carolinas and Georgia were also encouraged by the existing state 
of affairs to advance their rights of eminent domain over all the territory 
now included in the state of Tennessee and portions of Alabama and 
Mississippi. 

MARYLAND TO THE RESCUE 

In this condition of affairs the state of Maryland, ably represented in 
the Continental Congress, and with a state legislature composed of able 
and cultivated citizens, came to the front, and took high and strong 
grounds against the claims of all and each of the states that asserted titles 
to the lands between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. 

The first move that was ever made in Congress toward the assertion 
of national sovereignty over this western country was made by Mary- 
land. On October 13, 1777, it was moved by a delegate from Maryland 
" that the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and 
exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of 
such states as lay claim to the Mississippi or South Sea as a western 
boundary, and [to] lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained 



Superintendence! PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 1 5 

into separate and independent states, from time to time, as the numbers 
and circumstances of the people may require." 1 

Maryland alone voted in the affirmative. 

The original proposition that Congress should exercise sovereign 
power over the western country was a pioneer idea, and Dr. Herbert B. 
Adams tells us : " We have discovered, by a careful examination of the 
journals of the Continental Congress, that Maryland was not only the 
first, but for a long time the only, state to advocate national jurisdiction 
over the western lands." 

Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware joined in seeking, either a 
share in the proceeds of the sale of these lands, or that funds arising 
from such sales should be applied toward defraying the expenses of the 
war; but they were content that the jurisdiction over the western lands 
should remain in the states that claimed them. 

The credit of suggesting and successfully urging in Congress that policy which 
has made this country a great national commonwealth, composed of " free, convenient, 
and independent governments," bound together by ties of permanent territorial interest, 
the credit of originating this policy belongs to Maryland, and to her alone.' (Dr. Herbert 
Adams.) 

The claiming states stubbornly urged their right to jurisdiction and 
to actual ownership. Every state but Maryland virtually conceded these 
claims by ratifying the Articles of Confederation, Delaware being last, 
ratifying February 22, 1779. Maryland was thus left to fight out the 
battle alone. 

The Articles of Confederation could not go into effect until ratified 
by every state, and Maryland still refused absolutely to ratify until the 
western lands should be ceded to the general government. For two 
years longer she maintained her position unflinchingly. 

December 15, 1778, the Maryland general assembly adopted the cele- 
brated and exceedingly important document known as " The Maryland 
Instructions to her Delegates in Congress," wherein, after arguing against 
the claimants' contention, it is asserted that 

We are convinced that policy and justice require that a country unsettled at the com- 
mencement of this war, claimed by the British crown, and ceded to it by the Treaty of Paris, 
if wrested from the common enemy by the blood and treasure of the thirteen states, should 
be considered as a common property, subject to be parceled out by Congress into free, 
convenient, and independent governments, in such manner, and at such times, as the 
wisdom of that assembly shall hereafter direct. We have coolly and dispassionately con- 
sidered the subject ; we have weighed probable inconveniences and hardships against the 
sacrifice of just and essential rights ; and we do instruct you [the delegates of Maryland 
in the Continental Congress] not to agree to the confederation, unless an article or 
articles be added thereto in conformity with our declaration ; should we succeed in obtain- 
ing such article or articles, then you are hereby fully empowered to accede to the con- 
federation. 

x Journal of Congress i Vol. II, p. 290. 



1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

In May, 1779, the Virginia legislature passed an act establishing a 
land office, and offered to sell the western lands which she claimed at 
^40 per hundred acres. 

During the same month the " Maryland Instructions " were read in 
Congress and referred to a committee. 

October 30, 1779, Mr. William Paca, of Maryland, offered the follow- 
ing resolution, which was seconded by his colleague, Mr. George Plater : 

Whereas, The appropriation of vacant lands by the several states during the con- 
tinuance of the war will, in the opinion of Congress, be attended with great mischiefs ; 
therefore, 

Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the state of Virginia to reconsider their 
late act of assembly for opening their land office ; and that it be recommended to said 
state, and all other states similarly circumstanced, to forbear settling or issuing warrants 
for unappropriated lands, or granting the same during the continuance of the present 
war. 

The influence of Maryland had by this time become so potent that 
the above-quoted preamble and resolution were adopted, only Virginia 
and North Carolina voting in the negative, the New York delegation, 
being divided. 

Next in order of time came the famous " Remonstrance," addressed 
" by the general assembly of Virginia to the delegates of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled," dated December 14, ^79. Therein 
Virginia remonstrates against the idea of Congress exercising jurisdiction, 
or any right of adjudication, concerning the petitions of the Vandalia or 
Indiana land companies, or upon " any other matter " subversive of the 
internal policy of Virginia. But in this remonstrance Virginia declares 
herself " ready to listen, to any just and reasonable propositions for remov- 
ing the ostensible causes of delay to the complete ratification of the con- 
federation. " As Maryland was now the only state which had not ratified 
the Articles of Confederation, it is manifest that her influence was, at last, 
beginning to tell even upon Virginia, and that the land claims of the 
latter were becoming less positive. 

Then followed an act of the New York legislature, which was passed 
February 19, 1780, entitled, "An Act to facilitate the completion of the 
Articles of Confederation and perpetual union among the United States 
of America." In this act New York authorized her delegates in Congress 
to make either an unreserved or a limited cession of her western lands, 
according as these delegates should deem it expedient. This act was read 
in Congress March 7, 1780. 

On September 6, 1780 — a memorable day in the history of the land 
question — a report of the committee was made in Congress on the 
" Maryland Instructions," the " Virginia Remonstrance," and the " Act of 
the New York Legislature of February 19, 1780." 

This report earnestly recommended the claiming states "to pass such 
laws and give their delegates in Congress such powers as may effectually 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 1 7 

remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the Articles of Confedera- 
tion; and that the legislature of Maryland be earnestly requested to 
authorize their delegates in Congress to subscribe the said articles." 
These recommendations were sent to all the states. 

Connecticut soon offered a cession of western lands, provided that she 
might retain the jurisdiction. 

January 2, 1 781, Virginia offered to cede to the confederation complete 
jurisdiction over all lands northwest of the Ohio, on certain conditions. 
March 1, 1 781, the offer of New York to cede all the western land claimed 
by her was formally made in Congress. 

In this condition of affairs, Maryland, having virtually succeeded in 
the establishment of the principles for which she had contended, ratified 
the articles on the first day of March, 1781 ; and the first legal union of 
the United States was complete. 

The offer of New York was accepted, on motion of Mr. Daniel Carroll, 
of Maryland, October 29, 1782. Virginia modified her conditions, as 
requested, and on October 20, 1783, empowered her delegates in Congress 
to make the cession, which was done by Thomas Jefferson and others 
March 1, 1784. Massachusetts ceded her western lands, together with 
jurisdiction over the same, April 19, 1785. Connecticut ceded the lands 
she had claimed September 14, 1786, reserving, however, all the lands she 
had claimed lying between the western boundary line of Pennsylvania and 
a north-and-south line drawn 1 20 miles west of said boundary line, 
known thereafter as the "Connecticut Reserve," a tract nearly as large as 
the present state of Connecticut. The acceptance of this cession was 
strongly opposed in Congress. After a severe struggle it was accepted 
May 26, 1786, Maryland voting in the negative. Connecticut granted 
500,000 acres of this reserve to certain of her citizens whose property had 
been burned or destroyed during the Revolution. The remainder was 
sold, under an act of the Connecticut legislature, in 1795, for $1,200,000, 
which sum has been used for the benefit of the schools and colleges of 
Connecticut. South Carolina ceded her western land claims in 1787, 
North Carolina in 1790, and Georgia in 1802. 

GRANTS OF PUBLIC LANDS MADE BY CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION, TO THE TRANS-ALLEGHANY STATES 

An ordinance adopted by Congress May 20, 1785, provides for the 
division of the public lands into townships of six miles square, and for 
the subdivision of each township into thirty-six sections, each containing 
one square mile, and numbered from 1 to 36 ; and then provides that 
"there shall be reserved the Lot No. 16 of every township for the main- 
tenance of public schools within said township." This left open the 
question whether the public schools that the United States had endowed 
should be under national or state control. By an act approved March 3, 



1 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

1803, Congress disposed of this open question by vesting in the legisla- 
ture all lands granted to Ohio for the use of schools " in trust for the use 
aforesaid, and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatever." 

In the enabling acts passed by Congress, as each state west of the 
Alleghanies was admitted into the union, substantially the same provision 
was engrafted, until the.state of California was admitted. Congress donated 
for the maintenance of public schools to California, and to each state 
admitted subsequently up to the present time, two sections, No. 16 and 
No. 36, in each township. The public lands so granted by the United 
States for public schools to the several states, beginning with Ohio, are 
equivalent, therefore, to one-thirty-sixth part of the whole area of each 
state, until the admission of California ; and in the case of California and 
each state subsequently admitted are equivalent to one -eighteenth part of 
the whole area of each state, and amount in the aggregate to 67,893,919 
acres. 

Besides, vast quantities of public land have been granted to the trans- 
Alleghany states for state universities, and for other educational institutions. 

By way of example, the enabling act for the state of South Dakota and 
three other states, passed by Congress and approved February 22, 1889, 
grants public lands to the state of South Dakota, as follows : for the 
school of mines, 40,000 acres ; for the reform school, 40,000 acres ; for 
the agricultural college, 40,000 acres ; for the university, 40,000 ; for the 
state normal school, 80,000 acres ; for public buildings at the capital of 
said state, 50,000 acres; and for such other educational and charitable 
purposes as the legislature of said state may determine, 170,000 acres — 
in all, nearly 500,000 acres. 

Sec. 1 1 of same act provides that " all lands herein granted for edu- 
cational purposes shall be disposed of only at public sale, and at a price 
not less than ten dollars per acre." (The value of the grants aggregating 
nearly $5,000,000, besides the lands for common schools.) 

Why should not an equitable share of the public lands of the United 
States be granted by Congress to the states east of the Alleghanies* and 
especially to Maryland, whose wise statesmanship (as has been demonstrated) 
"laid the keystone of the confederation, and of the American union" ? 

Only one vigorous attempt has been made, until very recently, so far 
as we can ascertain, to change the national educational policy in connec- 
tion with the public lands. 

The general assembly of Maryland in 182 1 adopted an elaborate 
report, submitted by the committee to which so much of the governor's 
annual message as related to education and public instruction had been 
referred, that concluded with the following resolutions : 

Resolved, by the general assembly of Maryland, That each of the United States has 
an equal right to participate in the benefit of the public lands — the common property of 
the union. 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 19 

Resolved, That the states in whose favor Congress has not made appropriations of 
land for the purposes of education are entitled to such appropriations as will correspond, 
in a just proportion, with those heretofore made in favor of the other states. 

Resolved, That his excellency, the governor, be requested to transmit copies of the 
foregoing report and resolutions to each of our senators and representatives in Congress, 
with a request that they will lay the same before their respective houses, and use their 
endeavors to procure the passage of an act to carry into effect the just principle therein 
set forth. 

Resolved, That his excellency, the governor, be also requested to transmit copies of 
the said report and resolutions to the governors of the several states of the union, with a 
request that they will communicate the same to the legislatures thereof, respectively, and 
solicit their co-operation. 

The legislatures of New Hampshire and Vermont indorsed this report ; 
but this appears to have been the end of the matter, as Congress did not 
act thereupon. 

There are signs, however, at the present time, of a general movement 
thruout the country in favor of the principles which Maryland has advo- 
cated in the past. 

At the annual meeting of the National Educational Association held 
at Buffalo, N. Y., in July, 1896, Judge Draper, president of the University 
of Illinois, in a very able paper, asserted that 

The federal government has much land yet to give away, and it should be sacredly 
devoted to the cause of education of the masses. The intervention of the government 
would help the weak and thus equalize conditions, systematize a national educational 
policy, promote national unity, and advance our position in the estimation of the thought- 
ful people of the world. 

The states west of the Alleghanies that have received only one section 
of land for every township for public schools are very properly moving to 
obtain an equivalent for the other section received by the states admitted 
later, beginning with California. As the result of this general movement, 
three bills were introduced at the last session of Congress providing for 
the equitable adjustment of the claims of all the states to the proceeds of 
the public lands for public education. 

Maryland has never received from Congress a grant of a single acre 
of public lands for the benefit of her public schools. 

In this condition of affairs, the state board of education of Maryland, 
at the unanimous request of the State Association of Public School Offi- 
cers, has appointed a committee, with Governor Lloyd Lowndes as chair- 
man, to present the claim of the state to Congress for an equitable share 
of the public lands of the United States to aid in the maintenance of the 
public schools of the state. 

There are other states which have received none of the public lands 
for public schools, and still other states that have received only one section 
in every township. 

It is to be hoped that the members of this department will all use 
their influence, actively and aggressively, to bring about, thru the action 



ff NATION AL K EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION . [g,,^. 

of Congress, a just and fair equalization of the distribution of the public 
lands still owned by the United States — the common property of all the 
citizens of the union — for the support of public schools. 

The mother states appeal to the great commonwealths that have out- 
grown them to join in this measure of justice. 

After such equalization, or contemporaneously therewith, we are ready 
to join our brethren of all the states in favor of the proposition of Judge 
Draper, that the 600,000,000 acres of public lands still undisposed of by 
the federal government " shall be sacredly devoted to the cause of educa- 
tion of the masses " — the cause which Horace Mann declared to be the . 
greatest ever proclaimed by man. 



DISCUSSION 



Richard C. Barrett, state superintendent of Iowa. — The public domain embraces 
the area of the lands now owned or heretofore disposed of by the United States in twenty- 
six states and five territories. The thirteen original states, the District of Columbia, and 
the "legislative states" of Kentucky, Vermont, Tennessee, Maine, Texas, and West Vir- 
ginia are not included. 

By the constitution " Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United 
States." The supreme court of the United States has decided that the term "territory " is 
equivalent to the word "land." 

" Congress has the absolute right to prescribe the times, the conditions, and the mode 
of transferring the public domain or any part of it, and to designate the persons to whom 
the transfer shall be made." The change from territorial relationship to that of statehood 
in no sense affects the right of governmental control over the lands embraced within the 
borders of the new states. " No state formed out of the territory of the United States has 
a right to the public lands within its limits, or can exercise any power whatever over 
them." 

Acting in accordance with the above, Congress has given nearly 80,000,000 of acres 
for education. In round numbers, 68,000,000 acres were granted for public or common 
schools, 1,000,000 acres for seminaries and universities, and for colleges relating to agri- 
culture and mechanic arts, 10,000,000 acres. 

The educational land-grant policy is older than the present federal government. As 
early as 1775 an ordinance was adopted by Congress which provided that " there shall be 
reserved the lot No. 16 of every township for the maintenance of public schools within said 
township." Both before and after its adoption this ordinance was the subject of contro- 
versy and legislation. The government surveyed the lands and made the reservations. 
Should the schools endowed by the munificence of the government be organized, managed, 
and controlled by federal or state authority ? Not until the admission of Ohio, in 1803, 
was the question finally determined. It was then decided that the state of Ohio should be 
a trustee for all school lands within its borders, and the same were appropriated for the use 
of schools, *' and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatever." 

The precedent then established has since been followed. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 21 

Wisconsin were by the provisions of law entitled to the sixteenth section in each township 
for common-school purposes. These were all known as public-land states. 

When the act for the organization of Oregon was before Congress in 1848, there was " 
inserted among its provisions a clause calculated in every way to stimulate educational zeal 
in all states thereafter admitted. Two sections instead of one were to be reserved for 
school purposes. California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, 
Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah have each 
received a grant of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, and the same area has been 
reserved in the territories. • 

In Iowa — and presumably the same is partially or wholly true in other states — 5 per 
cent, of the net proceeds of the sales of public lands in the state, and the proceeds of the 
sales of intestate estates which escheat to the state, constitute chiefly the permanent school 
fund, the interest of which alone is used for the support of the common schools. In no 
case may the principal be impaired or diminished. 

Land grants for higher education date from the latter part of the eighteenth century. 
From the admission of Ohio, in 1803, to the present time there have been given to all newly 
admitted states two townships of lands for university purposes. In the states of Ohio, 
Florida, Wisconsin, and Minnesota even larger grants were made, the first receiving three 
sections, the second and third, four sections, and the last, nearly four sections. 

In 1862 Hon. Justin S. Morrell championed a measure which broadened the educa- 
tional policy of the government to a still greater extent. By the provisions of the bill and 
its supplements, there were granted to all the states, for agricultural and mechanical col- 
leges, 30,000 acres for each representative and senator in Congress to which the state was 
entitled under the census of i860. 

All the states, including the thirteen original colonies, were embraced under the pro- 
visions of this act. By the conditions named Connecticut received as much as Texas, and 
Delaware the same as Nebraska, Kansas, or Colorado, while New York received ten times 
as much as any one of the last four named, and as much as Ohio and Kentucky com- 
bined. 

4 

The moneys derived from the sale of lands granted or of " land scrip " were to be 
invested in stocks of the United States or of the states, or some other safe stock yielding 
not less than 5 per cent., and the moneys so invested constitute a perpetual fund, the 
principal forever to be undiminished. The interest upon the principal can alone be 
appropriated to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college, where 
the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and 
including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture 
and mechanic arts. 

In giving these lands to the states for educational purposes, was it intended to limit 
the course of study to such studies only as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts, 
and military tactics ? That such was not the intention is quite evident. Sec. 4 of the 
original act calls for the teaching of certain branches of learning, " without excluding 
other scientific or classical studies." Again, in 1884, Mr. Morrell, the author of the bill, 
in a letter to a member of the upper house of the Iowa general assembly, said : " It was 
not intended to limit the amount of education in any way so as to prevent a college from 
having the means and the efficiency of even a university as to languages and mathe- 
matics." 

The national land-grant policy was established for a special purpose. This is clearly 
set forth in Art. 3 of the ordinance of 1787 in the following words : " Religion, morality, 
and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, 
schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." 

The wisdom of the policy has been questioned. The Blair bill, which provided for the 
distribution of £100,000,000 among the states, on the basis of illiteracy, was opposed by 



2 2 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

—   -■■-■—■■  . — . ■■»■ ...     —  ^ 

many strong friends of education. They believed that illiteracy, while a great evil, was 
not the worst ; that ignorance should be dispelled as soon as possible, but not at the great 
cost of losing self-reliance. 

During the pendency of the bill a prominent southern gentleman opposed the meas- 
ure strongly in these words : " You know my deep interest in the public-school system. 
Hence, I am opposed to national aid. You cannot plaster the South with this system. 
It is a growth, and its certain and healthy growth can only be secured by each community 
providing for its own schools." Again, he says it is " the old hallucination, ' fifty acres 
and a mule/ which has caused more briars and sassafras bushes to grow in southern fields 
than all else." 

It was contended at that time, by those opposed to federal aid, that the land-grant 
system was demoralizing ; that it deadened local zeal and interest. To sustain this view, 
the following words of the Connecticut secretary of the state board of education were 
quoted : 

The school fund derived from the sale of western lands yielded an income last year of $120,855, which 
amounts to 80 cents for each person of the school age. The average expense of educating each of these persons 
throughout that state is $10.31, so that the fund now furnishes about 8 per cent, of the total cost. In those 
towns and cities where the people insist upon good schools no reliance is placed upon these permanent funds. 
Indeed, the history of our state shows conclusively that at the time when the fund was most productive, yield- 
ing $1.40 or $1.50 for each person of the school age, and when towns depended upon it, as they generally did, 
for the support of their schools, the schools themselves were poor and short. In fact, this was the darkest 
period of our educational experience. A very striking deterioration took place as soon as the fund became 
productive and the income began to be distributed. Before that period schools had been maintained at least 
six months, and at most nearly the whole year, according to the size of the district. After, and not long after, 
this new source of income was opened, the usual length of schools was reduced to only three months, or just 
the time that this fund would maintain the schools. The sums which came as gratuities relieved the people of 
responsibility and deadened their interest, until the schools were continued only so long as the charity lasted. 
Happily the danger from this direction is passed and cannot return. The fund has probably reached its great- 
est productiveness, and the per capita will constantly decrease. The public schools will draw their sustenance 
from the people who are directly or indirectly benefited by them. 

The experience of Connecticut appears to be a strong argument _ against all national 
aid. Let us inquire : Was the administration the best possible ? We do not pretend to 
say it was not. However, if the educational policy of the state is bad, the state, and 
not the national government, is responsible. Local energy and enthusiasm may be 
stimulated if the distribution of national funds is made to depend upon a reasonable 
amount of county or district effort. 

The plan of distributing the interest upon the permanent school fund according to 
the total school population might well be changed. If apportioned upon the average 
daily attendance, communities would have a direct financial interest in having children 
attend school regularly. 

Whatever be the system, however, too much dependence should not be placed upon it. 
All of the original colonies, which have never received grants of land for the support of 
common schools and state universities, may receive grants equal to those given other 
states, and still not have a perfect system nor be greatly helped. 

In Iowa the permanent fund for common-school purposes is about four and one-half 
million dollars. On this amount there is annually appropriated to the different school 
districts the interest, amounting to about #230,000. This appears to be a large sum, but, 
when compared with the total amount ($8,451,497) expended annually for schools, is 
found to be less than 3 per cent. 

If the view taken by the southern gentleman be the correct one, the support of the 
schools generally should be a local affair. The natural order would then probably be : 
first, the parent ; second, the surrounding community ; third, the state system ; and last 
of all, national aid. We believe, however, since the government has given to all men the 
right to participate in the affairs of the government, without regard to race or color, that 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LANDS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 23 

it owes it to all, as well as to itself, to fit each citizen that he may exercise intelligently 
the full privileges of citizenship. This can best be done by the universal system of edu- 
cation. 

Can we maintain such a system ? We answer, yes. From the cotton and rice plan- 
tations of the southland, from the gold fields of Colorado and Klondike, from the corn 
fields of Iowa and Illinois, from the coal fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania, from the blue- 
grass region of Kentucky, from the fertile prairies of Kansas and Nebraska, from the 
New England industrial centers — yes, from all the sisterhood of states, and even from 
the islands of the sea, the answer comes : " Give us a universally enlightened citizenship!" 

Dr. George T. Fairchild, Berea, Ky. — I rise, not so much to discuss the two 
admirable papers, as to call attention to a fact or two overlooked in the consideration. 

1. Congress, by the act of 1890, under leadeiship of Senator Morrill of Vermont, 
recently deceased, gives from the proceeds of public lands for the schools of agriculture 
and mechanic arts an annual appropriation of more than a million dollars. In this all 
the states share equally, each receiving now about $25,000. 

2. While under the act of 1862 states received nominally proportional amounts of 
public lands for the schools of agriculture and other sciences, the proceeds were far from 
proportional. The older states, having no public lands within their limits, received scrip 
to be sold without location at from 60 to 80 cents per acre ; while the newer states, like 
Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas, located the lands to be sold at from $6 to $8 per acre. 

3. Texas came into the union with public lands of her own, over which Congress 
has had no control, and so is a notable exception to the general rule. 

Dr. B. A. Hinsdale, University of Michigan. — The subject that has been pre- 
sented is historically interesting, but whether it is practically important is another ques- 
tion. It is sometimes overlooked that the promotion of education was not the first object 
with those who worked out the educational land-grant policy of the national government. 
Such is the fact. This policy was finally established by the legislation attending the 
admission of Ohio to the union in 1803, and those who carried this legislation thru 
looked first to enhancing the value of the lands that the government retained by making 
them attractive to purchasers, and only secondly to the educational interests of the peo- 
ple. Their motive was the same as in exempting lands sold from taxation by the state 
for the period of five years. This the history conclusively shows. Again, Congress did not 
vote the thirteen old states and Maine, Vermont, and Texas common-school lands, for 
the very good reason that the nation had no lands in those states to vote for this or any 
other purpose. The states themselves owned the public lands within their borders and 
disposed of them as they pleased. Some of these states, as Massachusetts, New York, 
and Texas, voted lands for common schools, and some of them did not. It was a state 
matter. Once more, it is by no means certain that the land endowments which Congress 
has voted the public-land states for common schools are an unmixed blessing: The 
common-school fund of Connecticut was once accounted one of the glories of our civiliza- 
tion ; it has probably done more harm than good ; at least, it was discovered by deserv- 
ing men as early as the third decade of this century that the fund was teaching the people 
to rely upon it and to deny the schools the support by taxation that efficiency made abso- 
lutely necessary. It is said that things are now working much the same way in Texas. 
Then, the income derived from these endowments is but a drop in the bucket of what it 
costs to maintain good schools. The annual income from the Ohio school fund is less 
than 2 per cent, of the annual cost of the schools, and if the fund should be wholly lost, 
the people of the state would never feel the difference. In Kansas, I am told, the income 
from the state fund barely suffices to keep the fires burning in the schoolroom stoves. It 
may be true that injustice was done to certain states in the distribution of the largesses of 
the government, but it does not follow, even if this be true, that this injustice can now be. 



24 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

corrected. I do not mean that I am necessarily opposed to the scheme brought forward 
by the gentleman from Maryland ; but I assure him, and all citizens of that state who are 
interested in public education, that it will be far safer for them to depend on taxation, 
state and local, for the support of their schools than to build hopes upon their proper pro- 
portion of the deserts and mountains of the great West. 



RELATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



BY SHERMAN WILLIAMS, GLENS FALLS, N. Y. 

A recent number of the Cosmopolitan contained the following state- 
ment : 

We educate the child up to the point when it is just about to begin to think. Then 
we stop. But it is the education received after the student begins to think that is of 
most importance to the state. It is the thoughtful study that makes the good citizen, the 
good husband or wife, the efficient workman, and the desirable neighbor. It is the study 
after leaving primary schools and colleges that counts most in the affairs of life, because 
this class of study is done understandingly and usually with a direct end in view. 

Why should the state go forward just to this point and then, suddenly, drop the stu- 
dent upon his own resources ? Why should not every man or woman who desires to 
improve be provided with needed facilities, and so encouraged to rise to a higher plane of 
usefulness to the state ? 

This seems a fair statement of existing conditions, of conditions that 
are likely to continue to exist. It is true, and it is likely ever to be true, 
that the great mass of children will leave school at an early age, before they 
are old enough to reason very well. At best, school can give them only a 
limited amount of information, and lead them to form certain habits and 
acquire certain tastes. If well done, this is no small nor unimportant 
work, but it leaves much still to be done. The habits that have been 
formed are not fixed, and the tastes are subject to change. Much more 
information is to be gained. New habits and tastes are to be acquired, 
and the old ones fixed, or modified, or lost. The habit of reasoning is to 
be greatly enlarged. The real education of the child is yet to be had. 
Much'has been done, yet but little fixed. What are to be the opportuni- 
ties for the after-school education ? Business relations and associations 
with one's fellows ? These are powerful factors, but not always helpful 
ones. These always existed, and have not met the needs. So far as can 
be foreseen, the public library, properly administered, can do more than 
any other agency. But, as children grow older, new habits are not so 
easily formed. The library has little power to reach out and bring the 
masses within its doors. It has no means of getting a strong hold upon 
very many of those who do come ; it can do little toward directing the 
reading that is done ; it merely meets the demand that exists and passes 
out the books that are called for. In many individual cases much more 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 25 

can be done, but these cases are, relatively, few in number. If more is to 
be done — and more should be done — the way for it must be prepared 
before the pupils leave school, and this can be done only by close and 
hearty co-operation between the school and the library. 

It is the purpose of this paper to bring this subject before you, partly 
for the purpose of making a few suggestions, but mainly that an interest 
may be aroused in the work of a committee appointed by the National 
Educational Association at its Washington meeting to consider and report 
upon "The Relation of Public Libraries to Public Schools." The chair- 
man of that committee is Mr. J. C. Dana, librarian of the city library of 
Springfield, Mass. He is arranging for a very complete and elaborate 
report, covering many phases of the work. He needs your interest and 
the help that no one else can give so well as you. He, and every mem- 
ber of the committee, will not merely welcome every suggestion from any- 
one interested in the subject, but you are all urged to do all that you can, 
either by personal contribution or by suggesting those whose experience 
will enable them to give assistance. The committee feels that this report 
can be made of as great value as any ever made upon an educational 
subject in this country ; and it also feels, and knows, that it cannot make 
such a report as should be made, and as can be made, without the assist- 
ance of many experienced persons. 

Having made clear the reason why this paper has been written, your 
attention is asked to a brief statement of what is believed to be existing 
conditions and future possibilities. 

There is, in a large part of the country, a great lack of public libraries. 
Communities should be led to regard the public library as a necessary 
part of a system of public education, a part" that directly concerns, at any 
given time, a larger number than does the common school ; and it ought, 
therefore, to be liberally supported. It should be regarded — and, as a 
matter of fact, should be — the educational center of a town, providing 
for the wants of the schools, reading clubs, debating societies, lyceums, as 
well as individuals. For the individual it should provide information 
upon subjects in which he is specially interested, either as a matter of 
business or of recreation. It should provide for sensible recreation, 
information, culture, and specific knowledge on special subjects. 

My personal experience leads me to believe that it is quite possible to 
secure a free public library for any town, and that the superintendent of 
schools can do more to accomplish this than a man occupying any other 
position. I feel sure that the lack of public libraries is due solely to a gen- 
eral lack of knowledge as to their value. If it is the duty of the state to 
see that its citizens know how to read, it is surely no less important that 
they be led to do the right kind of reading. The mere ability to read 
does not make a man a better citizen ; it simply makes him the easy prey 
of any clever demagog who has access to the public press. This is shown 



26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION . [Columbus 

by the very common arguments made use of during a political cam- 
paign. 

Public libraries are not chiefly for scholars, but to train people to love 
good literature, to do good reading, and to learn to think for themselves. 

The failure — so far as it has been a failure — of schools and libraries 
to co-operate has, I think, been much more frequently the fault of teachers 
than of librarians ; at any rate, the matter has been much discussed at 
librarians' meetings, and very little, so far as I can learn, at gatherings of 
teachers. Be that as it may, the beginning of the work must be made 
by teachers, if much is to be accomplished. They must be thoroly in 
earnest, or little will be done. They can do considerable without the 
co-operation of the librarian, while he can do almost nothing without their 
co-operation. To go a step farther : the teacher will do but little unless 
the principal is interested, and he will not do much unless the superin- 
tendent has his heart in the movement. So we may fairly say that the 
success of this matter rests more largely with the superintendent than with 
anyone else. In most instances he can make a success of this work, if he 
will, and the rapidly growing interest in the matter warrants the belief 
that it is matters of detail, rather than the general proposition, that need 
to be discussed. 

THE TEACHER'S WORK 

The work of the teacher begins with the child's first year at school. 
He should have stories told to him, and read to him, always with the pur- 
pose of creating a taste for good reading. This is now done very effect- 
ively in some schools. Almost any child can be trained to love good 
literature ; in fact, nearly every child will prefer good literature to that 
which is vicious, if the good is presented to him first. 

Good literature should be read in school from the time the child is 
ready to read at all, instead of the " twaddle " that is so common in many 
of our school readers. As soon as the child can read fairly well, he should 
be required to do some home reading. This reading should be classified 
so that he will read, not only fiction, but travels, biography, history, 
poetry, and essays. There should be groups of books from which he may 
make his selection, thus giving him a choice; for he must choose for him- 
self when he leaves school ; and, at the same time, in a general way, his 
reading will be directed — directed as to kind, but not as to the particular 
books he is to read, further than to name a number, as large as practicable, 
from which his choice shall be made. This plan should be continued 
thruout the school course, as should the plan of having the teacher read 
to the pupils — reading a little from those books to which it is desired to 
call the attention of the pupils, and more largely from books a little dif- 
ficult for the pupils at that stage of their development — more difficult than 
they would read for themselves, but not so difficult but that they may be 
listened to and understood. 



Superintendence] POBLIC LIBRARIES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 27 

The teacher should be sure that her work is such as to send the pupils 
to the public library. It is not as desirable to have all the books that 
the pupil should refer to in the school, as it is important to have him form 
the habit of going to the public library before he leaves school. 

The reading of good books is largely a matter of habit, and the teacher 
must see that this habit is formed. 

The pupils should early be trained to regard the printed page as a 
representative of sights, sounds, and ideas. This is not a difficult work. 
Anything less than this is not reading ; it is merely calling words. The 
teacher must see that during his school course the pupil gets a fair idea of 
what good literature is, who are regarded as good writers, and the names 
of some noted books that he has not read. 

Children must be taught what a library is, and how to use it. They 
must be led to know what to look for in a library, and where to look for 
it. They must be able to use common reference-books. They must be 
trained to short-cuts in reading, to read books for a single purpose, and 
to use table of contents, page-headings, etc., in order to get what they 
want in the least time possible. They should be taught to read reviews, 
use Poole's Index, and card catalogs. In a word, when they leave school 
they should really be able to read, to know what a library is, and how to 
use it. Teachers feel the need of meeting with the supervisor of drawing 
or vocal music for directions regarding their work ; still more do they 
need to meet with the librarian and consult him. They should keep the 
librarian informed as to their work in history, science, literature, geog- 
raphy, and the like, that he may be in a position to render efficient help. 
History, as commonly taught, results in making the pupil dislike history, 
and so does positive harm. The text-book in history is necessarily noth- 
ing but a mere outline to be filled in, and cannot be made interesting 
without much collateral reading on the part of both teacher and pupils. 
The collateral reading of the pupils may include fiction, biography, poetry, 
as well as history. All this collateral reading leads to % the library. It 
means, also, help from the librarian, that the pupils may read just what 
they need, and not waste time by reading much that they do not at that 
time need, or have time for. What is true of history is true, in a greater 
or less degree, of many other subjects. Real interest comes from further 
reading; which means the use of the library. 

It must not be forgotten, tho, that the children must be trained in 
the use of the library. They can no more be left to get their knowledge 
of literature without assistance than knowledge of science or mathematics. 

librarian's work 

The librarian should know the school and its work well. He should 
know the teachers. He should be on intimate terms with the superin- 
tendent, principals, and department teachers. He should meet with the 



28 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

teachers from time to time. If possible, he should occasionally address 
the children. He should impress everyone with the fact that he con- 
siders the library a part, and an important part, of the system of public 
education. He should make frequent bulletins for school use. In some 
way he must see that the older pupils are trained in the use of a library. 
He should arrange in some way to send traveling libraries to outlying 
rural schools. This may require some planning, but that is what he is 
for. He is not to sit down and bemoan his difficulties, but to devise 
some way of getting over or around them. He should see that there are 
some teachers on the library committees, especially on the purchasing 
committee. He should see that the books in his library are freely access- 
ible to all, and that there is the least possible amount of red tape. He 
should feel that the books are to be used, not looked at ; that they are 
made to be worn out, and the faster they are worn out the better, if it be 
done by fair use. 

MUTUAL RELATIONS 

There must be the most cordial relation between the library and the 
school. The teachers must know the librarian and the library, and the 
librarian must know the teachers and the school. He should know the 
school in a general way as a part of his work, as the teacher in like 
manner should know the library. The librarian should know the children 
as well as possible, regarding them as his most important patrons, those 
whom he can help most. 

Librarians generally know books very much better than teachers do, 
but children not nearly so well ; so they need to work together, that each 
may supply what the other lacks. Children should have free access to 
the library shelves. 

GENERAL 

Charles Dudley Warner has truly said that a person who has learned 
how to read, but not what to read, is placed in a position of great danger. 
Yet that is just what is being done with the boys and girls in great num- 
bers in our schools. It is not enough that some small effort be made in 
the high school to train the children to know and love good literature, 
for most of them never reach the high school ; and, if they did, they 
would have formed a taste for reading before that time, and, if left to 
themselves, too often a taste for that which is far from desirable. It is a 
work that must be begun with the beginning of school life — better 
earlier — and never lost sight of. 

Every school should be well supplied with reference-books. There 
should be a small library in every schoolroom. It might be well for the 
library to supply this, changing it from time to time. 

A chief object — I had almost said, the chief object — of school is to 
train children to read, to use a library effectively. A child's life is not 



Superintendence] PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 29 

affected by the ability to read, but by the use he makes of that ability. 
The school trains for a few years, the library for a lifetime ; but the school 
determines, or may determine, how the library will be used. 



DISCUSSION 



Professor Arthur Allin, University of Colorado. — There is a movement in 
recent times worthy of all commendation — the movement of our library institutions 
toward the education and higher culture of the adolescent mind. The state provides a 
liberal — even a compulsory — education for our youth up to the age of puberty. After 
this period our high schools and colleges provide for a continuation of the culture pro- 
cess. These institutions, however, reach only a small fraction of the adolescent masses. 
By the nature of their growth the high schools and colleges exclude the major part of 
our American youth on account of the high standard of their requirements. 

The church has failed almost completely in the same respect. The theater arose 
from the liturgical drama of the Middle Ages. The church vacated the field. Plays, 
games, dancing, and other forms of amusement and culture were originally religious in 
their origin. The church vacated this field also. Our church edifices are for six days 
each week useless capital, so falsely sacred that they are considered hardly suitable for 
the education and culture of poor humanity. 

The libraries, on the other hand, are branching out as distinct educational forces and 
processes. Rightly directed they are about the only educational forces which influence 
the vast uncared-for masses of our growing youth. Lectures by medical men, lawyers, 
business-men, schoolmen, specialists of all descriptions, might well be extended to include 
definite regular courses of instruction, possibly under the direction of the city superin- 
tendent or a definite board appointed for that purpose. 

The response, without doubt, will be astonishing. Anyone acquainted with the 
psychology of adolescence knows full well the yearnings, ideals, and immense formative 
capacities of the newly born adult. Think of Edison reading thru fourteen solid feet of 
the Detroit free library before being stopped ! Think of the long list of pioneers, dis- 
coverers, reformers, thinkers, scientists, and philosophers who started on their careers at 
the stage of adolescent enthusiasm ! 

In short, it is not so much our privilege in this respect ; it is our plain, unvarnished, 
democratic duty toward the unschooled, toward the most impressionable of all school 
ages, toward our immediate successors in the conduct of public affairs. 

Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y. — First, regarding the place 
■where libraries should be kept : Some argue that they shall be in the schools and under 
the control of the school authorities ; others, that they shall be in places by themselves, 
separate from the schools and under other control. I unhesitatingly say, both. We need 
libraries in both places. The functions of these two libraries are somewhat different, but 
they should always co-operate. The library in the school will be constantly enlisting 
patrons for the larger library, and should always work toward this end. 

Secondly, regarding the control of the public library : I do not assume to speak with any 
authority with reference to conditions in the large cities, but for the smaller cities, say those 
with a population of from 10,000 to 100,000, 1 am very sure that better results will be secured 
if the public library is under a separate library board, rather than under the control of the 
school board. I have watched both plans in several cities, and without exception much 
better results were secured after the library had been taken away from the school board 
and placed under separate control. When both the library and the schools must be 



3© NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

supported from the same fund, the library invariably suffers from lack of the attention and 
the funds which are given instead to the general support of schools. These two agencies 
should always work in harmony, each helping the other ; but their provinces and work 
differ in so many ways that they demand separate control. Separated, each will get more 
funds for its support, and will be better cared for. 

Third, regarding the best ways to get school children to read good literature : They 
need guidance, they need inspiration from the teachers. Lists of books, arranged by 
grades, should be furnished. Inasmuch as the development of a love for good reading is 
the end sought, rather than the accomplishment of a certain amount of reading, I would 
not impose this work upon the children as a requirement. I would encourage, urge, guide 
their reading, but never make it a part of the requirements for promotion. I believe the 
teacher should talk over the book with each child after the child has read it. This 
should not be an examination. It should furnish the opportunity for suggestion and help 
toward more and higher reading. It will furnish opportunity to know the individual stu- 
dent in at least one line of his inclinations, and to guide him into purer, higher, and more 
thoughtful reading. 

Eugene Bouton, superintendent of schools, Pittsfield, Mass. — In discussing the 
ways and means of improving the reading of our pupils thru the agency and assistance 
of our public libraries, we recognize an important aid in our work. By some means our 
pupils should be made acquainted with sources of information and with standard litera- 
ture. In Milwaukee, and other cities where the public library is well equipped and 
co-operates with the school authorities, it is a very important factor in bringing about this 
result. Such is the case in my own city. But the public library should be an auxiliary to 
the regular work of the schools, rather than the main reliance in education. The daily- 
reading of the pupils in school should supply the need as far as practicable. If it is 
desirable that the pupils shall read The Spy and become acquainted with Cooper, let The 
Spy be read daily in class. Let the pupils read, in like manner, in the regular reading 
class, " Evangeline," "Enoch Arden," the Lady of the Lake, Julius Ccesar, King tear, and 
such other literary masterpieces as are found to be most desirable and most suitable for the 
purpose. The public library should be called upon to supplement and amplify what can 
be done in the direct work of the schools. But the schools should hold themselves 
primarily responsible for establishing the habits and setting in motion the influences 
that will lead the pupils to seek the aid of the public library both during their school 
days and in their after-lives. 



THE UNSEEN FORCE IN CHARACTER-MAKING 



BY GEORGE H. MARTIN, SUPERVISOR OF SCHOOLS, BOSTON, MASS. 

Character grows from within, and every man is in the highest sense a 
self -made man. 

A human body is born into the world. It is chiefly a bundle of nerve 
cells and fibers, plus a system of nutritive organs to promote its growth. 

Associated with it in some mysterious way — with it, but not of it — is 
an immaterial entity that we call a human soul. 

Soon a name is given to this being, by which its identity may be dis- 
tinguished in the future, and by which it may be remembered in a future 
still more remote. 



Superintendence] UNSEEN FORCE IN CHARACTER-MAKING 3 1 

At once this nervous system begins — to use the language of the physi- 
ologists — to react against its environment, and by this reaction a multitude 
of ideas and thoughts are generated, which constitute the early part of 
education. 

By and by the soul becomes aware of its own existence as something 
apart from the world of sense by which it is surrounded. You recall that 
interesting passage in which Richter describes the sunburst of his own 
subjective consciousness : 

Never shall I forget the inward experience of the birth of self-consciousness, of whicti 
I well remember the time and place. I stood one afternoon, a very young child, at the 
house door, and looked at the logs of wood piled on the left, when at once that inward 
consciousness — I am a Me — came like a flash of lightning from heaven, and has 
remained ever since. Then was my existence conscious of itself, and forever. 1 

By and by there is the idea of tomorrow, and then of a succession of 
tomorrows, forming a future. Then the soul sees itself projected against 
that future. 

Now there come to be two selves, the present self and the future self. 
There is the Me, the Not-Me, and another Me. Slowly that future self 
takes shape in an ideal made up of specific qualities of character. 

To realize this ideal becomes, henceforth, the work of life. With more 
or less earnestness of purpose, with more or less persistence of endeavor, 
with more o*r less completeness of success, the ideal becomes the con- 
trolling motive, the supreme moral force. 

In Hawthorne's beautiful allegory, the Great Stone Face, you remem- 
ber how the man Ernest, by daily and admiring contemplation of the face, 
its dignity, its serenity, its benevolence, came, all unconsciously to him- 
self, to possess the same qualities, and to be transformed and transfigured 
by them, until at last he stood revealed to his neighbors as the long- 
promised one, who should be like the Great Stone Face. 

So, in every human life the unrealized self is the unseen but all- 
powerful force that brings into subjection the will, guides the conduct, 
and determines the character. 

The early life of Washington is singularly transparent as to the crea- 
tion and influence of the ideal. We see how one quality after another 
was added until the character became complete. Manly strength, ath- 
letic power and skill, appear first ; then, courtesy and refined manners, 
moderation, temperance, consideration for others ; then, careful and exact 
business habits ;' then, military qualities ; then, devotion to public service. 
Steadily, but rapidly, the transforming work went on until the man was 
complete ; the ideal was realized. Henceforth, the character, the man, 
appears under all the forms of occupation and office. Legislator, com- 
mander, president — the man is in them all, tho he is none of them. 

Cincinnatus at the plow is Cincinnatus still. Washington at sixty, 

x Life of Jean Paul, Ticknor & Fields, 1864, p. 36. 



32 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

moving in the clamor and confusion of the Genet episode, is the same 
careful, prudent, patient, dignified, self-respecting, self -con trolled, patri- 
otic, masterful man that he had begun to be at twenty-one, when he went 
on his mission to the French forts on the Ohio. 

How does the soul form its ideal ? As the bird builds its nest, 
instinctively, impelled by a law of its life, from materials at hand. The 
process is simple, and yet complex. Living in a world of men and women, 
character is ever appealing to him, soliciting his attention and his inter- 
est, and evoking his feeling. He sees, he admires, he chooses, he begins 
to try to be. The elemental psychology of all character-making is 
summed up in four simple sentences : " I see, I like, I wish I were, I 
will be." 

Just here heredity shows itself. If the mind is temperate in feeling, 
deliberate in choosing, and robust in its willing, character becomes set 
and enduring. If, on the contrary, feeling is volatile, choice fickle, and 
the will flabby, one quality after another awakens momentary admiration 
and impulse ; ideals succeed each other as the vanishing visions of a dream ; 
life is passed in a state of perpetual inward contradiction ; and at last 
the man has earned the judgment of Reuben, " unstable as water, thou 
shalt not excel." 

But the stuff out of which the ideal is made is always character in the 
concrete, qualities incarnate, not precepts nor codes of ethics. 

The process I am describing is not imitation. It is more subtle, more 
fundamental. Imitation has to do with actions, external things that can 
be seen. This deals with being rather than doing. It is spirit discern- 
ing spirit, and feeling drawn to it ; deep answering unto deep. 

The process needs also to be distinguished from what is ordinarily 
thought of as personal influence — one mind and will consciously and pur- 
posely bearing upon another to incite to action. 

Imitation and influence are seen forces. Their activity goes on in the 
light of the sun ; they can be tracked. But the self-created ideal self 
draws as the sun draws. This is the mystery of it, and the marvel of it ; 
it may be the horror of it. While parents yearn and teachers labor to fash- 
ion character, the character is being fashioned in a laboratory to which 
they have no key, by a force of whose very existence they are unconscious ; 
a force of which the subject himself may be unconscious. 

The sources from which the soul draws its material, and the influences 
which determine its feeling and its choice, are many and varied — home, 
social environment, companions, books, schools, and the church. 

The process begins with the family life, with father and mother, 
brother and sister. The child naturally learns to admire the character of 
those whom he loves, primarily for what they are. The force and courage 
of father and brother ; the patience, the sympathy, the kindness of mother 
and sister, are appealing traits. But he comes, also, to admire what they 



Superintendence] UNSEEN FORCE IN CHARACTER-MAKING 33 

admire. There is no deeper and no more lasting influence than that of 
ideals of character held steadily before the mind by parents in whom the 
child has confidence. 

Washington's character-making is again suggestive here. . Of the influ- 
ence of his father's character we know but little, but we do know how 
profoundly he was affected by his regard for his brother Lawrence, a brave, 
manly, high-spirited youth, skilled in all forms of athletic pursuits, and an 
ardent soldier. These qualities appealed to the younger brother with 
compelling force, and formed the most conspicuous elements in his own 
ideal. 

Later his acquaintance with the Fairfaxes added some' well-known 
features. Their courtly manners, their cultivated language, their busi- 
ness habits, their hardy manhood, impressed him deeply; and discerning 
the inward qualities of which these were signs, we see him framing him- 
self after the patterns they furnished. 

The child not only tends to admire what his parents admire, but also 
what society admires. Thus the social ideal is both a cause and an effect. 
It becomes the ideal of the individual, and by becoming so is perpetuated 
as the ideal of society. So peoples acquire and retain for successive gen- 
erations their distinctive character. 

Two illustrations of this must suffice. The ideal of physical excel- 
lence and beauty became one of the dominant features of the Greek 
character. How ? By being held steadily before the mind of the children 
and youth as worthy of all honor and admiration. The victor in the 
national games, returning to his native city, was received with more than 
royal honors. Thru a breach made in the walls for the purpose he entered 
as a conqueror. By processions and sacrifices and banquets the people 
vied with each other to do him honor. Such a reception made any boy 
of spirit eager for the training which should make him worthy to be so 
honored, and he cheerfully submitted to all its rigors, gladly keeping his 
body under, that it might become a more efficient instrument of the free, 
all-subduing will, and a more perfect incarnation of it. 

In New England homes, in the eighteenth century and the early part 
of the nineteenth, two ideals of character — social ideals — were potent in 
education. One was the religious ideal. To be a God-fearing, Bible- 
reading, Sabbath-keeping, church-belonging man or woman was held 
before the children as the most worthy ambition. They saw such men 
and women looked up to with respect, and having social standing. Besides 
this, there was a practical ideal. In every community were men who, by 
industry and thrift supplementing native sagacity and force, had acquired 
wealth. They lived in the best houses, they occupied the best pews in 
the church, they served the parish and the town in positions of trust and 
honor. They were looked t up to by all, and their character was held before 
the young as worthy of emulation. 



34 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

In almost every New England home one could have found three books, 
tho books were scarce — books which in away typified these social ideals. 
There was the life of Payson, the mystic young preacher of Portland ; the 
life of Henry Martyn, the ardent young missionary ; and, side by side 
with these, in later times, the life of Amos Lawrence, the Christian mer- 
chant. 

And in old England, too, who can tell to what extent the contrast 
between the social life of the present and that of the Restoration period 
is due to the loyal reverence which her people feel toward the gracious 
woman who has been, not only the mother of queens, but also the queen 
of mothers ? 

Not only from home and society does the child get material for his 
ideals, but also from books. While Lincoln lived, men marveled that 
such a man could have come from such beginnings. Such breadth of 
understanding, such loftiness of purposes, such singleness of aim, such 
rectitude, such tenderness, such patience, such charity — they seemed 
effect without a cause. But when, in after-years, men learned that the 
companions of his youth had not been only the rough associates of the 
frontier life, but the men and women of the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, 
Plutarch, and Shakespeare, they wondered no longer. He had been walk- 
ing with the world's worthies, and they had made him great. 

So our boys and girls, all unknown to us, often all unconsciously to 
themselves, are admiring the characters they find in the books they read, 
and are fashioning themselves into the same image. 

The schools, too, are doing their part. Thru the literature and his- 
tory, there is no limit to the possibilities within the reach of every teacher. 

Character in history, character in literature, illuminated in the portrayal 
by the enthusiastic admiration of the teacher, glows before the student 
and kindles within him a responsive emotion. As the long line of men 
and women who have lived and wrought and suffered moves before him, 
he feels nobler impulses stirring within him, and he sees himself living 
such a life ; and with the thoughts and the impulses the work of trans- 
formation begins. 

Wherever their story has been told, Leonidas and Horatius have stood 
in hours of peril, "i' the imminent deadly breach. " They have come 
fighting down the ages. Such men never die. Rienzi and Garibaldi 
and Emmet are not dead. Havelock and Gordon and Warren live in 
thousands of young men today, who have caught their spirit and are 
being transformed into their likeness. 

The men of Edinburgh are of a different fiber because they have read 
the names of their fathers on the tablet in the old church of St. Giles com- 
memorating the four hundred sons of Scotland who went down in the 
Birkenhead as calmly as if on parade, that the two hundred women and 
children might be saved. 



Superintendence] UNSEEN FORCE IN CHARACTER-MAKING 35 

And I fancy the young men of Switzerland have wrought them- 
selves into a different type because the lion of Lucerne has reminded 
them of the loyal heroism of the Swiss guard at the Tuileries. 

This is Browning's meaning when David says to Saul : " Each deed 
thou hast done dies, revives, lives again, goes to work in the world." 
This is the crown of life promised to all those who are faithful unto death. 

Who can tell how many women are patiently carrying their burdens 
of domestic suffering because of the unwearied, unquenchable love of 
Jennie Deans, and little Nell, and Florence Dombey? 

Just here light is thrown on the most effective way to deal with biog- 
raphy in school work. Modern criticism professes to respect the truth, 
and would have no glamour thrown over the characters in history; there 
should be no aureole about the heads of the saints. But is there not 
profoundest significance in the fact that every year millions of children 
come to believe that bells are ringing and flags are flying in honor of a 
man of whom the only thing they know is that he never told a lie ? 

For all the . higher purposes in the education of the young, is it not 
better for them to be told of Washington the True than of Paul Leicester 
Ford's True George Washington ? 

Here is the most hopeful field for our child study. To ascertain by 
syllabus and questionnaire how many children like rag dolls better than 
painted ones, and how many are afraid in the dark, is worthy of the 
highest efforts of a university and of doctors of philosophy ; but to learn 
at what shrine of human character the boys and girls are worshiping in 
the Lararium of their own souls, what Great Stone Face is silently but 
resistlessly transforming them into its own likeness, this is work worthy 
of a teacher, and, I had almost said, nothing else is. 

The teacher does this work by what he teaches, but infinitely more by 
what he is. " How can I hear what you say," wrote Emerson, " when 
what you are is continually thundering in my ears ? " 

There have been some splendid examples of teachers thus building 
themselves into the character of their pupils. Last year, in the London 
Graphic, were printed these words : " It will be told in after-days how 
there was once a heaven-born head-master, by name Thomas Arnold, 
who, ruling at Rugby, taught the boys to be good Christians, true gentle- 
men, and be, merry, mischievous boys still." Men have wondered at the 
marvelous influence of Arnold over his boys, an influence reaching on 
into their after-life, so that the Rugby boys were distinguished at college 
and beyond. But when we study his life with his boys at Laleham, as 
well as at Rugby, there is no marvel. When we see him sharing their 
sports, when we see him in the evening at work in the midst of his boys, 
annotating his Thucydides, writing his Roman History, composing his 
pamphlets on church and state affairs, we see that the boys learned from 
him two profound lessons which tfiey carried with them into all their 



36 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

public life — that there could be learning without pedantry, and religion 
without cant. 

Similar to this was the work of Mary Lyon. Steadily, without inter- 
ruption or intermission, she held before the girls at Mt. Holyoke the 
ideal of a consecrated Christian womanhood. To this end, all the studies, 
all the exercises, all the influences were made to contribute. So com- 
pletely did the ideal of her own life become the ideal of their lives that 
most of the girls went out as avowed Christian women. Wherever they 
went, they carried this spirit. Wherever they taught, they set up a new 
Mt. Holyoke, a Christian seminary. Wherever they married, they set up 
a Christian home. And so powerfully did the ideal work thru the sixty 
years of the history of the school that more than two hundred girls have 
become foreign missionaries. 

And what Thomas Arnold and Mary Lyon did, thousands of teachers 
in all spheres of influence, from the kindergarten to the college, are doing 
today. 

We hear sometimes, from lips of ignorance, a charge of moral failure 
against the public schools. I have no hesitation in affirming that the 
public-school teachers are doing more to help in forming ideals of worthy 
lives than all other agencies combined. 

This too, I take it, is the exalted mission of the church : by all its 
services and all its ordinances, by all its orders and all its offices, in all its 
individual and collective life, to hold before the world, and especially 
before the children and youth, the divine life as the ideal life ; that life 
of which all noble and virtuous and self-sacrificing human lives are 
but faint reflections; that life which has been the supreme moral force 
in all human history for two thousand years. The ideal of that life has 
molded the character of the world's worthies, and prompted their 
activities. Thru them it has reclaimed wildernesses, civilized savages, 
abolished slavery, sanctified homes, founded schools, built hospitals, digni- 
fied childhood and womanhood and manhood. 

It has been the impelling force in all great lives. It made Francis 
D'Assisi devoted, and Savonarola strong, and Bernard of Clairvaux great. 
It transformed alike Luther and Loyola. It sent Xavier to the far East, 
and Livingstone to the Dark Continent, and John Howard to the prisons 
of Europe, and Clara Barton to the perishing in Armenia and Cuba; and 
from their comfortable homes in rural England it brought to the barren 
and inhospitable shores of the new world the men and women who laid 
the foundations of the institutions we are trying to perpetuate. 

They can only be perpetuated in the spirit in which they were founded. 
The same qualities of character, made more brilliant by added cen- 
turies of triumph, must be wrought into the ideal of the generations which 
will inherit the twentieth-century problems. 

The physical problems give us no solicitude. Mathematics and 



Superintendence] UNSEEN FORCE IN CHARACTER-MAKING 37 

mechanics will take care of them all. We can build docks and ships and 
canals. But for those other problems which concern human life and 
human happiness, those problems whose perplexing factors are human 
interests and passions, we need something else. Only when the mighty 
forces that make for education — the home, society, the school, and the 
church — unite in placing on the noblest and most conspicuous pedestal 
in the gallery of human virtues the divine ideal of service, to the end 
that every man may be a good Samaritan, and every woman a sister of 
mercy, will these problems be in a way to be solved. This only can 
purify politics at home, and guide to wise and beneficent issues our expand- 
ing politics abroad ; this only can allay the warring passions of employers 
and employed, and make the opulent and the vagrant co-operative ; this 
only can sweeten city life now cursed with the tenement house, the sweat- 
shop, and the slum. 

The thought I am trying to present is not merely a sentiment born of 
the school and the church : it is emphasized by the most advanced con- 
clusions of modern science. 

Looking back along the line by which man has come to his present 
estate, biologists tell us that progress has always been conditioned on 
conformity to environment. As physical conditions changed, those forms 
of life survived which changed to fit them. The ever-changing environ- 
ment demanded more and more complexity of structure, more and more 
differentiation of function ; and so advance was made from amoeba up 
thru worm and vertebrate to man, always by the inward impulse respond- 
ing to the outward needs. So man himself has grown ; the inward 
impulse no longer a blind, unconscious reaching after something to be 
physically felt, but a conscious effort to adapt himself to an environment 
in which mind was supreme. 

As the centuries have come and gone, the social environment has 
become more and more complex, demanding ever higher mental and 
moral attributes. An ever- widening horizon has called for an ever keener 
and more far-sighted vision ; an ever-closening contact has demanded an 
ever-deepening sympathy. 

But the law of evolution contains no guarantee of universal advance. 
Arrest, retrogression, disappearance are as legitimate and as frequent as 
progress. Every step in the ascent of man has been accompanied by the 
descent of man. Herein we see the possibility of our failure as well as of 
our success. 

So far as the co-operative forces succeed in helping any child or youth 
to fashion a self-ideal which shall fit the new and larger and more inexo- 
rable social demands, so far have we fitted him to survive, and we have 
brought into a little clearer vision that far-off divine event to which the 
whole creation moves. 



38 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 



DISCUSSION 



S. B. Laird, superintendent of schools, Lansing, Mich. — Character-building is the 
objective point toward which all earnest school work tends. There are several elements 
which enter into the meaning of this term. The first one we will notice is industry. 
Our pupils should be taught not to look down upon work, but rather to look up to it. 
They should learn, not only to love work, but also to regard it as God's greatest blessing 
to the race, the agency by means of which civilization has been advanced. This industry 
should be controlled by method, by system, so that the truest economy will be practiced 
in its exercise. Another element is that of reverence. There should be a reverence for 
the Creator which recognizes the responsibility of the creature and cheerfully pays the 
homage due. There should also be found in his thought a reverence for mankind, which 
grows out of the relationship of brotherhood. Reverence for self is also essential, whether 
regarded physically, mentally, or morally. James A. Garfield, whose memory in this 
capital city must be regarded as precious, once said in effect : " There is one person whose 
good opinion I care more for than for that of all others, for with him I have to walk, to 
eat,- to sleep, and to live ; and that person is myself." Self-respect, fully understood and 
rightly applied, is a powerful lever in uplifting human nature. Finally there must be a 
reverence for country, for its history, institutions, and laws. Intelligent patriotism not only 
loves the flag and the principles symbolized by it, but it also holds the life true to all the 
responsibilities as well as to all the rights, to all the duties as well as to all the privileges, 
of citizenship. It recognizes the importance of the problem of self-government which the 
United States is trying to solve, and lends to that solution the force and influence of a 
true life. Other elements might be mentioned, but the above must suffice. 

The question now occurs : What forces, unseen, or at least unrecognized at their full 
value, tend to the development of the essential elements of character ? We answer : 
First, the personal element, or the unconscious tuition which makes itself felt thru the eye, 
the expression of face, the voice, and the controlling spirit of the life. Undoubtedly, 
each of us can recall some teacher whose influenccfor good in our lives has been a known 
and positive quantity ever since we left the halls of learning! as pupils. I desire to pay a 
brief tribute to one of Michigan's noblest sons, Joseph Estabrook, who for a half century 
inspired his pupils to desire to make the most and the best of life, and hundreds of men 
and women in places of trust and honor in our state recall his noble service and declare 
his memory blessed. Tho dead he lives in hundreds of lives, made stronger and purer 
by his example and unconscious influence. Other silent forces which are contributing 
much to character-building in the school are casts, pictures, and music. We are just dis- 
covering the value of these agents, and we predict that in the coming decades the teachers 
who desire to build into the lives of pupils the grandest specimens of serviceable characters 
will find much aid from these sources. The potent but unseen power resident in good 
literature constitutes another source of help in the solution of this problem. The good 
book, containing just the lesson needed for boys or girls, can often be placed in their hands 
and be left to speak to their lives in tones both strong and convincing. The results sought 
for demand for their realization the combined efforts of the home and the school. The 
words, " When the heart of the home is in league with the brain of the school, it is well 
for the child," find their assent in our experience. 

We have dwelt thus far upon the phase of life known as good character, and we wish 
that none other existed. We cannot be blind to the fact, however, that, despite the influ- 
ences of both seen and unseen agencies, evil characters are found in the schoolrooms, 
contaminating the good and weakening the power of the best teaching. What forces 
thus combine to disappoint our hopes and sadden our spirits ? We answer : The cigarette, 
the influences of the street school, obscene literature and pictures. Impurity of thought, 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 39 

leading to impurity of action, constitutes one of the most subtle foes which we have to 
encounter. The question, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " finds a place in our 
thoughts very often. We may well voice the prayer of Horace Mann, who, just before 
devoting his life to the school system of Massachusetts, which he desired to lift to a much 
higher plane of efficiency and power, poured out his soul's desire in the following words : 
" God grant me annihilation of selfishness, a mind of wisdom, and a heart of benevolence." 



THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



BY JAMES E. RUSSELL, PH.D., DEAN OF TEACHERS* COLLEGE, 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK 

The striking characteristic of American education is the fact that each 
school — better said, perhaps, each school board — is the measure of all 
things educational. And nowhere is this sophistic doctrine more apparent 
than in the secondary realm. What constitutes a secondary school, even 
the scope and purpose of secondary education itself, are debatable 
questions. This condition of affairs is largely due to the radically differ- 
ent tendencies in the development of our educational system. Part of it 
has come down from above in response to the intellectual and spiritual 
needs of colonial life ; part of it has grown up from below to meet the 
demands of an ambitious people determined to win its way in the world. 
These two forces — one of them essentially aristocratic, the other essentially 
democratic — meet in the secondary school. The conflict that results 
naturally makes extra-hazardous any attempt to apply general principles 
derived exclusively from experience either in elementary or higher educa- 
tion. Dictatorial college faculties too frequently join hands with igno- 
rant demagogs in promoting evil in place of good. The secondary school 
is not merely the first four grades of the college course, nor yet is it the 
last four classes of the elementary school ; it is at once both of these and 
neither. The training of the adolescent mind presents problems unknown 
in the primary school ; with the psychological new birth another mode of 
education becomes imperative. And, on the other hand, it is obvious 
that the requirements for admission to college do not exhaust the demands 
of life. The college and university can never enjoy a monopoly of higher 
education. The peculiar function of the secondary school is the selection 
and training of leaders for intelligent service in academic, professional, 
and industrial life. In no educational work can there be greater need of 
teachers fully alive to the responsibilities resting upon them ; nowhere 
can there be greater need of teachers fitted by nature and training to 
discharge their duties aright. 

It is only in these latter days that any question has arisen concerning 
the necessary qualifications of teachers for secondary schools. So long 
as the only secondary school of consequence was the academy or college 



40 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

preparatory school, so long the only teacher worth considering was the 
college graduate. He who would successfully fit boys for college must 
himself know by experience what the colleges demand. Moreover, in 
those days what the colleges demanded was chiefly Latin and Greek, and 
it would have been idle for any man to have set himself up as a teacher 
of the classical languages who had not enjoyed the classical training. 
But with the growth of the curriculum, and especially since the rise of the 
high school has introduced variety, not only in the subjects of instruction, 
but in the purposes of secondary education as well, the former source of 
supply of teachers has proved inadequate. It may as well be acknowl- 
edged first as last that the college graduate of the last generation could 
claim no considerable superiority over his non -collegiate competitor in 
respect either to special knowledge or skill in teaching many subjects of 
the secondary course. In fact, only in the classical languages has he 
stood unrivaled. In the modern languages, English, history, mathematics, 
and the natural sciences he has often found his equal. Frequently the 
knowledge of the specialist, or the professional skill of the normal-school 
graduate, has been preferred to the so-called "general culture" of the 
collegian who has sauntered thru the mazes of an " elective course" with 
no suspicion of sound scholarship attaching to him. Unquestionably the 
lack of special knowledge and of pedagogical interests in the average 
college graduate has had great weight in promoting the popular tendency 
to discredit a liberal education as an essential prerequisite to work in the 
secondary schools. We may deprecate the situation as we will, it is a 
fact, nevertheless, that the college-trained teacher has but slight advan- 
tage in gaining admission to the secondary school. 

One other fact is worth consideration. It is becoming year by year 
more difficult for college graduates to find employment in the schools at 
a living wage. Granted that the number of positions annually falling 
vacant is' relatively stationary, and that the number of applicants is rela- 
tively increasing, but one result can be expected. The law of supply and 
demand forces salaries down. And in the majority of secondary schools 
in this country today no pecuniary inducement is offered the intending 
teacher to take a college course. On the contrary, there is every reason — 
uncertain tenure of office, political favoritism, and the like — why the 
average teacher should invest in the least possible amount of paying 
capital. Indeed, so lightly is the higher education regarded that it is a 
question whether the average teacher who must depend on the average 
salary can afford to spend the time and money necessary in acquiring the 
college degree. If this be true, or anywhere near the truth, then second- 
ary education in America is in desperate straits. 

The educational welfare of the country obviously demands that public 
opinion recognize a higher standard of professional merit. Public 
opinion, however, is a shrewd judge of merit of any kind. With respect 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 4* 

to teachers as in other matters, Lincoln's aphorism is true: "You can 
fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the 
time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." The college 
graduate has been carefully weighed these many years past, and too fre- 
quently he has been found wanting. The specialist and the normal- 
school graduate have also been tested, and the popular verdict is that 
they, too, are poor craftsmen. But with nothing better in sight, and with 
no recognized standard of professional fitness, the school board and the 
wage it offers have come to be the controlling power. Moreover, it is 
evident, I think, that this conditioaof affairs cannot be materially changed 
so long as the chief factors in the problem remain the same. Our only 
hope lies in the introduction of a new factor more powerful than any now 
existing — the professionally trained teacher specially fitted for secondary 
work. 

It may be argued that, inasmuch as the cost of a college education 
even now tends to exclude the best material from the majority of schools, 
no further expense can reasonably be expected by way of special prepara- 
tion. While I acknowledge the strength of the argument and fully 
realize that ultimately professional standards must conform to economic 
laws, I must still insist that a distinctly good thing appeals powerfully 
to the common sense of the American people. And if the American 
people see that a thing is worth having, they know how to pay for it 
without grumbling. The better class of secondary schools the country 
over pays fair salaries and insists on getting the ablest teachers. The 
very fact that competition for these positions is so disagreeably keen is 
the surest guarantee of a better system of training teachers for secondary 
schools. An annually increasing number of college graduates learn from 
experience that the best preparation they can make is none too good for 
the places they desire to fill. They cannot afford to compete, other 
things being equal, with those whose preparation has been less expensive 
than theirs ; the only hope of the ambitious collegian is to put himself 
distinctly above his competitors in hjs chosen field. He must do as the 
business-man does under analogous circumstances — increase his capital 
and make ready for a bigger business. This is the opportunity of the 
departments of pedagogy and of the teachers' colleges. It is precisely 
this condition of affairs which makes possible for the first time in America 
a serious consideration of ideal methods of training teachers for secondary 
schools. 

But what is the ideal preparation for such teachers ? First let me 
premise that the only method for us is to build on what we have, meet 
the demands of the times, while aiming at something better. Present 
conditions seem to me to indicate four qualities pre-eminently desired in 
the teacher : (1) general knowledge, (2) professional knowledge, (3) 
special knowledge, and (4) skill in teaching. The inability of the average 



42 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

teacher to present these four qualities in due proportion is the principal 
cause of the prevailing chaos in secondary education. 

1. General knowledge, — Four years ago the Committee of Fifteen 
reported to this department that "the degree of scholarship required for 
secondary teachers is, by common consent, fixed at a collegiate education. 
No one — with rare exceptions — should be employed to teach in a high 
school who has not this fundamental preparation." Such a qualification 
seems reasonable enough. The liberal culture implied in four years of 
training in advance of the grades to be taught is surely not too much to 
require from every applicant for secondary teaching. The fact that the 
secondary teacher is to some degree a specialist, that he knows his subject 
and exercises considerable ingenuity in satisfying the requirements of 
college entrance or some examining board, is no indication that he has a 
world-view of sufficient breadth to justify him in attempting the training 
of youth, or an understanding of related studies sufficient to enable him 
to teach his own subject in a scientific manner. The inspiring influence 
that comes from well-developed manhood or womanhood taught to view 
the subject-matter of secondary education in a comparative manner, 
trained to see the relationships everywhere existing in the various 
spheres of knowledge — yes, the unity pervading all knowledge — is an 
influence that the secondary school can ill afford to neglect. 

2. Professional knowledge. — It is equally important that the secondary 
teacher be able to view his own subject and the entire course of instruction 
in its relations to the child, and to society of which the child is a part. 
A teacher may be able to teach his subject never so well, may even have 
the reputation of being a distinguished educator, yet his life long be a 
teacher of Latin, or physics, or history, rather than a teacher of children. 
The true educator must know the nature of mind ; he must understand 
the process of learning, the formation of ideals, the development of will, 
and the growth of character. The secondary teacher needs particularly 
to know the psychology of the adolescent period — that stormy period in 
which the individual first becomes self-conscious and struggles to express 
his own personality. But more than man as an individual the teacher 
needs to know the nature of man as a social being. No knowledge, I 
believe, is of more worth to the secondary teacher than the knowledge of 
what standards of culture have prevailed in the past or now exist among 
various peoples, their ideals of life and their methods of training the 
young to assume the duties of life. Such study of the history of edu- 
cation is more than a study of scholastic institutions, of didactic precepts, 
or the theories of educationists ; it is Kultur-Geschichte, with special refer- 
ence to educational needs and educational problems. It gives that 
unifying view of our professional work without which it is idle to talk of 
a science or a system of education ; it prepares the way for the only 
philosophy of education which is worth teaching. Under professonial 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 43 

knowledge I should also include such information as can be gained from 
a study of school economy, school hygiene, and the organization, super* 
vision, and management of schools and school systems at home and 
abroad. Some of this technical knowledge is indispensable for all 
teachers ; all that can be gained is not too much for those who will become 
leaders in the field. But the least professional knowledge that should be 
deemed acceptable is an appreciation of the physical conditions essential 
to success in school work, and a thoro understanding of psychology and 
its applications in teaching, of the history of education from the cultural 
standpoint, and of the philosophic principles that determine all educa- 
tion. 

3. Special knowledge. — The strongest argument that can be urged 
against the average college graduate is that he has nothing to teach. 
The argument applies with even greater force to the normal-school 
graduate, however well he may be equipped on the professional side. 
Neither liberal culture nor technical skill can at all replace that solid sub- 
stratum of genuine scholarship on which all true secondary education 
rests. A teacher with nothing to teach is an anomaly that needs no 
explanation. And I count that knowledge next to nothing which must 
be bolstered up by midnight study to hide its defects from a high-school 
class. No one who knows the scope, purpose, and methods of collegiate 
instruction, no one familiar with the work of the normal school, will 
posit for a moment that such training necessarily gives any remarkable 
degree of special knowledge. I say this without any disrespect either to 
the college or the normal school ; it is not the first and foremost duty of 
either of these institutions to turn out critical scholars or specialists in 
some small field. But special scholarship, I maintain, is an absolute 
necessity in the qualifications for secondary teaching. Without it the 
teacher becomes a slave to manuals and text- books : his work degenerates 
into formal routine, with no life, no spirit, no educative power, because he 
knows no better way ; the victims of his ignorance rise up to call him 
anything but blessed, and take their revenge as citizens in ignoring alto- 
gether professional knowledge in the conduct of public-school affairs — 
because they, too, know no better way. Now as never before, I believe, 
do we need to emphasize the possession of special scholarship as an 
essential prerequisite to secondary teaching. Only the other day I 
learned that a principal of a secondary school in my own state is under- 
taking the teaching of Latin after a six-weeks' preparation in a summer 
school. What a travesty on classical instruction ! It would seem that no 
argument were necessary to convince a Yankee that there is virtue in 
perfect tools ; but somehow the idea is abroad that the perfect tool is the 
perfect text-book. Now is an opportune time to convince the American 
people that it is "the man behind the gun," rather than the gun itself, 
which counts. 



44 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

4. Technical skill. — It is safe to say that no quality is more earnestly 
desired in the teacher, or more persistently sought for, than the technical 
ability to teach. The first question asked of an applicant is not, " Has 
he had a liberal education?" or, "What is his professional knowledge?" 
or, "Has he anything to teach?" but this: "Can he teach?" The 
popular mind fails to recognize the interdependence of these qualities, 
and, failing in this, it bases judgment of a teacher's ability on the rela- 
tively nonessential. Ability to maintain order in the class-room, to get 
work out of his pupils, to satisfy casual supervisors and examiners, to 
keep fine records, and to mystify parents — this too frequently passes for 
ability to teach. How seldom, indeed, is a teacher tested by his ability 
to get something into his pupils, by his ability to impart his knowledge 
in a way that shall broaden their horizons, extend their interests, 
strengthen their characters, and rouse within them the desire to lead a 
pure, noble, unselfish life t School-keeping is not necessarily school- 
teaching. The technical ability to teach includes both. The art of 
teaching is mimicry, a dangerous gift, unless it is founded on the 
science of teaching, which takes account of the end and means of educa- 
tion and the nature of the material to be taught. School-keeping may 
be practically the same for all classes of pupils, but true teaching must 
always vary with surrounding conditions and the ends to be attained. 
Graduates of colleges and normal schools alike must fail in technical 
skill, if they teach as they have been taught. The work of the sec- 
ondary school is unique. It requires an arrangement and presenta- 
tion of the subject-matter of instruction in a way unknown in elementary 
education and unheeded in most college teaching ; it requires tact, judg- 
ment, and disciplinary powers peculiar to the management of youth. 
Herein is the need of that technical skill which is not, as has been well 
said, "a part of the natural equipment of every educated person." 

A survey of the field of secondary education discloses that these four 
essential qualifications of the secondary teacher are everywhere recog- 
nized in practice. The difficulty is that few teachers unite them in due 
proportion. The thoroly trained teacher, trained by study and tested 
by experience, has no difficulty in finding employment, or holding his 
place once he finds it. Those who have positions to fill are eagerly 
scanning the professional horizon, and are thankful for some refreshing 
sign, even tho it is no larger than a man's hand. The function of the 
teachers' college and the university department of pedagogy is to estab- 
lish a better code of professional signs and to insure more perfect reali- 
zation of professional promise. 

The experience of Germany in the training of teachers for secondary 
schools is deserving of careful study. Not, however, because the German 
system is perfect or directly applicable to American conditions — I have 
grave doubts , whether Germany has much to offer us by way of direct 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 45 

contribution — but because Germany has developed, during the present 
century, a magnificently trained, body of secondary teachers, despite hin- 
drances much more perplexing than those now confronting us. The 
lesson from German experience is that to liberal culture you must add 
special scholarship, and to special scholarship professional knowledge, 
and to professional knowledge technical skill ; these four — no one of 
which may be neglected. 

The intending teacher in the secondary schools of Germany must first 
of all be a graduate of a recognized secondary school having a nine- 
years' course of study strictly prescribed in every detail. At the end of 
this, period — say, when the student is nineteen or twenty years of age 
and ranks with our college juniors — the university course is begun. 
During the next four or five years there is unrestricted freedom of choice 
in life and study. The student, on coming up to the university, knows 
full well what profession he is to follow ; and the intending teacher has 
his specialties already in mind. In general, the greater part of his work 
is directed to those subjects which he expects to teach, or, better, to those 
subjects in which he will later be examined. 

The state examination is the sole test of a candidate's preparation for 
any professional career. Neither the degree of doctor of philosophy nor 
any other scholarly distinction can exempt him from the necessity of 
proving himself before a state board of examiners. 

The aim of the state examination is to test (i) the applicant's pro- 
ficiency in pedagogy and philosophy, including psychology, logic, and 
ethics; (2) his familiarity with the German language and literature; (3) 
his acquaintance with the doctrines of his religion, and (4) his knowledge 
of the subjects which he expects to teach. In all these lines, possibly 
excepting religion, he will have had special training under university pro- 
fessors. In philosophy and pedagogy, in German and in religion, the 
requirements are of a general nature, intended to disclose the applicant's 
breadth of training and the nature of his religious faith ; it is the fourth 
requirement that constitutes the crux of the examination — viz., special 
knowledge. 

The subjects which are taught in the higher schools — therefore those 
in which state examinations may be taken — are classed in two general 
groups : the language-history group and the science-mathematics group. 
The former includes German, Latin, Greek, French, English, and his- 
tory ; the latter includes mathematics, physics, chemistry and mineralogy, 
botany and- zoology ; geography may be classed in either group. Of the 
four subjects in which every teacher is examined, the first two are known 
as majors (Hauptfacher) — those which he prefers to teach ; the other two 
are minors (Nebenfacher). 

The university student who looks forward to teaching as a profession 
early selects the combination of subjects which he prefers to teach, or 



46 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

which is likely to bring most rapid promotion. To these subjects he 
gives his "main attention for three to five years during his university 
course. 

The examination is both oral and written. The written test comes 
first, and consists in the writing of elaborate essays on themes assigned 
by the commission. One theme is on some topic in philosophy or peda- 
gogy, and is designed to test the candidate's knowledge of the philo- 
sophical basis of pedagogy and didactics, and of the development of 
educational thought since the sixteenth century. The candidate must also 
write essays on themes selected from each of his major subjects. When 
one essay will include both major subjects, the two may be combined, as 
frequently happens in classical and modern philology, physics and mathe- 
mathics, history and geography, etc. If the applicant has published 
something of note, as, for instance, a dissertation for the degree of doctor 
of philosophy, it may be offered as a substitute for one of the essays. 
Six weeks are allowed for the preparation of each essay, and the commis- 
sion is empowered to grant an extension of six weeks — making twelve 
weeks in all, if necessary, on the subject. 

The oral examination is intended to test the general culture of the 
candidate, and his ready command of philosophy and pedagogy, and to 
ascertain his fitness to teach his chosen subjects in a higher school. The 
examination in each subject is conducted by a specially appointed exam- 
iner, in the presence of other members of the commission. Thus it will 
be seen that the examination requires the better part of a year, and is 
as searching as can be devised in a country where teachers are all too 
plentiful. 

The intending teacher, even with his certificate in his hand, has yet 
other gauntlets to run. The certificate of itself confers no right to teach. 
Something more than general culture and minute scholarship is required. 
It is safe to say that Germany owes more to the pedagogical training of 
her teachers than to any other factor in their preparation. It is the pro- 
fessional spirit, which every German teacher feels, that differentiates him 
from his species in other countries, and this spirit is the result chiefly of 
his pedagogical training. 

Much of the professional training of the German teacher is given in 
the universities. Courses in philosophy, ethics, logic, and psychology, 
and in the history and principles of education, are everywhere given. 
But with all the general preparation that he can make, the intending 
teacher must spend one full year in a teachers' seminar, where he is 
trained in the special methods of presenting the subjects in which he is 
officially declared to be proficient, in teaching under guidance, and in 
familiarizing himself with the practical workings of a secondary school: 
Systematic study of practical pedagogics and school economy is also 
required thruout the year. 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 47 

But even with this preparation the candidate may not begin his life- 
work. Another year of trial is required in Prussia, during which there 
is constant practice in teaching in a public school, under the criticism of 
regular teachers designated for that purpose. Thus at the end of sixteen 
years' continuous preparation — nine in a secondary school, four in the 
university, one in examination, and two in practical training — the suc- 
cessful candidate may enroll his name on the official lists and await his 
turn for permanent appointment. There ought to be no doubt of his 
qualifications. 

But in America few states make any specific requirements of high- 
school teachers over and above what is required of teachers in the grades. 
The result is that the weaker schools are filled with teachers inadequately 
trained for their work. It is probably true, however, that such schools 
get all they pay for. Economic conditions, as I have already indicated, 
do not permit the best teachers to enter these schools. And, on the 
other hand, the unseemly scramble for places in the better grade of schools 
tends to provoke unprofessional conduct and to place even the thoroly 
equipped teachers at the mercy of partisan school boards. Fortunately 
this tendency is held in check by the good sense of many patrons of our 
secondary schools, and by the good offices of far-sighted superintendents 
and principals of schools. The fact remains, however, that it is not 
because of state regulations, but in spite of them, that secondary educa- 
tion in America is upheld in its integrity. 

I am not of those who believe that legislation is the only remedy, or 
the best remedy, for existing evils — social or educational. In face of the 
prevailing economic conditions, and with the present supply of second- 
ary" teachers, it is useless to urge the enactment of laws requiring a 
higher standard of academic or professional qualifications. Change the 
economic conditions, or improve the quality of professional preparation, 
and I believe legislation will follow as a matter of course, or be found 
altogether unnecessary. Nor do I see that the economic conditions affect- 
ing secondary teachers can be materially changed until the public comes 
to recognize that we have laborers worthy of a better hire. In a word, 
the burden of improving the condition of the secondary teacher in 
America rests primarily upon the colleges and universities of America. 
And this is the task which the departments of pedagogy and the teachers' 
colleges must assume. 

How is it being done ? First of all it must be remarked that by far 
the larger number of colleges giving courses in education seem to con- 
sider the work in its non-professional aspect. The science and art of 
education are regarded as subjects for research and investigation, or as 
means of liberal culture akin to history and political science. Such work 
has its place, but unsupported it plays no very important rdle in training 
teachers for secondary schools. 



48 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

I find that the institutions giving professional courses in education for 
intending teachers in secondary schools are in general agreement as to 
what should be done, altho few of them are able to realize their ideals. 
The diploma, or teacher's certificate, which is granted on the completion 
of a prescribed course in the best colleges requires as a rule the bachelor's 
degree, and a certain amount of work in the history and philosophy of 
education, and in psychology and its applications in teaching. California 
and Nebraska seem to lead the way in requiring that candidates for the 
teacher's certificate at the time of receiving the bachelor's degree must 
observe the following conditions : 

a) Special knowledge. — The completion of work, amounting normally to twenty 
hours a week for one half-year, in the subject or group of closely allied subjects that the 
candidate intends to teach. 

b) Professional knowledge. — The completion of work in pedagogy, amounting to 
twelve hours a week for one half-year. Four hours for one half-year may be taken in 
psychology or in a special " teachers* course " in some other department. 

c) General knowledge. — Courses sufficient to represent (with the inclusion of special 
studies) four groups from the following list : natural sciences, mathematics, English, 
foreign languages, history, philosophy. The requirement is intended to secure, so far 
as is possible, breadth of culture and sympathy with the various lines of high-school 
work. 

(A " group," as I understand it, is about twenty hours for one half- 
year.) 

The chief defect in the California plan is that it provides for no 
systematic practice in teaching under criticism. There is provision, I 
understand, for observation of high-school teaching under the guidance 
of university instructors, but the need of actual practice in teaching is felt 
in the universities of California, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wisconsin, where 
plans are being perfected for such work in the public schools. 

In the East, on the other hand, some excellent object-lessons in the 
art of teaching can be seen. Properly qualified students in Brown Uni- 
versity are enabled to teach half time in the public schools of Providence, 
for which they receive half pay ; meanwhile they carry on graduate study 
in the university. In Harvard University, Professor Hanus informs me, 
"through arrangements made with the neighboring cities of Newton, 
Medford, Everett, and Brookline, students have special opportunities to 
teach for practice, under direction. Each student is required to teach not 
less than two, nor more than six, periods per week for half the school 
year in some one subject." In explanation Professor Hanus remarks : " I 
do not believe in playing at teaching." 

An interesting experiment is also being tried in Brookline, Mass., 
where Superintendent Dutton is doing the work of the German Gymnasial- 
Stminar. He admits to his seminar only qualified college graduates. 
These students he meets in conference occasionally while they are sys- 
tematically observing and teaching in his schools. 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 49 

These* indications all point one way. The outline of the future pro- 
fessional school for secondary teachers can readily be discerned, I think, 
in the composite of existing schools. Such a school will grant diplomas 
or degrees to qualified candidates, but not a blanket certificate that certi- 
fies to the fitness of the holder to teach anything anywhere he gets the 
chance. The intending teacher in secondary schools must earn his right 
to teach each subject in which he wishes a diploma, in addition to the 
right to teach at all. The lowest requirements which we can consistently 
make for such a diploma are as follows : 

i . The candidate must be a college graduate, at least when he receives 
the diploma, if not when entering upon the course. 

2. He must satisfactorily complete courses in (a) the history of educa- 
tion, (b) the philosophy of education, (c) psychology and its applications 
in teaching, and (d) school economy, especially school hygiene — an 
allotment, say, of eight hours a week thruout one year. 

3. As evidence of the special knowledge required in each subject in 
which a diploma is sought the candidate should be able to show the 
equivalent of at least three years' collegiate study of that subject — three 
to five hours a week. In the University of California a total credit of ten 
year-hours is requifed ; in Nebraska it is twelve and a half year-hours, 
and in Michigan some departments insist on as much as twenty-five year- 
hours for the teacher's certificate. But whatever be the requirement in 
credit hours, provision should be made for securing a sufficient degree of 
special scholarship as a prerequisite to what I consider the gateway to 
actual teaching, viz., a course in the special methods of teaching each 
subject elected. Such a course may very properly be conducted, wholly 
or in part, by the university department which is responsible for the aca- 
demic training in subject-matter. 

4. The candidate must be given opportunity to observe good teaching, 
study its methods under guidance, and finally give instruction under nor- 
mal conditions long enough to demonstrate his ability to teach. 

This plan will enable a thoroly good college student, who chooses his 
electives wisely, to secure a teacher's diploma in one or two subjects, e. g., 
Latin and Greek, physics and chemistry, at the same time that he gets his 
bachelor's degree. For the college graduate it provides a one-year pro- 
fessional course which will enable him, granted that he has the requi- 
site academic preparation, to secure a diploma in two or three related 
subjects. 

In closing, I am happy to say that the scheme just outlined is no Uto- 
pian dream ; it is being realized, wholly or in part, in several of our uni- 
versities. That it is entirely practicable I am able to affirm from my own 
experience in Columbia University. We have encountered many diffi- 
culties, to be sure, and I suspect my colleagues in other institutions have 
troubles of their own ; but I am confident that, if the plan which I have 



SO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

outlined is one that should succeed, it can be worked out successfully in 
many places. It is a work, however, that demands our united efforts. 
And in this connection I desire to say that I can find no evidence of that 
self -righteousness so naively imputed to university professors of education 
by the Committee of Fifteen, when it was remarked that "it is not 
necessary to enter in detail into the work of theoretical instruction for 
secondary teachers. The able men at the head of institutions and depart- 
ments designed for such work neither need nor desire advice upon* this mat- 
ter." My opinion is that these men will welcome the advice and support 
of this organization, and that in turn they will render you invaluable 
assistance in your professional labors, if you will let them understand 
your needs. Let us strive together for the upbuilding of that more 
excellent educational state in which each shall do his part and do it well. 



DISCUSSION 



Joseph S. Stewart, president North Georgia Agricultural College. — The question 
under consideration has been so ably discussed by the gentleman who has just taken his 
seat, and at a former meeting of the National Educational Association, in the compre- 
hensive report by Dr. Tarbell, that there seems little more to be said upon the subject. 
There are a few remarks that I wish to make as specially touching the educational quali- 
fication of teachers in the South. 

The large majority of our successful secondary teachers are young men from our col- 
leges, who have served an apprenticeship in the rural or village schools, and have risen 
to high-school positions. Few of them are from our normal schools, as these have failed 
to furnish the proper scholastic advantages, or are of recent origin. Some of them have 
taken post-graduate courses in the northern universities and normal colleges. The large 
majority " have struggled upward through the night," with the aid of educational journals 
and the study at home of the best books on teaching. Thus has grown up in the South a 
body of young schoolmen who are thoroly in earnest, and are meeting the educational 
problems that present themselves with all the devotion and enthusiasm, if with less of the 
philosophical and scientific acumen, of some of their brethren who live beyond where 
Mason and Dixon's line used to be. If they cannot discuss with Drs. De Garmo and 
McMurry all the mysteries of Herbartianism, they are, nevertheless, equally in earnest in 
" manufacturing men," as Ruskin used to say. 

There are still too few who make teaching a profession, their life-study and -work ; 
and there is too little appreciation of what should be the preparation for this work. 

There is a very strong sentiment in the South, especially among college presidents 
and professors, that the only training or preparation necessary for a teacher is a college 
A.B. course. Armed with this diploma and a letter of recommendation from the president, 
the young graduate leaves his alma mater qualified to fill any position in the gift of trustees. 
I have in mind now a college president, prominent in his church, who hoots at all these 
books on teaching, having read but one, and boldly declares that if a man knows his 
subject he can teach it. He does not hesitate to recommend for the superintendency of 
a city system, the principalship of a city high school, or even a professorship in a college, 
the graduates of last year's class. With him and his followers — and there are many — 
a college diploma is the sine qua non of a teacher's qualifications. It has both pained 



Superintendence] TEACHERS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 5 1 

and amused me to watch, at times, the flounderings of these young graduates. They 

remind me of the fabled ride of Phaeton : 

» 
Thus young A. B., among the nation's young, 

Leaped in the teacher's chair and seized the reins, 
Far from their course impelled the glowing youth, 
Till nature's laws to wild disorder run. 

The history of thousands of failures attest the inadequacy of an A.B. course alone as 
preparatory for teaching. The failures and misfortunes attending ' their first positions 
doubtless have driven many bright young men into other professions. When will our 
people learn that something more is needed than a college course ? 

The normal schools of the South, with the exception of Peabody Normal, at Nash- 
ville, under Dr. Payne, offer courses so meager, being little more than high-school 
studies, that few of their graduates are qualified in scholarship for positions in our best 
high schools, tho they may have an overabundance of teaching machinery. They lack 
depth, " and because they have no root they wither away." Because of this lack of 
scholarship, because of this stressing of form to the partial neglect of the substance, the 
educated portion of the community often discredits normal training and associates it with 
shallowness. The normal schools " do not turn out men down our way," as Walt Whit- 
man was fond of saying. They produce good grade teachers, men and women who 
teach well under supervision, but the leaders in educational thought and action today did 
not receive their education in our normal schools. The plan is too narrow, the ideal too 
low, in the main. Instead of a great, sound, whole-souled nature being cultivated, so 
that he may become what Dr. Canfield calls a" winner of men," the product is a special- 
ist in primary- or secondary-school methods and scholarship, a fragment, a life narrowed 
and circumscribed with little hope of a wider field of action. The trouble is not in giving 
normal training, per se, for that is good ; but it is in specializing too soon. The aim is 
not the realization of the rational self by a completely developed character, which can be 
obtained only by devoting ourselves to some large end in co-operation with others, or, 
as Schiller says, " One must either be a whole in himself, or join himself onto a whole ; " 
but the ideal in these schools is to prepare the students to occupy, as soon as possible, a 
certain position in a school. The normal schools, as at present constituted, do not give 
the proper training for the secondary teacher, tho they are doing a valuable work for 
primary, grammar, and rural schools. 

We have had little experience in the South in what can be accomplished by teachers' 
training classes as adjuncts to city school systems. Some good grade teachers have been 
produced, but no definite work has been done in training teachers for the high-school 
positions. I do not care to see these classes for the latter purpose tried, as the product 
must be an inferior article. 

Old Agricola, four hundred years ago, wrote to the authorities at Antwerp : " Take 
neither a theologian nor a so-called rhetorician, who thinks he is able to speak of everything 
without understanding anything of eloquence. Such people make in school the same 
figure, according to the Greek proverb, that a dog does in a bath. It is necessary to 
seek a man resembling the phoenix of Achilles, that is, who knows how to teach, to speak, 
and act at the same time." 

The Froebels, the Arnolds, the Manns, the Mark Hopkins, the Harpers, the Harris's, 
the Whites, and a host of others that have been the inspiration of generations of youth, 
have been men of the broadest culture, men of active participation in the life of their 
times, men whose lives have been devoted to large ends. Nor did they leap at one bound 
into great positions as teachers. "A spark had stirred their clod." With resistless enthu- 
siasm and unbounded love " they toiled while their companions slept." 

Dr. Jordan, in his Science Sketches, tells us that the school of all schools which has 
had most influence on scientific teaching in America was held in an old barn, on an 



52 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION LColumbu. 

.uninhabited island, some eighteen miles from shore. It lasted but three months, and, in 
effect, it had but one teacher — Agassiz. 

I would have the man who is to teach my boy in that vital period of adolescence the 
most cultured that the college or university, supplemented by travel, could produce ; one 
with a comprehensive knowledge of the history and philosophy of education ; a man of 
the school, and yet a man of the world ; a student, but not an ascetic ; a thinker, yet a 
doer ; young he may be, if he has a big heart and a glowing enthusiasm ; one who in the 
process of his development is a secondary teacher today, but ready to be called to the 
principalship tomorrow, and yet higher and higher as he grows ; one who thinks char- 
acter the greatest thing in the world, and lives to know and realize the truth. Such 
teachers are not trained imitators. They have caught the divine truth from some great 
soul, and live their creed thruout all time. 

I would not spend much time, therefore, in training secondary teachers, but I would 
that more of our bright young men would set before them the ideal of a great teacher and 
turn all " the current of their lives " to realize it — 

" Filling the soul with sentiments august, 
The beautiful, the brave, the holy and the just." 

Merely trained teachers are like trained horses, or birds, or servants — good enough 
where someone else does the thinking. We need an emancipation proclamation to deliver 
us from machine work. 

The best of our colleges and universities give the breadth and culture needed by the 
teacher, supplemented by courses as offered in the chairs of pedagogy like those at Chi- 
cago, Columbia, and the best of our normal colleges. If our colleges would offer a degree 
of bachelor of instruction, based on a regular four-years' course, but substituting for Greek, 
say, after the sophomore year, a course in the history, philosophy, and science of teaching, 
many young would go out prepared to succeed as teachers where only failure now awaits 
them. 

I cannot close this discussion better than by saying, after the manner of Milton, that 
he who would hope to develop strong, well-rounded characters ought himself to be a true 
man, a great poem, not presuming to teach the young the way of truth, unless he have 
in himself the experience and the practice of all that which is praiseworthy. 



EFFICIENT AND INEFFICIENT TEACHERS 



BY DR. F. LOUIS SOLDAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ST. LOUIS, MO. 

"The welfare of the child shall be the highest law," is the principle 
on which every school should be conducted. To it all other considera- 
tions must yield. The wisdom of school laws, the merits of school 
officials, the efficiency of teachers may ultimately be judged by the way 
in which the interests of the children are affected by them. 

PARENTAL DUTIES 

The right of the teacher to control and discipline the pupils is a dele- 
gated one. Her authority is derived from the fact that she stands in the 
parents' place. 

The assumption of parental rights by the teacher cannot be separated 



Superintendence] EFFICIENT AND INEFFICIENT TEACHERS ' 53 

from obligations which resemble those of the parent. Kindness to and 
sympathy with her pupils are qualifications just as necessary in a teacher 
as the ability to impart instruction. 

Little children are mischievous and naughty, and it is necessary at 
times to enforce respect to law by strict disciplinary measures ; yet there 
should be sympathy even in punishment, lest it fail of its purpose and 
arouse passions in the child soul which had better forever be dormant. 

There are unlovable children, seemingly irresponsive to word and act 
of kindness, with whom it may be difficult to remain in sympathetic touch. 
But, for all that, the teacher who does not love childhood, in spite of its 
mischief and naughtiness, its apparent slowness or dullness in lessons, 
who does not enjoy, in a measure, even the vagaries of childhood, has 
erred in choosing her vocation. The presence of a nagging, scolding, 
morose, fault-finding, or habitually discontented teacher or principal is a 
calamity to a school and a misfortune to a school system. A wise, teacher 
makes the child's sojourn in her room both profitable and pleasurable. 

The teacher adjusts herself to the ways of childhood in order that the 
child may adjust himself quickly and willingly to the demands of educa- 
tion. Her vocation requires a constant compromise with the natural 
frailty and the infirmities of child nature, but there must be no compro- 
mise whatever in regard to the great and exacting aims of the school- 
room work, the teaching of the good and true, or, in other words, in 
regard to valid and lasting results in discipline and instruction. 

PROFESSIONAL PROGRESSIVENESS 

The school time of many children is limited to two or three years, and 
every moment of their time should be utilized to best advantage. Con- 
stant self-improvement and growth on the part of the teacher are, there- 
fore, conditions of professional excellence. The regular reading of some 
good educational magazine, the study of good educational and general 
literature, the use of the public library, a fair participation in educational 
meetings, utilization of whatever opportunities of general, literary, scientific, 
aesthetic, or ethical culture the city or place offers, are obligations which 
the profession impliedly requires from every conscientious teacher. The 
least educational fitness which childhood can demand is that its teacher 
should be a live man or woman. The "personal equation" is of special 
importance in teaching, where much of the influence exerted over the 
child is by example rather than precept. Strong manhood or woman- 
hood is required to make a good teacher. Character and the personal 
habits of neatness, good taste, social and ethical refinement are as essential 
qualifications in teaching as physical health, and good hearing and eye- 
sight. 

In regard to instruction, the duty is to secure for the lessons the most 
potent educational influence on the development of character and mental 



54 ' NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

power. An efficient teacher will see that the lesson is not a " re-citation," 
a term derived from the obsolete period in our educational history when 
the work of the school consisted in assigning pages in text-books and 
requiring that the words should be committed and " re-cited " verbatim. 
A lesson should not be a mere re-citation on the part of the child ; it 
should rather be a thoughtful statement of the contents than the recital or 
repetition of an author's words. In conducting the lesson she has no 
thought of using it to display her own professional skill or brilliancy ; 
but she puts the child in the foreground, and her whole aim is to give to 
his own acting as much time and scope as her skill can induce him to use. 
She speaks little, that he may speak more ; she realizes the difference 
between telling and teaching. Her aim is to excite to activity, and for 
tins purpose she enlists his interest. She makes instruction, not only 
profitable, but also attractive. She not only serves the intellectual food, 
but also stimulates the appetite. 

ORDER 

The child is to become a law-abiding and order-loving citizen, and 
the schoolroom gives him the first training by intercourse with his equals 
in communal life. He learns to obey the law, to respect the rights of 
others, and to regulate his conduct by altruistic considerations. He must 
learn to so adjust his conduct as to afford the other children the best 
opportunity for their work, thru his silence, his application to duty, and 
obedience to direction. 

TEACHER AND PARENT 

The teacher's authority has its source in that of the parent. As she 
respects her own position, she will respect that of the child's father and 
mother, and whatever she can do to increase the appreciation of parental 
care and guidance will help her to maintain her own authority. It is ill- 
advised for the parent to speak derogatorily of the teacher in the presence 
.of the child ; it is a professional error for the teacher not to manifest 
good-will and respect for the parent at every opportunity. 

There is no relation in the whole range of social life where the pre- 
supposition and need of co-operation is more natural and more impera- 
tive than in the case of the parent and teacher. It is clearly one of the 
professional duties of the teacher to strive to remain in harmony and 
friendly touch with the pupil's home. Teacher and parent impair their 
educational efforts by failing to maintain good terms and touch with each 
other. 

While co-operation between school and home is desirable, no unneces- 
s iry demand for assistance should be made upon the latter, and the legiti- 
mate share of the work must be borne* by the teacher, without worrying 



Superintendence] EFFICIENT AND INEFFICIENT TEACHERS 55 



-rr- 



and nagging the parent with constant complaints about petty matters 
which belong to the legitimate duties of the school, and which a compe- 
tent teacher should be able to set right without troubling others unneces- 
sarily for assistance. 

There is no parent who will not appreciate the faithful efforts of a 
teacher in behalf of his child. A teacher who understands how to make 
her room popular, by devotion to the children and good nature in deal- 
ing with parents, renders a service to the cause of public education. A 
teacher who gets into trouble with parents habitually and establishes a 
general reputation of unfriendliness had better indulge in a process of 
self-examination and reform. No teacher should forget that a parent's 
life is as full of trials as her own, and that the experience with a trouble- 
some child is likely to be as irritating at home as it is in school. 

RELATIONS WITH OTHER TEACHERS 

The maintenance of a system of public schools is the best safeguard 
of the welfare and interests of the child. 

Belief in the public schools as a system involves the willing acceptance 
by each teacher of the conditions on which it rests, namely, willing and 
helpful co-operation with other persons employed in the same work. 
Each teacher must adjust her individuality to efficient service with fel- 
low-teachers and co-workers. Where masses devote their lives to joint 
labor for a common purpose, subordination, self-discipline, and active 
loyalty become essential duties. Without this there can be no concentra- 
tion of efforts, no wise husbanding of means, no control, no unity of pur- 
pose, no efficient maintenance of education on a large scale. 

One of the qualifications required of the public-school teacher is her 
fitness for co-operative work. This means the ability to get along pleas- 
antly with fellow- teachers, with principal, parent, and school officials, and 
to labor in close and helpful harmony with them. 

A proper regard for the professional reputation of others, or of the 
public schools at large, seems to be a self-evident duty. No personal advan- 
tage can be gained by the flippant and sweeping condemnation of the 
work and qualifications of other teachers or schools. 

There is no worse piece of folly than that of which instances, fortu- 
nately rare, are found in many places, from the primary room to the uni- 
versity — than the fatuous complaints about the alleged poor instruction 
which the children have found in the grades below their present one. 
Sometimes a university complains about the derelictions and inadequacies 
of high-school instruction, the high school about the grammar schools, 
and in the latter, room No. i complains about No. 2, and so down to the 
primary room, which, perhaps, is so fortunately placed that it has a kin- 
dergarten preceding it, about whose derelictions it can complain. 



56 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

DUTIES OF PRINCIPALS 

There is no more important office in our whole school organization 
than that of the principal. Our whole system in its daily working is based 
on the idea that the principal is the one in whom the highest local 
authority is vested. Great authority is connected with duties correspond- 
ingly great. 

PRINCIPAL AND COMMUNITY 

Every principal should endeavor to make his school a favorite with 
the people, which is the natural position for any public school to occupy. 
Our people believe in public education and cherish it. Where a school 
is not popular, the probable reason is usually some mistake of omission 
or commission in its management. 

The best and most direct way to make a school popular is to make it 
efficient in instruction and discipline. Efforts in this direction are sure 
to find their reward in public appreciation. If, in addition to this, a prin- 
cipal makes it the rule of his own and the teachers' management to culti- 
vate pleasant relations with parents, it will certainly lead to that kind of 
popularity which is desirable. 

This does not at all mean that the principal should allow his school 
to become lax in discipline, or that he should be irresolute in dealing 
with refractory pupils, or should be accommodating and time-serving 
when unreasonable demands are made on him ; politic weakness is sure 
to result in loss of public confidence and respect. A weak man or woman 
cannot be an efficient principal. Our people do not wish that bad boys 
should grow up uncorrected. What is required of the principal is strict 
attention to his business, a certain kindliness of disposition toward children 
and parents, and the manifest wish to satisfy just demands. 

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DUTIES 

The amount of routine business which the principal of a large school 
is called upon to attend to in the course of a day is exceedingly laborious. 
Yet it would be a great error for a principal to lose himself in details, 
which, after all, are of secondary importance, compared with the great 
duty of being the leader and guide of the teachers and children. To 
distinguish well between what is important and what is unimportant in 
his duties is a test of a principal's good judgment. 

PRINCIPAL AND TEACHERS 

Participation in the same work may be made a source of mutual 
improvement for principal and teachers, if they are willing to profit by 
the opportunity. Every principal must educate his corps of teachers, and 
it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that he in turn is educated 
by them thru the work and methods he observes in their rooms. 



Superintendence] EFFICIENT AND INEFFICIENT TEACHERS 57 

The professional conversations with teachers, if properly managed, may 
be a source of reciprocal training. There can be no better pedagogical 
schooling than to be compelled to find valid educational reasons for 
every method of teaching and every problem of discipline. 

Teachers' meetings, in the second place, hold an important position 
in harmonizing and unifying the work, and no school should be without 
them. Teachers' meetings are always useful, but their measure of success 
depends largely on the tact of the teachers and the personal qualities of 
the principal. They tend to establish spiritual touch and community of 
intellectual life among the members of the corps. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF PRINCIPALS 

The principal holds his office by appointment of the board of educa- 
tion ; but this appointment is ultimately based on the supposition of 
superior scholarly attainments, pedagogical skill, and executive ability. 
These qualities should be just- as much in permanent evidence, as condi- 
tions on which the principal's authority rests, as his arinual reappoint- 
ment. The principal's authority, in a higher sense, can be maintained 
best by constant self-improvement, reading, and study'; without these, 
scholarly qualifications soon become obsolete. 

In qualifications confined to routine ability there is not a sufficient 
element of progress. There is good teaching done elsewhere, and the 
child has a right to demand that his leader, on whom his education 
depends, should be informed of the best work and thought current in 
educational literature and practice. He should be able, when occasion 
arises, to give good pedagogical reasons for his practical directions, more 
valid than " I think so," or, " This is the way in which I think it ought to 
be done." 

Official authority supported by personal qualifications constitute the 
most efficient kind of leadership, and will easily find responsive follow- 
ing. 

The principal is answerable for the condition of his school, and for 
this reason it is his duty to speak to a teacher frankly when he discovers 
errors in her instruction or management, and to make suggestions when- 
ever he sees that they are in the interest of the children. 

This task need not be, and will not be, unpleasant, unless principal 
or teacher makes it so ; the former by inconsiderate manner in making a 
criticism, and the latter by unbusinesslike sensitiveness in receiving it. 
It is a great mistake ever to make criticism the outcome of a fit of anger 
or passion. Criticisms are part of a teacher's official business, and must 
not be made an indignity by the way in which they are given or received. 

While the principal is the absolute judge of all arrangements in his 
school, there is no need of having the whole work conducted on the dead 
level of uniformity. To deprive teachers of the freedom of movement 



58 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

means to deprive them of self-confidence, and to sap individuality, which 
is the main source of vigorous and progressive teaching. 

Cases of absolute inefficiency cannot be tolerated in a school where 
the interest of the child is the highest law. In this class must be included 
all those cases of inefficiency where the possible cure is so slow and uncer- 
tain that the children would suffer by the attempt. 

There are physical as well as ethical defects which no training, no 
patience, on the part of the principal, no help extended, no frankness of 
criticism, can change, or even mitigate. 

Where old age is accompanied by a decline of power that prevents the 
competent performance of essential duties, it may necessitate the resigna- 
tion of a teacher whose long and valued service in the public schools 
makes everybody regret that she finds such a course necessary ; but, on 
the other hand, the children's interest must be guarded, and there seems 
to be no other recourse. 

A kind of absolute inefficiency which does not have the claim on sym- 
pathy that is due to old age or physical ailment is the habitual morose 
disposition that leads to unkind and unsympathetic treatment of the chil- 
dren. Objectionable habits of life, or qualities of character and disposition 
that set a bad example to childhood, must also be enumerated among 
the conditions that constitute absolute inefficiency. A lack of natural 
talent to impart knowledge, or the inability to control children, which 
time, experience, and assistance do not seem speedily to improve, must 
also be considered as elements of absolute inefficiency. The school can 
tolerate relative inefficiency in such cases only where there is the prob- 
ability of speedy and permanent improvement. Inefficiency may result 
from absence of ordinary business capacity, such as the ability to be 
prompt and regular in attendance, and in school work and records ; but 
these business qualities are largely matters of habit, and may be acquired 
whenever there is a modicum of talent and earnestness of purpose. There 
are also absolute demands which the interests of the public schools as an 
organization impose : willing co-operation with others, and ready sub- 
ordination to constituted authority. 

In all cases of absolute inefficiency an obligatory and speedy change 
of vocation is the proper remedy. 

If the preceding discussion of the teacher's duties has served any pur- 
pose, it must have shown that the teacher's duties are exceedingly numer- 
ous, and that there is no one who can possibly attain absolute perfection 
in all directions of professional work. There is no teacher living who 
does not fall short of perfection in some way, and who is not less efficient 
in certain directions than in others. There never has been a system 
of schools, and there never will be one, that is not taught by teachers 
differing in talent and in degrees of efficiency in various directions. 

Even with the best teacher, one day's work is not always as efficient 



Superintendence] EFFICIENT AND INEFFICIENT TEACHERS 59 

and satisfactory as another's ; in years of efficiency there are always days 
of relative inefficiency when, in the dealing with pupils or in the pres- 
entations of topics of instruction, the teacher herself is severely dissatisfied 
with her work. This consideration suggests that it would be unwise to 
judge a teacher's work adversely on the sole basis of a single or an occa- 
sional visit to her room. 

A young teacher's professional immaturity may make her work seem 
inefficient compared with the work of one that is more experienced. 

Even after the most careful preparation, thru high- and normal-school 
work, it requires three or four years of experience in the schoolroom to 
develop in a young teacher the highest degree of efficiency which is pos- 
sible for her to attain. 

In a system of schools there is always some young teacher less skilled, 
less experienced and efficient than others. As long as she is manifestly 
growing and profiting by her daily experience in the schoolroom, makes 
use of suggestions for improvement, and is doing fairly efficient work, 
which is better today than it was yesterday, there is no remedy but the 
influence of time and training. It would be useless for school authorities 
to attempt to eliminate relative inefficiency by removal from office, unless 
the position can be filled by someone better qualified. 

The question as to efficiency of teachers is always an important one in 
large systems of schools. "What shall be done with inefficient teachers ? 
How can we discover their presence ? " is the question which every school 
board will ask. An answer has been attempted in the preceding discus- 
sion. Absolute inefficiency can be neither cured nor endured by a school 
system. It must be eliminated by filling the position with a better- 
qualified teacher. Relative inefficiency, that is to say, temporarily unsat- 
isfactory work, may be changed by training and experience to efficiency. 
Not a few of our principals, year after year, when it happens that a teacher 
ranking somewhat below the average in ability is assigned to their schools, 
succeed, after a comparatively short time, in making such teachers efficient, 
thru the influence of their personality, and the help and guidance which 
they give. Principals render one of the most important services if they 
successfully educate their corps and help the weaker teacher to attain 
efficiency thru their influence and supervision. 

It is an imperative duty, but by no means an easy one, for boards of 
education, principals, and superintendents to eliminate cases of absolute 
inefficiency. The person chiefly concerned is hardly in a condition to 
realize that she is inefficient. She honestly does not believe that her 
work is bad, and cannot understand why others should think so. If she 
could realize her inefficiency, it would probably not have existed for so 
long a time. In not a few cases inefficiency goes with a fixed conviction 
of personal excellence ; the consciousness of having made the best effort 
that she is capable of blinds the one reported for inefficiency to the fact 



6o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

that even the best effort may be inadequate where nature has withheld the 
talent requisite for the instruction or control of children. To the person 
chiefly concerned the trouble is somebody else's fault rather than her 
own ; it is due to some petty misunderstanding in the past, to social or 
religious bias, to jealousy, if it is not dictated by fancied petty animosity 
or is the result of an old grudge. As a rule in such cases, the plea is that 
of injustice on the part of the reporting officer, of prejudice, or hasty 
judgment, or insufficient information ; it is alleged that the room has not 
been visited often enough by the principal or supervisors, or that their 
visits did not occur at the right time, and that the teacher has not had 
enough help, and has not been informed with sufficient frequency of the 
defects of her teaching. In cases of radical inefficiency the reporting 
principal finds himself, as a rule, in the most unpleasant position of being 
charged with injustice to one that depends on her work for a living. 
Every unfortunately incompetent teacher has a circle of friends who know 
her estimable social qualities, but not her professional shortcomings, and 
who do not realize the great injury which her presence in the school 
causes, since they naturally accept her valuation of herself as correct. 

Nature and heredity have gifted woman with the ability to lead and 
teach children. If sufficient care in the education and appointment of 
young teachers is taken, and if sufficient help is given to those that need 
it, the number of teachers who are found disqualified to hold their posi- 
tions should always be very small. 

THE TEACHER'S TENURE OF OFFICE 

Frequent changes in teachers would affect the continuity of the work 
of instruction, and are therefore not in the interest of the children. The 
teacher's tenure of office should be safe and depend on efficient work, 
and in no way on political contingency or social influence. This is a 
demand which every friend of good government and efficient education 
will make. 

A teacher should be able to give her whole mind to the children, with- 
out being worried constantly by thoughts of loss of position thru some 
occult influence and thru no fault of hers. 



DISCUSSION 



R. K. Buehrle, city superintendent, Lancaster, Pa. — It might be well to consider 
the result of our education, as it shows itself in subsequent life. It is said that, as civili- 
zation advances, the tendency to suicide increases. It is also true that greater care is 
taken to make life pleasant and easy for the children. May not this shielding of child- 
hood from exertion and hardship be the cause why men fly to death when hardships in 
life overtake them, seeing they have not learned to endure ? Why not steel the will to 



Superintendence] WHAT THE SUPERINTENDENT IS NOT 6 1 

overcome difficulties rather than remove the difficulties out of their path ? Why not 
strengthen the youth to endure and thus to acquire fortitude, and hope, and faith, which 
will not make ashamed, nor lure to suicide — the coward's refuge from impending evil ? 
Look at the youth from the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis ! Rigid examinations and severity of discipline inure the graduates from these 
institutions to undergo hardships, and how proud of their record we all are ! Make the 
pupils of the public schools strong rather than their course easy and soft. So, too, life in 
the country has generally more of toil and hardship for the boys and girls, and it is no 
doubt because of this experience that the boys from the farm become the most successful 
business -men in our cities. I repeat : make the pupils strong by confronting them with 
difficulties to be overcome. 

J. W. Carr, superintendent of schools, Anderson, Ind. — The plan advocated by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania provides for the education of the few, not the many. If we 
are to have an aristocracy of learning, I should be in favor of the West Point system — a 
system which selects only the best of the best. But if we are to have a democracy of 
learning in America, we must have a course of study and a system of promotion that will 
most nearly meet the needs of all the people. 

Charles W. Deane, superintendent of schools, Bridgeport, Conn. — Let us come back, 
if you please, to the question of the efficiency or inefficiency of teachers. Notwithstanding 
what has been said, I am inclined to think that, if Raphael had been without arms and 
legs, he would still have been just as great a painter as he was. The painter's soul within 
him would have supplied the means of expression. We think that we can make teachers ; 
so we spend our energies in equipping them with means of expression of ttimes when there 
is little within that is seeking to express itself. How often do we see teachers expending 
all their powers on the simple details of a single grade of work ! Think of a human soul 
cramping itself within such narrow limits ! I counsel my teachers, rather, to pursue lines 
of study outside of their immediate school subjects — one line this year, another line next 
year — that the teaching soul may be enriched and broadened. Get the teachers out of 
these narrow grooves of grade work, and give them more extended views of knowledge 
and of education, and the simple details of method can be readily furnished and will be 
more intelligently applied. 



WHAT THE SUPERINTENDENT IS NOT 



BY DR. A. E. WINSHIP, EDITOR OF "JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, BOSTON, 

MASS. 

What are you here for ? What is the superintendent for ? Is there 
any other country that has such a body of officials ? They have inspec- 
tors, examiners, ministers of education, but where is there a superintend- 
ent beyond our own borders ? Is it a superstition that we must supersede 
the teacher with a supereminent person, a superintendent to supervise his 
work? 

It is altogether probable that this word "superintendent" has come 
from superintender, applied originally to the Almighty, the super-tender, 
hence superintender, of man's moral being thru supreme laws. It is 
modest, to say the least, to appropriate this term, arrogating to yourselves 



62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

the function of superintending the morals of mankind thru the rules or 
regulations emanating from your office. 

It is my lot to hint at what you are by suggesting what you are not. 
You are not supernumeraries. There have been times when the office 
was merely an extra, where the man was simply a supernumerary ; where 
he did nothing that was not as well done beofre, and would not have been 
as well done at the time without him as with him. There is no excuse in 
the world for a superintendent unless he secures, directly or indirectly, 
better work for the money invested than would be secured without him. 

You are not a superannuated official. When supervision was first pro- 
posed, there was earnest and honest objection to it, on the ground that 
it would merely make places for superannuated men who had outlived 
their years of usefulness — clergymen, lawyers, and politicians. Fore- 
warned was forearmed, and few superannuates appeared ; none should be 
in this place demanding superlative activities of super-eminent men and 
women. 

You are not super-critics. There have been officials in days gone by 
who thought their chief function was to be hypercritical. Nothing kills 
a school so quickly and completely as a hypercritical teacher, and noth- 
ing places a teacher beyond the hope of resurrection so surely as a hyper- 
critical supervisor. Hypercriticism destroys genius, dulls brightness, 
enervates power, and saps all life. It is professional vivisection. Hyper- 
criticism reduces virtue to the technical observance of the senseless rules. 

You are not supercilious. A dictatorial, overbearing, arrogant official 
can get on better and be more useful anywhere on earth than he can in 
this office. Patience without proscrastination, friendliness and firmness, 
approachableness without familiarity, are indispensable to success. 

You are not superficial. If there be one position above all others in 
which shallowness is absolutely unbearable, it is in this. In many posi- 
tions one may trust to luck, may hope that only light- draft craft will 
come his way ; but here, where a man must deal with an ever-changing 
school board, a fickle public, a variety of teachers of differing degrees 
of tact and talent, hundreds or thousands of children with an infinite 
array of human nature, he must have a deep mind and broad experience 
to furnish a channel for all the conditions that are liable to pass one 
another without signaling their approach. 

You are not merely a supercargo. A merchant ship needs an extra 
manager to care for the commercial affairs of the vessel, and he is styled 
the supercargo. The first condition that prompts a school board to select 
a superintendent is the fact that the commercial details of free text-books, 
free pens, pencils, and paper, and other routine work, become unbearable 
to the non-salaried official. It is possible that we should never have had 
this office, in the popular sense, if school boards had not needed an errand 
boy. The principal could not be spared to attend to these things, and 



Superintendence] WHAT THE SUPERINTENDENT IS NOT 63 

so they selected a supercargo for books, merchandise, wood, coal, and 
broken clothes hooks. 

It has been a great surprise to the original employers of superintend- 
ents, themselves long since shelved by a thoughtless constituency, to see 
how little these errand boys understood their place, and how quickly they 
did not keep it. Caesar never surprised his creators more than have these 
modern Caesars. It does not take a school board a great while to appre- 
ciate the changed conditions when it runs up against a man like Presi- 
dent Andrews. The other fellows are the errand boys now. The 
superintendent in a large city has a supercargo of his own. 

You are the only superintendents in the original sense — superintend- 
ed of the moral, intellectual, and physical well-being of the nation, 
thru the children under your charge, and this by means of rules and 
regulations, instruction and inspiration. 

The term has been misapplied to overseers of mills and factories, rail- 
roads and prisons. These men cannot be superintenders. They deal 
only with material and mechanical matters, with mercenary interests and 
criminals. It is left to you to be the only true superintendents, superin- 
tenders of the moral well-being of the universe. 

To make the matter clear from a different standpoint, let us change the 
figure, apply a new name — conductor. You are the conductor, not the 
engineer, who merely watches the track and whistles, puts on steam or 
brakes as he is signaled by sign' posts, the warning red light, or the con- 
ductor's tug at the cord. You are not the baggagemaster, who takes on 
and puts off crayons and erasers according to the directions of the board. 
You are not the train hand, who calls out stations and passes the water; 
in other words, there is something for you to do other than ring in rainy- 
day signals, assign substitutes, and provide teachers' meetings. 

You are not the newsboy, to furnish sensational journals, dime maga- 
zines, and cheap stories, varying these with smelling salts and chewing 
gum. In other words, you are not the professional gossip of the depart- 
ment of education. 

You are the conductor. By this it is not to be inferred that it is your 
chief business to put the tramps off the train or to collect the fare. You 
are to collect the fair, and the fairer they are the better ; but your chief 
business is to be responsible for your train, for its starting on time, run- 
ning on time, coming in on time. 

Your watch is the only standard on that train. Your word alone is 
law; by the mere movement of your hand every official is guided. The 
president of the road is a mere passenger on your train. The school sys- 
tem of the town, city, county, state, and nation is to be conducted into 
the great union station of this imperial nation by the men and women of 
this department. 



64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 



HOW TO MAKE GOOD TEACHERS OUT OF POOR ONES 



BY DR. W. T. HARRIS, UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

The most important work of the school superintendent is indicated 
by the heading of this paper : " How to Make Good Teachers Out of Poor 
Ones." I desire to point out some directions in which such desirable 
work is not only possible, but quite fruitful. 

When I began my career as a teacher, many years ago, I was led to 
believe that training and experience could do very little for the improve- 
ment of a poor teacher. Afterward, when I left the work of personally 
conducting a school and became a school superintendent, I commenced 
an experience full of opportunity to observe cases of improvement in the 
art of teaching, and rich in ways and methods of effecting such improve- 
ment. 

Before I became superintendent I had noticed two methods, which I 
defined loosely as follows : The teacher should think out all the successive 
steps of the day's work in advance, either the previous evening or else 
early in the morning before school. Whatever should happen, he should 
be prepared to know what to do next. Nothing is so effective in holding 
a school in hand as to show perfect readiness to meet an emergency. If 
the teacher needs time to think out his work in the presence of his pupils, 
he loses his prestige in the school. The pupils do not reflect on it, but 
they feel at once the limitations of their teacher and break away from his 
hold. If the teacher is perfectly prepared when the unusual happens, 
even the unruly pupil is disconcerted and finds himself limited by a larger 
will and a larger intellect than his own. His refractory spirit is subdued. 

I learned at the same time that the pupils must be led and not driven, 
pulled and not pushed, by the successful teacher. "A man may lead his 
horse to water, but cannot make him drink," says an old proverb. The 
teacher should, therefore, set such tasks as will fully occupy the time of 
his pupils, and he must hold them responsible for their accomplishment. 
These will act as a kind of hypnotic suggestion, leading the pupils to work 
instead of play. Then there will be little mischief developed in his 
school. If he undertakes to suppress mischief by an exertion of outside 
force, and neglects to preoccupy the mind of the pupil with work that he 
can do, he will find that he is taking on himself the entire weight of 
responsibility and is engaged in lifting the entire school, without any 
assistance from the pupils themselves, not to say against their positive 
resistance. 

Therefore I observed that those teachers were most successful who 



Superintendence] HOW TO MAKE GOOD TEACHERS 65 

kept tasks ahead of their pupils, tasks so measured to their degrees of 
capacity as to secure their interest and cheerful endeavors. 

When I became a superintendent I discovered that there existed a 
variety of devices possible to the head of a school system that were not 
available for a principal of a school. 

The first of these devices I will name " substitute " work. There will 
be a certain amount of absence on the part of teachers. Perhaps it may 
reach, in a city, as large an amount as 3, or even 5, per cent, of the entire 
corps of teachers. The central office being notified, the superintendent or 
his clerk sends out a substitute ; he has a list of new teachers who are 
waiting for a vacancy, or he has a class of new graduates from the normal 
school ready for appointment. 

The substitute goes to the school, fills the place of the absent teacher 
until her return, say for a day or two, or longer. She brings back from 
the principal of the school a brief report of her work, pointing out strong 
or weak points. 

Every superintendent knows that substituting is hard work. The school 
is an organized society that must be met and taken in hand by the novice 
teacher. If she conquers at once, she shows great power. If she is able 
to gain her hold of the school gradually, she is accounted successful. 
But it usually happens that a failure to control the pupils in the first half 
hour leads to a more and more dismal failure as the day goes on, and a 
thoro defeat on the first day is not to be followed by a victory on the 
second day. It is the good fortune of the substitute that the regular 
teacher comes back on the second day, and she reports to the superin- 
tendent before she has become completely discouraged and humiliated by 
the rebellious children who have proved too much for her skill. 

Another and another brief experience succeeds, and the substitute 
gains a store of wisdom as to the best devices to use for the control of a 
school. She learns just how to lead rather than to drive, to pull rather 
than to push. She becomes what is called a ready disciplinarian, and can 
get work from all her pupils without harsh measures and without appealing 
to improper motives of any kind. So useful is this practice of substi- 
tuting as a training for new and inexperienced teachers that the superin- 
tendent has been persuaded to try it for regular teachers who have for a 
long time been poor in discipline or in instruction. He asks his school 
committee to place such on the substitute list, not to dismiss them alto- 
gether. 

I have known many weak teachers made efficient by such an experi- 
ment. A day here and a day there, and a constant effort to be equal to 
the work required, succeeded in developing new resources, and the teach- 
ers who had belonged to the list of chronic failures pressed over to the 
list of the permanently successful. 

There is in the power of the superintendent another device which may 



66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbu* 

sometimes improve a school very much by removing a cause of failure. 
Some pupils are unmanageable under one teacher who make no trouble if 
transferred to another. Take such pupils away from their school and 
send them to a school in another district, and in nineteen cases out of 
twenty they give no more trouble. The causes for this cure are many. 
In the first place, the bad pupil has to adjust himself to a new society of 
fellow-pupils, and this necessity of readjustment uses up his surplus 
nervous energy, so that he cannot yet begin his struggle with the teacher, 
and he therefore at once surrenders to the new teacher. Then the chances 
are in favor of his meeting in the new teacher a different temperament, a 
personality that attracts him, while the former teacher repelled him. 
Then, again, his parents hold him responsible and watch his conduct, 
while in the former school they had sympathized with his efforts against 
the teacher and had justified his conduct by accusing the teacher of par- 
tiality. With a new teacher the parents are not ready to use the plea of 
partiality at first. At home they will question with some impatience and 
some sternness the first complaints that come to them regarding the 
transferred pupil's conduct. He will be made to feel that he is under 
some suspicion, and that he is held responsible to a greater degree than 
before for the collisions made by him at school. 

I have estimated the number of pupils who remain incorrigible after 
the first transfer to be one in twenty. The second transfer thins out the 
incorrigible remnant, and reduces it perhaps to one in a hundred of the 
original list of unmanageable pupils. But I have known a few cases in 
which it required five, or even six, transfers to secure the desired result. 
Some of them were very pathetic. The parents were somewhat hysterical, 
and it was very difficult to persuade them to look at things in a reasonable 
manner. The superintendent, however, who has learned how to use this 
device of transfer never allows the parent to discover in him the slightest 
trace of impatience. The parent comes on his second visit to the office 
with a little shamefacedness, or perhaps a little touch of defiance, and the 
superintendent greets him with some expression of encouragement : " You 
must not get impatient with your son. We must work in concert and 
continue our efforts until we get James rightly placed. I see that he has 
a somewhat brittle temper, and we all know that the brittle-tempered boys 
who learn to control themselves make the best business-men." The parent 
is much helped by a suggestion like this, and begins to take the attitude 
of a rational man seeking the true good of his child. I said that the 
superintendent must never allow himself to show impatience ; I meant 
that he must never allow himself to feel the slightest impatience, and he 
must make the parent see his freedom from bias. I remember a case in 
which a pupil was transferred six times before he found a teacher who 
could control him and get good work out of him. I confess that I thought 
that his brittle temper would never get sufficiently annealed to make a 



Superintendence] HOW TO MAKE GOOD TEACHERS 67 

success of him in life, but many years after I left the superintendency I 
met one day in the streets of a city the father of the boy. He stopped 
me and shook hands with me cordially, saying with great pleasure visible 
in his eyes : " You remember my son with whom we had so much trouble ? " 
I assented, and he went on eagerly to say : " That boy has become a first- 
class business-man, and is at the head of a great store in " (he named 

here one of the most enterprising of the western cities). I congratulated 
him heartily, and I was thankful that my policy of managing such cases 
had, after all, proved equal to the needs of this individual. 

I have said above that this plan of transfers, judiciously used, will, in 
fact, effectually cure 95 per cent, of the cases that have proved incorri- 
gible in any given school. I think that the plan followed up to the fifth or 
sixth transfer, if need be, will cure all of the cases, especially if some other 
devices are connected with it, one of which I will describe. If a boy is 
very difficult to manage, it is best always in the transfer to ask the second 
teacher to suspend the pupil at once on the first appearance of rebellion. 
The possibility of this prompt suspension should be named to the parent 
also. This reduces to a minimum the bad effect upon the school which 
the retention of an incorrigible pupil is likely to have. The teacher is 
not required to use up his nervous energy by patient endurance of evil 
conduct, and the pupil is not given any opportunity to gratify his egoism 
by making himself into a hero. 

There is still another device, which is almost as useful to the principal 
of a large school as to the superintendent. Inasmuch as the restored 
pupil is replaced in school only on probation, the superintendent may 
sometimes request of this pupil a line in writing from his teacher at the 
close of the day, stating the character of his conduct. He may bring 
this to the superintendent's office after school, and the superintendent 
can write a word of approval on the paper, if the conduct has been satis- 
factory. The principal of the school, instead of the superintendent, may 
require a pupil whose conduct is unsatisfactory to bring a report from 
the teacher in charge of the boy, at the close of the day, stating amend- 
ment or the reverse, and such reports on the part of these particular cases 
will often prevent the need of suspension from the school. 

The suspension and transfer of pupils difficult to manage will develop 
poorer teachers into better ones by removing the cause of constant irrita- 
tion. I have known corporal punishment diminished to one-tenth its 
former amount in a school system by transfer. 

Another device by which the principals of schools may gain much 
power in this process of improving their assistant teachers is a series of 
weekly conferences with the superintendent, held at his office in the after- 
noon, the principal leaving his school in the middle of the afternoon ses- 
sion. A discussion of the practical and theoretical questions connected 
with the course of study and the discipline of the schools can be profitably 



68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

undertaken, and each principal will be able to contribute something 
from a recent experience to the settlement of difficult problems of man- 
agement. All may gain thru the work of each. 

I conceive it one of the most important duties of the superintendent 
that he organizes now and then a meeting of his teachers, in which some 
great production of literature or some work of art is discussed and the 
taste of his teachers improved. A course of reading may be organized in 
which the problems peculiar to education may be studied in their rela- 
tion to broader principles, namely the principles of sociology. The 
teacher should be made to see how his work connects with the whole 
work of modern civilization, in giving the individual more power to help 
himself. The teacher should come to understand the structure of his 
civilization, and should learn to recognize all the other instrumentalities 
in his community and nation that work in the same direction with the 
school. 

In short, the superintendent should improve the taste t>f his teachers 
and bring to bear their efforts for the bettering of the community in 
which the schools are situated. His poor teachers will become good ones 
in his effort to make his schools strong in the community. 



AUTHORITY OF THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT 



BY DR. EMERSON E. WHITE, COLUMBUS, O. 

The authority of a superintendent of schools may be considered from 
two standpoints, to-wit : 

i. The authority which is inherent in the office. 

2. The authority requisite for the highest efficiency in school adminis-. 
tration. 

The first question is best determined by a survey of the development 
or evolution (if this term be preferred) of the office of superintendent, 
i. e., historically. 

The primitive public-school organization in a district was a school 
board or school committee invested by law with the organization, sup- 
port, and direction of schools, each school being in charge of one 
teacher, as is now true in rural communities. The school board (or com- 
mittee) determined the number and location of the several schools, pro- 
vided houses, employed teachers, prescribed the branches of study and 
text-books, and, by general regulations and otherwise, supervised the 
management of the schools — so far as there was any supervision. But 
neither the board nor its members could exercise the teaching function. 
This belonged exclusively to the teachers employed, who, in virtue of 



Superintendence] AUTHORITY OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT 69 

their office, had certain inherent rights and authority — a fact too often 
overlooked. 

The next step in the development of the public school was the put- 
ting of several schools into the same building, grading them, and making 
one of the teachers a head teacher or principal, with such general oversight 
and direction as were necessary to secure order and system in the joint 
occupancy of the building and grounds. The new office involved certain 
authority which, in the absence of its special delegation by board regula- 
tion or otherwise, was inherent in the function assigned. But the posi- 
tion of principal did not involve the right to supervise the work of the 
other teachers. Within his or her own room each teacher was free in 
methods of teaching, being responsible directly to the board of education 
for results. Whatever was done by the principal to increase the efficiency 
of the schools in his building was done indirectly and by the voluntary 
co-operation of the teachers. 

The rapid growth of the graded system soon made another step of 
progress in school administration practicable. The increase in the num- 
ber of schools in charge of a principal, in one building or in a group of 
buildings, made it important to commit to him the duty of grading and 
promoting pupils, usually under the direction of a committee of the 
board. This involved the determining of the attainments of pupils and 
incidentally some supervision of the instruction. This supervisory func- 
tion, conferred either by regulation or common understanding, made it 
necessary for the principal to devote a portion of his time to supervisory 
duties. The office of principal was thus changed to that of supervising 
principal. 

It is to be specially noted that the assigning of this supervisory duty 
to the principal did not in any way subvert or abridge the inherent rights 
of teachers. Each teacher was still free to teach according to his or her 
own judgment and conscience, being responsible only for results. 

In the continued growth of the graded system it was an easy step 
from the office of supervising principal to that of supervisor or superin- 
tendent,, a position in which the entire time of the incumbent was devoted 
to supervisory duties, the several school buildings- being in charge of 
principals or supervising principals, as determined by the board of edu- 
cation. 

This change from supervising principal to superintendent of schools 
gave the supervising officer little, if any, added authority, but greatly 
changed his position and duties. Instead of being a head teacher with 
close relation to the teaching corps, he became the executive officer of 
the school board for the discharge of assigned duties, and acting largely 
under the direction of the board and its committees. The superintend- 
ent's general duties were usually prescribed by regulations, but whatever 
authority was exercised in the discharge of these duties was largely 



70 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

assumed, and properly assumed, as belonging to the supervisory function. 
It is true that these assumptions sometimes encroached upon the rights 
of teachers, and in some instances teachers were treated by unwise super- 
intendents as their "agents " or as operatives. As a rule, however, super- 
intendents were careful to recognize and respect the rightful authority of 
teachers. Improvements in methods of instruction and discipline were 
secured, not by imposing these methods on teachers, but by leading them 
to see their reasonableness and appreciate their practical value. The most 
efficient school superintendents in the country have not been dictators in 
school work, but advisors, instructors, inspirers, and leaders. Needed 
reforms have been secured thru the intelligent and happy co-operation of 
the entire corps of teachers. 

While superintendents and teachers were, in the early history of school 
administration, left free in the details of school work, boards of education 
kept in their own hands the employment and assignment of teachers, 
changes in the course of study, the selection of text-books and other 
teaching appliances, the purchase of school furniture and supplies, regu- 
lations for the classification and promotion of pupils, etc.; and all this 
with or without the superintendent's advice or assistance. Changes in 
these directions were secured only thru the action of the board or its 
committees. It is, however, just to add that in these, as well as in 
other, directions superintendents have been increasingly regarded as the 
official advisors of the board, and their recommendations have received 
more and more consideration. Here and there superintendents have 
been recognized by boards, not only as official, but also as expert advisors 
in all matters pertaining to school organization, instruction, and disci- 
pline. Superintendents have thus been able to effect most important 
improvements in school administration. 

Another important advance in school supervision has somewhat 
recently been effected, to-wit, the giving to the superintendent of the ini- 
tiative in the selection and appointment of teachers, the revision of the 
course of study, the choice of teaching appliances, etc. In several 
instances this initiative has been conferred by statute, and in two or 
three large cities the. superintendent's authority in some of these execu- 
tive matters is not limited to the initiative, but v$> final — the last stage 
now reached in the evolution of the office of superintendent of schools. 

We now pass to the consideration of the question: What supervisory 
authority is requisite for the highest efficiency in school administration ? 
It is obvious that the answer to this question depends on conditions, such 
as the number of teachers employed, the intelligence of the community, 
its interest in good schools, etc. It certainly is not possible to give an 
answer of universal application. 

Moreover, experience shows that all practical school policies have a 
historic root, and, as already seen, the historic American policy of school 



Superintendence] AUTHORITY OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT 11 

administration vests the organization, support, and management of public 
schools in a school committee or board of education, representing the 
people. This is not only the historic, but the fundamental policy for the 
administration of American schools. The schools cannot part company 
with the principles of representative government. It would not be wise 
to commit their official administration to one person with a life tenure, 
however so competent. The efficiency of the schools depends too largely 
on the interest, appreciation, and support of the public, and especially of 
their patrons ; and, to this end, the general management of public schools 
has been uniformly vested in officers, directly or indirectly representing 
the people. 

It does not follow that the members of school boards should either 
individually or collectively attempt to discharge" executive duties. They 
cannot assume the teaching function, nor can they wisely act as principals 
or supervisors. All experience shows that these pedagogic duties* must 
be committed to persons competent to discharge them. This brings us 
back to the question : With what authority should the supervisory officer 
be clothed ? 

i. It is not worth while to stop long to consider the authority of 
principals, or even of supervising principals, in a system of schools. 
The authority most needed is largely inherent in the position, and does 
not need to be delegated or even defined. Besides, the relation of a 
principal to his associate teachers is so close and personal that desired 
results are best secured, not by the exercise of authority, but by the fruit- 
ful leadership of instruction, influence, and guidance. In all matters 
vested by law in the board of education, as the appointment of teachers, 
course of study, text-books, etc., the right of the supervising principal 
should be limited to recommendation or, what is usually better, to giving 
needed information. The position of supervising principal in large cities 
faces different conditions ; and, if held responsible for the character of 
the instruction and discipline of the schools in his building, his advice as 
to teachers, teaching appliances, etc., should certainly receive due consid- 
eration. He should be given large freedom in administering the schools 
under his immediate oversight, provided always that the rights of the 
associate teachers be not unduly abridged. 

2. The administration of public schools in small cities has its peculiar 
difficulties. The members of the board are in close touch with the schools 
and are jealous of 'their authority. They not infrequently assume the 
right as individuals to direct teachers in their duties, to review cases of 
discipline, etc., and all this under the assumption that they are clothed 
with supervisory power. If this erroneous assumption was always coupled 
with competency, the mischief done to the schools would not be so seri- 
ous. The superintendent is too often regarded as the board's official 
agent for the discharge of assigned duties, and so he is expected "to run 



72 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

the schools " under directions. As a consequence of. this view, certain 
members of the board, acting as committees or otherwise, are zealous in 
their oversight of the superintendent. He supervises the schools ; they 
supervise him ! 

It is unnecessary to say that the highest efficiency in school adminis- 
tration cannot be attained under such conditions. The superintendent 
should not only be the executive officer in all supervisory functions, but 
he should be the eye of the board, and its welcome adviser in all matters 
pertaining to instruction and discipline, the course of study, teaching 
appliances, etc. It should be not simply his right, but his duty to keep 
the board informed respecting needed changes in these directions, and 
his recommendations should receive respectful consideration. To super- 
visory duties should be added responsibility for the progress of the 
schools. 

It is true that all this is now happily realized in scores of the smaller 
cities of the country. The superintendent is recognized as the respon- 
sible supervisory head of the schools, with the right and duty of being a 
leader in all wise movements for their improvement. This may be 
accepted as the minimum status of the office of superintendent of schools. 
It may be true that all superintendents are not equal to this responsibility. 
This is another way of saying that some superintendents of schools are 
not qualified for the position. Whatever his responsibility, the wise 
superintendent will recognize the rights of teachers to be as sacred as 
his own. 

3. In cities containing from, say, 40,000 to 200,000 inhabitants the 
authority as well as the general duties of the superintendent of schools 
should be clearly defined by statute. The superintendent should have 
the initiative in the selection, and assignment of teachers, the revision of 
the course of study, the choice of teaching appliances, etc., his action in 
these matters being subject to the approval of the board of education. 
This is increasingly the practice in the more progressive cities, this initia- 
tive being freely conceded by school boards. It ought to be made gen- 
eral by statute. 

It is not claimed that all superintendents would use this initiative 
wisely, but it is believed that the putting of this responsibility squarely 
on the superintendent would greatly increase the efficiency of school 
administration and, as a consequence, the efficiency of the schools. It 
seems unnecessary to add that in all these duties the superintendent 
should confer freely with the assistant supervisors, principals, and 
teachers. 

4. We now come to the administration of schools in large cities, a 
part of the difficult problem of municipal government. In a paper read 
in 1890 before the National Council of Education in St Paul, I advocated 
such a school organization in large cities as will separate the legislative 



Superintendence] AUTHORITY OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT 73 

and executive functions of the school board, and further divide the 
executive function into two functions — to- wit, the business or financial, 
and the pedagogic or supervisory, the former to be intrusted to a busi- 
ness manager and the latter to the superintendent of instruction. 1 It was 
further urged that the superintendent should be vested by law with at 
least the initiative in the appointment and assignment of teachers. The 
position was criticised at the time as too radical, but, as shown above, 
the principle has since been embodied in the school laws of several 
cities. 

It is no longer a serious question as to the wisdom of giving the 
superintendent of schools the initiative in the selection and appointment 
of teachers, provided his action is subject to the approval of the board of 
education. The unsettled question is : Should the superintendent's action 
in this matter be final? 

It cannot be claimed that the superintendent's right to select and 
appoint teachers is a prerogative. In the absence of an express delegation 
of such authority to him, no superintendent can rightfully assume it. 
This authority is vested primarily in the board of education. The same 
is true of the determining of the course of study, the adoption of text- 
books, etc. I do not see the necessity or the wisdom of depriving the 
board of education of all responsibility in the appointment of assistant 
supervisors and teachers. So long as the board determines the number 
and classes of assistants and teachers to be employed, fixes and pays their 
^salaries, it should have the right of review in their appointment ; and 
whether this right be exercised in the form of approval or a veto is not 
important. But why a veto and not approval ? While experience shows 
that boards of education in large cities cannot wisely take the initiative 
in the selection of teachers, it has no testimony against the submission of 
the superintendent's appointments to the board for its approval. It is 
believed that all needed safeguards against political action are provided 
when the superintendent and his advisers are given the full initiative — 
an initiative that is not limited by such petty and puerile legislation as 
forbids the appointment of married women or persons who reside outside 
of the city limits. The schools need the very best teachers that can be 
secured. 

I must take the time to say, in closing, that no superintendent 
who has the appointment of teachers should be a member of the board of 
examiners that has the duty of licensing teachers. It seems an obvious 
principle in the civil service that the appointing power should not also 
make up the "eligible list" from which appointments are to be made. 
One of the safeguards against the abuse of the appointing power by 
school boards has been the fact that all appointments have been limited 

x This plan of organization was ably presented by Dr. Hinsdale, of Michigan Uni- 
versity, in 1888. 



74 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

to persons holding a certificate of competency issued by an independent 
examining board. This has saved the schools from incompetent teachers 
— so far as they have been saved. It may be accepted as an axiom in 
civil-service policy that the appointing power should not also determine 
who may be candidates for appointment. 

In all large cities the examining and certificating of teachers should be 
intrusted to a board of experts, at least three in number. When the 
superintendent has not the appointment of teachers, he may very prop- 
erly be a member of this examining board. The weak point in school 
administration in most cities is the method of certificating teachers. The 
first safeguard against incompetent teachers in the schools is the com- 
petency of the persons on the "eligible list.*' 



THE IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS OF THE PRIN- 
CIPLE OF SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCATION 



BY DR. ARNOLD TOMPKINS, PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY, UNIVERSITY OF 

ILLINOIS 

The impressive lesson from the history of thought is that the human 
mind can find no peace except in search for the ultimate unity and 
reality of the universe. This unity, as discerned from afar by the eye of 
faith in religion, and established by reason in art, science, and philosophy, 
is the ultimate goal of man's earthly endeavor. All processes of thought, 
from sense-perception to reason, are but processes of establishing unity 
in and thru diversity, are but modes of satisfying the craving of the soul 
for touch with ultimate reality, with the life that binds the seemingly 
chaotic world into orderly system. 

The teacher's world is no less a world of diversity to be ordered into 
the unity of a single life-principle. So many details and duties, even 
within the limits of a daily program ! And when the entire scope of 
education is considered — its aim, processes, and instrumentalities — the 
whole to be unified is coextensive with the world of thought and reality. 
Here, as elsewhere, the desire for unity is the impulse to thought — for 
unity of the infinite diversity in the educative process. All educational 
discussions are based on the assumption and prompted by the faith that 
there is a unifying principle which organizes and systematizes the distract- 
ing variety of details in the process of education. 

But, while in such diacussions there is tacit recognition of the unity 
of the educative process, there is generally lacking the firm conviction 
that the complex process of education can be reduced to the unity of a 
single principle. Even Rosenkranz, in the introduction to his Philosophy 



Superintendence] SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCA TION 7 5 

of Education, affirms that " the science of education cannot be deduced 
from a single principle with such strictness as logic, ethics, and like 
sciences," but that "it is rather a mixed science, having its presupposi- 
tions in many others ; " and that " education is capable of no such exact 
definitions of its principles as other sciences." And at present I see it 
emphasized that education is an applied science, in the sense that it is 
formed by the application of other sciences ; thus implying that it has 
no germinant idea of its own. 

Certainly, education avails itself of all the other sciences, as these do 
of it; but the science of education goes forth in its own right and 
organizes all the sciences from its own creative center. It has its own 
single, central principle, which orders all the details of the complex pro- 
cess into a unified and harmonious whole; and this principle is self- 
activity. The science of education must show how the whole process is 
implied in this principle, while the art of education is but the application 
of the principle thus implied. Since the ultimate principle of any 
science is the ultimate principle of every other, education is not distin- 
guished by its ultimate principle from other sciences, but only in the 
application of it. Since this principle is a universal one, its application 
yields a philosophy of education rather than a science. How it does this 
will best appear under the threefold aspect of the principle as it distinctly 
appears in the process of education. 

i. This principle appears primarily as tension .between the real and 
the ideal— the actual and the potential. 

Since the universe is alive and not dead, moving and not fixed, this 
principle is universal. We live in a seeking, searching, surging world. 
There is constant striving for that which does not yet appear. Every 
object has a dual nature — something within it which tends to destroy its 
present form of existence and bring it near to the reality of the nature 
which constitutes it. Any thing imposes limitations upon itself which the 
thing will not rest under. The hills, rocked-ribbed and ancient as the 
sun, the planets, and the infinite hosts of heaven, are ever seeking new 
conditions thru the infinite of space and time. 

In the organic world stress thru duality of nature is unmistakable. 
The plant or the animal is moved to self-realization by a resident force. 
In each case the object is in self* struggle. An organic thing is organic 
by virtue of the stress between its actual and its potential nature, by 
virtue of the relation between the real and the ideal which constitutes its 
nature. The ideal is ever striving for its freedom in the real — to become 
itself the real. 

Man emerges out of the lower order of beings on becoming conscious 
of the duality of his nature ; of the divergence between his real and his 
ideal self ; between what he is and what he ought to be. He can lay hold 
upon his better self,, and by conscious plan and purpose aid in his own 



76 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

«'  I ..<.-_  —    . I.I >»■,■■■- f I — 

self-realization. He knows that what he is, in his present actualized self, 
is not what he really is by virtue of his manhood ; and, feeling this dis- 
crepancy, he is consciously self-moved to realize his implicit manhood. 
Conscious self-activity is the ultimate retreat of self-consciousness; and 
from this single truth springs everything within the realm of human 
thought and action. 

Herein is involved the whole of the religious life. Coming to con- 
sciousness of the better self is the second birth of the soul. Truly man 
must be born again, in order simply to be a man ; and the whole of his 
life is but a succession of new births, in each of which man discerns 
deeper realities in his own soul. Herein man discovers God. " Religion 
is the life of God in the soul of man." In the conscious relation of the 
two selves lies the fact of sin and redemption. From this relation arises 
the possibility of man's going to heaven or hell. One not accustomed 
to think on this fact of self-consciousness will be surprised to find that 
all the doctrines of the Bible are explained by it ; and, more, that it is 
the simple truth which has shaped the world's great religions. The 
Protestant Reformation was but a clearer recognition of the voice of the 
better self. This was the simple principle that dethroned kings and gave 
us democracy. To secure the rule of the better self is the desideratum 
of all governments. And so all moral duties are determined by the 
relation of the present, real self to the ideal self. Out of this come 
conscience, duty, responsibility, obligation, and the rest. Man's duty is 
simple ; he ought to be what he is ; that is, what he is by virtue of being 
a man. If he is really a devil, he can do no better than to play the game 
well. 

In education this principle determines the end to be that of self- 
realization — the realization of the better self. Man is the product of his 
own educative process. Education cannot be ultimately tested in any 
form of external product ; as, in what a man has or knows, but in what he 
is ; thus making culture, in the true sense, the final aim. Nations have 
taken two views of the meaning of education ; regarding it either as a 
means or as an end. The history of education can, therefore, be read 
only in terms of the relation under question. 

Not only the aim but the method of education is thus determined. At 
every stroke of the teacher some present stress must be released, and some 
new ideal born ; some new stress set up. The art of teaching consists at 
bottom in discerning the present stress of the life to be educated, and trans- 
forming it into a higher one. The whole question of interest lies here. 
A child is always interested, and interested in something worthy. The 
teacher is not so much to induce interest as to mediate it. To educate 
is to move the life onward and upward under the stress of ideals. The 
fundamental thought of method in education is this of the ideal passing 
into the real, that a new ideal may be revealed, which in turn becomes 



Superintendence] SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCATION 77 

real. The perfection of character sought in education is not an end to 
be attained, but an infinite progression by mediating ideals. Wherever 
teaching is found to be dead, it is because the teacher strives to induce 
action from without, instead of utilizing the self-activity of the pupil. 
Witness, for example, the dire distress of the teacher in striving to secure 
oral or written expression from the pupil when there is no inner motive 
to expression. 

Thus "interest" expresses the tension between the real and the ideas 
in life; while that other great word "appreciation" expresses the passing 
of the ideal into the real, on the basis of its relation to the real. In the 
same way must be explained those other current terms of "correlation" 
and "concentration." Each subject of study is but a construction of the 
world under a given tension of life. Subjects have no external, fixed 
boundaries, thus becoming mutually exclusive. The failure to recognize 
this truth is a never- failing source of trouble, causing the teacher 
to resort to all sorts of schemes to correlate subjects and parts of 
subjects. 

For instance, man considered in effort to realize himself thru his phys- 
ical environment, in the form of the industrial world, forms geography ; 
and, when more fully specialized, the sciences. The field is limited only 
by what is required to this end ; there is no objective limit, and no matter 
reserved for the use of any other subject. History is formed by viewing 
man in effort to realize himself by means of his fellow-man thru institu- 
tions. For its purpose it may use all the material gone over by geogra- 
phy. Number arises from man's effort to adjust himself accurately and 
economically to some ideal end ; and is thus a process of self-realization. 
Grammar, in treating the sentence, exhibits man in the explicit act of 
passing from his real to his ideal self, inasmuch as the subject of every 
sentence expresses man's real self, and the predicate his ideal ; while the 
verb expresses the tension between the two. Literature has for its direct 
purpose the revelation of the ideal self in the real. Thus every subject is 
born of some phase of the life-tension ; some outgoing effort to self- 
realization. It is just this living and determining factor that gives the 
clue to the teaching of every subject ; so reveals its inner life and organi- 
zation as to insure vital teaching as against mechanical teaching. 

And when we pass to the school as the organized instrument of edu- 
cation, we discern the same germinant principle. All institutions are but 
projections of the ideal self in an objective form as a means to making 
the ideal real. Man, being conscious of himself, can be teacher to him- 
self as pupil. The teacher-and-pupil relation is first a subjective one. 
The teacher is the pupil's own ideal adopted as a more efficient means of 
the pupil's development. From this center the whole question of school 
organization and management arises. There can be no successful school 
management without recognition of this fact. 



78 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION |Columbu 

2. In the process of education this principle of self-activity assumes a 
second form — tension between subject and object. 

In the process of self-realization man does not simply hold his ideal 
in consciousness, but forgets himself in the objective world. The law of 
self-realization, as disclosed above, is by the law of self-sacrifice. Altru- 
ism is the method of egoism. 

Everything lives in and thru another. Man intuitively feels that his 
life is found in the world about him ; he is instinctively drawn to that 
world. This is explained by the fact that every self is the organic unity 
between this self and the other self. If at this moment one should say 
" I," and then read some poem not before read, the old I becomes a new 
one, which includes the poem. And thus with any other object of 
thought. The / is not the barren and abstract self, but always includes 
something other. What before appeared as tension between the real and 
the ideal now appears as tension between subject and object. The ideal 
which the mind seeks is the thought and spirit of the world which is 
objective to it. Subject and object implies a self-active principle which 
differentiates itself into the polarity of this and the other. 

And here we have a new aspect of the germinant principle of educa- 
tion. All thought is to cancel the distinction between the subject — the 
real self, and the object — the ideal self; and the motive in the process is 
to break down the limitations which the object imposes on the subject. 
Subjects of study are so many enlargements of the self. These are taught 
that the pupil may have life, and that more abundantly. Knowledge is 
the means by which the finite self passes toward the infinite self. The 
pupil masters a subject, and may say, " I am that subject, and that, 
and that ; " and if he could master all, he could exclaim with Jehovah, 
"I am." 

Not only the motive, but the problem of method lies in the con- 
nection between subject and object. The mind and its object must be 
reduced to common terms. The objective process in things must be seen 
as the subjective process in thought. The percept, the concept, the judg- 
ment, and the syllogism are but processes of unity between the subject 
and the object ; and no intelligent discussion of these can be made 
except by recognizing them as common processes of subject and object. 
If by reasoning, for instance, one forms a judgment, from the nature of 
an orange, that all oranges are yellow, it is because the oranges them- 
selves form their yellow in the same way. The process of reducing a 
compound to a simple fraction is the process of the fraction itself. Thus 
the problem of method in teaching is the problem of reducing the learner 
and the object to be learned to a common process — to a unity of life. 

3. But in the process of teaching this principle takes a third and final 
form, namely, tension between the universal and the individual, or between 
the creative energy and its object. 



Superintendence] SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCA TION 7 9 

What the student is immediately striving for is the unity of the world 
of isolated objects. But he cannot establish this unity by directly relating 
them. Things are unified thru their common creative energy. Oak trees 
are not primarily united in space, but in an oak nature — energy — which 
produces them. The energy which produces one produces another, etc.; 
and in this creative act all are one. Events are unified in a common life 
below them, as implied in the word "event." Hence the unity sought is 
the unity of the object with its nature, or productive energy. In every 
act or thought one object is divided into its individual and its universal 
aspects. Thinking is relating ; and the relation sought is always the two 
aspects of the object, as above indicated. This is the simple, but universal 
law of thought. 

But note the real object of this vital process of thought. It was stated 
in discussing the tension between subject and object that the purpose of 
thought is to bring the thinker into unity with the object thought. This 
can be done only by the thinker discerning the creative energy of the 
object. On this ground only can they meet. On the plane of sense- 
perception there seems to be an impassible gulf between the thinker and 
the object. This separation grows less and less as the higher processes 
of thought are exercised. In fact, such processes are higher just because 
they bring the thinker to closer unity with the object thought. The 
thinker must find himself in the object, but this is just the self-active 
principle in the object. The thinker craves the reinforcement of the 
object's inner life, and is thus prompted to search out its genetic 
principle. 

It thus appears that tension between an object and its creative energy 
is one with the tension between the real and ideal, described at the outset. 
Thus the circle is complete. The three tensions are but so many aspects 
of one life-movement. These three aspects of the principle of self-activity 
determine all phases and processes of school work — fix the aim, deter- 
mine the methods, construct the course of study, and organize and man- 
age the school. And, what is of the greatest significance, the following of 
this principle brings all school work into conscious and organic relation 
to every other educational force — the church, the state, etc. All move 
under the same principle to the same end — the full realization of all the 
beauty and worth implicit in human nature. 



DISCUSSION 



F. Treudley, superintendent of schools, Youngstown, O. — During the most elo- 
quent and delightful address of Mr. Tompkins concrete illustrations of the theme in hand 
were continually flashing before my mind. 



8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

I recall one evening, many years ago, when I had the pleasure of an invitation to a 
meeting of the Indianapolis Literary Society. The subject of discussion was Thoreau, 
and an able paper was presented by Professor Sewell, and remarks were made by Rev. 
Myron W. Reed. The point of this reference lies in the statement that from that evening 
my attitude toward nature and her beauties and glory was largely changed. I became 
interested in the naturalists. 

From Thoreau my attention was extended to Burroughs, and old Gilbert White, of 
Selborne, McCook, Miller, Torrey, Jeffries, Abbott, Lubbock, etc., until nature took on 
a marvelous appearance. I cannot liken this influence better than by that parable of the 
woman who took and hid the leaven in the measure of meal until the whole was leav- 
ened. The philosophy of this illustration is clear. 

I recall one beautiful day, which some of this audience will remember, when we were 
rapidly passing southward from St. Augustine to get our first taste of life below the frost 
line. The beautiful Indian river was lying upon our left, framed in a rich southern 
border, ducks rocking upon its surface, and herons standing like sentinels in its waters. 
A gentleman whom many of you know, of long service in the schools and possessed of 
that ripened wisdom which comes from many years of excellent living, crossed the aisle 
of the car and sat down by my side. Referring to a certain matter, he said in substance : 
" I was thinking of a remark made only last sabbath by my minister. He said, in illus- 
tration of the difference between God's actions and man's, that, if a man will cast a stone 
into the air, it reaches its limit of ascent, describes a curve, and with a heavy thud falls 
to earth. But God will take a bird, toss it from the bough, and off it flies in curves of 
beauty, alighting upon the bough again in perfect ease and grace. And all last week I 
was watching among the trees for these birds to see how beautifully {hey illustrated that 
thought." Continuing, he remarked : "Years ago, when I was a boy, a lecturer came into 
the village where I lived and used this illustration, over which I have often pondered : A 
father and his little son took a walk. Upon their return the mother asked the lad : ' Did 
you see anything, my son ? ' ' Yes, a man throwing away grain.' ' What did the father 
see ? ' asked the lecturer. ' He saw the sower going forth to sow. He saw the vast geo- 
logic processes whereby the earth was brought to the performance of its mission. He 
saw. the field of golden grain and white-winged argosies bearing the harvest to nations 
beyond the seas.' ' Did you see anything else, my son ? ' ' Yes, I saw a man pounding 
stone.' ' But what did the father see ? ' * He saw a sculptor carving out of marble the beau- 
tiful form he had constructed in imagination. And beyond this he saw the forms of the 
masters rising before him.' * Did you hear anything, my son ? ' ' Yes, I heard the noise 
of a machine.' ' But what did the father hear ? ' ' He heard a message of death going 
out to a soul far away.' " 

So do these influences in occult ways work upon us, to whom time and seasons and 
space seem no consideration. 

This beautiful address, a veritable poem, illustrates the singular manner in which 
attention is held when we come to the consideration of lofty themes thru suitable avenues 
of approach. The real point of view is the poetical. 

As for me, when I desire to find expression for my innermost thoughts and convic- 
tions, I resort to Holy Writ or to the poets. To the latter, for 

" I believed the poets. 
Jt is they which utter wisdom from the central deeps, 
And, listening to the inner flow of things, 
Speak to the age out of eternity." 

And as the speaker was proceeding, the words came to me, borne out of the past by his 

eloquence : 

" More it is than ease, 

Palace and pomp, honours and luxuries, 

To have seen White Presences upon the hills, 

To have heard the voices of the Eternal Gods." 



Superintendence] SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCA TION 8 1 

Mr. Tompkins referred to the tension which exists between the real and ideal, 
between the present and the future, between what is and what should be ; and spoke of it 
as proceeding under conditions of " strain and stress." 

Holy Writ thus speaks : "The whole creation groaneth." " Strain and stress" have, 
indeed, been placed as the prime condition under which we transcend present conditions 
of hardness and narrowness, and pass into conditions more favorable to life. 

41 Only suffering draws the inner heart of song, 
And elicits the sweetest perfumes of the soul." 

I am happy to be here ; happy to have had the privilege to listen to remarks of so 
lofty and inspiring a nature ; happy to feel that before even me may range such possi- 
bilities as have been suggested, all of them " implications " of this high doctrine of self- 
activity which has been preached, which implications, by the grace of God, shall become 
" applications," if not here fully, there in fullness. 

Professor Samuel Weir, New York University School of Pedagogy. — I fear lest 
the pleasure with which you have listened to this masterly discussion may have weakened 
your impression of its immense importance. I agree most heartily with the main propo- 
sition, that self-realization, in the highest sense, must be the aim of. human striving and of 
education. It is probable, however, that few of you remembered the child while you were 
being carried so gently and pleasantly thru the air on the wings of light by the sweep of 
the Hegelian dialectic. The Stoics believed in submitting to the world-reason, and when 
fate overtook them they could still say : " Whatever befalls me is for thy good, O Uni- 
verse ! " One great teacher held the principle that whosoever sought to realize his life by 
himself, whosoever would save his life, should lose it. But whosoever should surrender his 
life under the law of universal love, with a profound 'faith in the ideal moral world-order, 
to him should come back all the riches and the power and the glory of that order to 
enlarge and enrich his own life. He should save his life. 

We must not lose sight of the individual and of his realization in this universal out- 
going. These higher ideals must become conscious in the child himself. He must come 
to feel by the gradual enlargement of his own ideals this significance of his life. It is 
not enough that the world-force must work out thru him. He must know something of 
his own working and of the higher meaning of his own life in relation to its moral self- 
realization. 

One of the earliest Hebrew writers, in that sublime poem which has so often been 
misunderstood by the theologians, because they would not look upon it as a poem in which 
grand outlines of truth are given, had a knowledge of this higher meaning of the moral 
self. There was the herb bringing forth after its kind, there was life, there was intelli- 
gence ; but higher than these was the knowledge of good and evil. It was this which * 
brought man into relation with God. The discrepancy between the ideal and the real 
gave the sense of sin and the hope of realization. But (his ideal had to become conscious 
in the individual. Not blind working, but conscious moral aspiration after the grand 
ideal, must come to light. 

Dr. James W. Bash ford, president of Ohio Wesleyan University. — I am profoundly 
impressed with Professor Tompkins' remarkable address. What higher compliment can 
I pay him as an educator and a thinker than to call him a younger brother of Dr. Harris ? 
Summoned suddenly and unexpectedly to speak upon " The Principle of Self- Activity in 
Education," I can only reiterate and illustrate the thoughts which Professor Tompkins 
has already enunciated. The professor first dwelt upon the aspect of stress to which all 
young people are subjected by reason of the chasm between the real and the ideal in their 
thoughts and lives ; he dwelt, secondly, upon the fact that, the student never reaches a 
personal end by direct effort, and hence he presented to us the aspect of altruism in edu- 
cation. In the third place he dwelt upon the tendency to unity in all thinking. 



82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

The aspect of stress, due to the attempt of the individual to realize his ideal, furnishes 
the key to all biography and all history. The struggle begins below man in the vege- 
table and animal kingdom. Darwin has summed up the life of the globe in the phrase, 
" the survival of the fittest." This phrase is only another expression of the endless strug- 
gle of plants, and animals, and men to realize themselves. The plants crowd each other 
for soil and sunshine ; each fish eats his smaller brother, and in turn is eaten by a larger ; 
and man, the highest animal of all, sustains his life and can sustain it only by the death 
of those beneath him. Were not our ears so dull, our morning walk would be disturbed 
by the cries of crushed insects, and our noonday meal by the groans of the animals which 
are dying in order that we may live. The struggle extends beyond the animal life. Busi- 
ness is based upon the principle of competition. Your success in winning the position 
which you now hold meant the disappointment of some brother- teacher. In the political 
world one party's triumph is another's overthrow. In national life, like islands on a sea 
of time, one empire rises as another sinks. Is it marvelous, therefore, that when we enter 
upon the higher life of the mind and soul in children, we find the stress and storm of 
conflict ? Each appetite clamors for indulgence, often to the detriment of others. The 
lower self, guided by a worldly ambition, is sometimes an open rebellion against the higher 
self. Surely you will not be speaking parables to children when you interpret their con- 
flicts to them and show them that the only path to permanent peace is in the enthrone- 
ment of conscience. 

But if the first aspect of the principle of self-activity finds abundant illustration, the 
second fundamental fact, namely, that man never secures his end by directly seeking it, 
finds equal proof. While the fact of struggle is fundamental in vegetable Jife, it is not 
the deepest law of plants and trees. The fundamental law of the vegetable kingdom, 
that upon which the very existence of each species depends, is enunciated in the divine 
command found in Genesis, that each plant produce seeds and fruit after its kind. The 
plant does not bear seeds aqd fruit for its own sake, but for the perpetuation of its own 
species and for the nourishment of animals. Down in the vegetable kingdom, therefore, 
we find the first indication of altruism in the universe. 

h§> we pass to tke animal kingdom, the law of sacrifice for the sake of others becomes 
more marked. Many wild animals, indeed, destroy men or other animals without the 
slightest apparent compunction. But these same animals bring forth young with pain ; 
and, so far from destroying the offspring which have caused them pain, they feed their 
young with care and defend them with their lives. Deeper, therefore, than the fact of 
selfishness in the animal kingdom is the law of motherhood — the law of sacrifice. 

As we pass from animals to men, altruism becomes more imperious. We did not 
come into this world by a direct creative act and as isolated units. We are born into 
families ; and the family is the divinely ordained organism by which the individual is 
instinctively called out of himself and made to live in his father and mother, in his brothers 
and sisters. Again, the child soon comes into contact with children from other homes, 
and its life is lived in connection with the larger life of the neighborhood. Again, beyond 
the neighborhood is the state or the nation, with its still broader altar of patriotism. 
Finally, beyond the nation stands the church, with its members living under different 
flags and speaking various tongues, but still calling each other brethren. So the family, 
society, the nation, and the church are divine organisms by which God calls the individual 
out of himself, and leads him to offer himself upon the constantly broadening altars of 
the family, society, the nation, aad humanity. Do you see the profound significance of 
Dr. Tompkins' statement that no individual realizes his ideal by a direct process, that 
everything lives in and thru something else, that the one true method in education is 
altruism ? The constitution of the universe debars the individual from reaching his goal 
by direct and selfish efforts. We live by death. We increase by being spent. Love is 
wisdom. The martyr is the philosopher. " Only," says Emerson, " as we forego all per- 
sonal and temporal aids do we rise in the region of the universal and the eternal." 



Superintendence! SELF-ACTIVITY IN EDUCATION 83 

The third aspect of self-activity — the tendency of all thought toward unity — more 
readily interprets your own mental processes and is more profoundly suggestive than 
either of the preceding aspects. The principle that all thought tends to organize scat- 
tered facts is the key to all that is best in my own thinking. In the language of Cole- 
ridge, that truth finds me at greater depths of my being than either of the other 
principles. Arithmetic, grammar, history, chemistry become organic and vital to the 
student the moment his mind passes beyond the mere effort to memorize isolated facts 
and grasps the inner principle upon which all the separate facts depend. This funda- 
mental act of reason by which the mind 4iscovers the operation of cause and effect, and 
perceives the organic relation of apparently scattered phenomena, is the deepest process 
in education. Thru it the child emerges from the parrot stage and becomes a thinker. 
Perhaps I can illustrate the principle, and at the same time throw out a suggestion in 
response to the inquiry just made by one of the speakers as to what constitutes a person. 
We usually say that intellect, sensibility, and will are the three factors in personality. This 
analysis of personality is not quite complete. Evolution is probably truer than some of us 
dream, and these three roots of personality are found in the animals below us. Intelligence 
grows out of instinct ; affection grows out of the sensibility which the mother animal 
manifests for her young ; and will seems to be only the development of those incipient 
choices which birds make when they select their nesting places. Thus science indicates 
a unification of our philosophy of life, and an organic relation between the animal and 
human kingdoms. Again, these three elements of personality tend to run together, when 
studied closely. That which distinguishes human affection from the instinctive love of 
the mother animal for its young is the presence of reason and will in human love. That 
which distinguishes human volition from mere animal caprice is the presence of reason 
and affection in the act of will. That which distinguishes reason from the mechanical 
action of instinct is the presence of love and of will-power in our intellectual processes. 
Rosenkranz has laid strong emphasis upon the necessity of demanding that the child 
summon its will-power to its aid for the mastery of its mental tasks. Herbart, upon the 
other hand, has laid strong emphasis upon the necessity of the teacher attempting to 
awaken the interest of the child and to enlist its affections in its studies. Do you not see 
that both of these philosophers recognize that the intellect does not do its best work 
alone, that one recognizes that the will must be summoned, and the other that the interest 
must be awakened, in order to secure the most fruitful mental activity ? Each philosopher 
is right in what he demands and wrong in what he ignores in education. Education can 
never secure the best intellectual results without enlisting the whole personality of the 
child. In a word, we teachers must carry this principle of unification beyond the abstract 
realm of thought into the practical realm of life. 

Finally, Professor Edward Caird, in his Philosophy of Religion, furnishes striking 
confirmation of Professor Tompkins' remark that all thought moves back to the infinite 
unity and becomes religion. There has been an age-long dispute between the idealists 
and sensationalists as to the origin and certainty of our knowledge. The idealist holds 
that self-consciousness is the starting-point of knowledge, and that the one thing of which 
the mind has direct knowledge is itself. Upon the other hand, the sensationalist rests 
in a knowledge of mere external phenomena revealed to us thru the senses. For- 
tunately the tendency to unity of thought enlarges both of these partial theories of knowl- 
edge. How does a man become conscious of himself ? Simply by distinguishing between 
himself and that which is not himself. As Hamilton profoundly remarked : " In the very 
act of self-consciousness the mind is forced to recognize something which is not itself." 
Thus the idealist is forced to recognize at least a not-self, which is as real as the self which 
alone he claims to know. Upon the other hand, underlying all activity of the senses is 
the mind's consciousness of its activity, its consciousness of itself. The sensationalist 
cannot analyze and vindicate the reality of knowledge coming thru the senses without 



84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

recognizing the self-activity of the mind. Thus this tendency toward a unity of knowl- 
edge of which Professor Tompkins spoke reconciles the two great schools of philosophy 
and furnishes us an ideal realism and a real idealism. 

But the tendency to unity carries us a step farther. As Descartes recognized, the 
fundamental aim of philosophy is to discover an organic relation between mind and mat- 
ter, to find the relation between self and the world. A wider view of consciousness leads 
to this broader unification of all knowledge. Just as thru my senses I become conscious 
of the external world, just as thru introspection I become conscious of myself, so thru 
conscience I become conscious of a Higher-than-self. The child no more stumbles at 
the knowledge of God than he stumbles at the knowledge of the external world. 
He is as clearly conscious of a power above self as he is conscious of himself. 
How else can we account for the imperative ought which reveals itself in every 
awakening personality? Along with the freedom of choice by which the schoolboy 
rises above the physical universe, by which he can elect his course contrary to the 
wishes of a billion fellow-men, by which he becomes a moral king and stands upon an 
equality with God — immediately the choice is once made by this moral king, there 
emerges in his consciousness the Greater-than-the-king, either approving or condemning 
the king's choice. In the presence of this mysterious One every human being rejoices 
when he has chosen aright. Before His presence every soul quails, when it has chosen 
evil. Now, the soul is not by nature humble. It does not quail before a mere abstraction. 
It does not dread a nonentity or fear a zero. Nor does the whole soul quail before one of 
its faculties. But this condemning and approving power is not simply one faculty of the 
human soul standing alongside of judgment and desire and taste. It commands desire. 
While it does not overawe, it condemns the will. What is this mysterious One whom all 
children recognize, and before whom we have all quailed ? Is it not the presence of God 
in the soul of man ? Is not Edward Caird right in saying that the human soul has three 
forms of consciousness — the consciousness of self, the consciousness of the world, and the 
consciousness of God ? Thus we find self and the world standing together in organic 
relation thru their relation to God. Just as we found idealism .and realism uniting in 
organic relation thru a true analysis of the consciousness, so we find self and the world 
coming into organic and vital relations with each other thru this final analysis of con- 
sciousness. The tendency to unity is the greatest force in education, because it is the 
deepest impulse of the reason ; and this fundamental impulse of the soul carries the child 
back to God. Christianity is the final philosophy. " In Him all things consist" 

Dr. Tompkins. — I have no right to speak again, and do not desire to do so. I wish 
that the remarks of Drs. White and Bashford might be the closing benedictions to this 
session. What the teacher needs most of all is a full appreciation of the dignity and worth 
of man, as they have just been so eloquently presented. A clear conception of the aim 
and process of life is of vastly more significance to the teacher than all of our technical 
methods of instruction. 

I fully agree with the gentlemen in regard to the points on whicli they differ from 
me. What they say is only an elaboration of what is implied in my general doctrine. 

In reply to Professor Galbreath's question, as to why, since the principle is an old 
one, it had not been of more potency in the past, and what is in the way of its success in 
the future, I would say that there have always been men who would run after strange gods ; 
and that in the educational world there were always men so desirous of attracting atten- 
tion that they would promulgate new isms and cults as if they had discovered a new 
principle of education. 



Superintendence] ELECTIVES IN HIGH-SCHOOL WORK 85 



TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD THE HIGH-SCHOOL PUPIL 
BE PERMITTED TO ELECf HIS WORK? 



BY W. L. STEELE, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, GALESBURG, ILL. 

In the summer of 1895 the course of study for the Galesburg High 
School was revised, and all the subjects in it were made elective. The facts 
and reasons leading to this action and the results following it form the 
outline of this paper. 

The few graduating from the high school, compared with the many 
entering it, has long been the subject of comment by the members of the 
board of education. Different theories were advanced to account for this 
fact, some of which were, that the pupils enter the high school too young, 
too immature; that the work in the grades is not thoroly done; that 
pupils pass into the school without having learned how to study ; that the 
transition from the grammar school to the high school is too abrupt ; that 
many lack the taste, the ambition, and the capacity for such work. An 
irreverent member suggested, however, that the fault might be in the high 
school — not in the pupils. These comments and discussions resulted 
finally in an investigation. 

The records of the classes graduating for the five preceding years 
were carefully examined. They showed that the average number entering 
the school annually was eighty, and the average number completing the 
course at" the end of three years was thirty-six — an average loss of forty- 
four pupils out of eighty, or 55 per cent. A closer examination 
revealed the fact that thirty-two of these forty-four pupils dropped out 
during the first year; that is, 73 per cent, of the loss during the entire 
course occurred in the first year. Thus, the cause of so many pupils 
leaving the high school was seen to be in the first year, and the cause was 
found to be the failure of the pupils to do the work in one or more 
branches required to complete the course. These branches were Latin 
and algebra, about twenty failing in one or both subjects each year. To 
put it plainly, we had practically been refusing to teach to 25 per cent, 
or one child out of every four, any science, literature, history, or commer- 
cial studies, because the required percentage in Latin or algebra had not 
been attained. 

Is not this true of all high schools, and why is it so? Is the fault with 
the pupils or with the schools? There is no question, in my mind, that in 
many cases the fault is with the pupils, for the reasons already given : 
immaturity, want of preparation, lack of ambition and capacity, and the 
great gulf between the grades and the high school. 

Most high schools now provide a course, more or less honorable, with- 
out Latin, but I have yet to find one in which algebra is not required. Is 



86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

the human mind so constituted that it cannot be developed in any direction, 
beyond the most rudimentary stages, without the aid of algebra? Or is it a 
survival of our reverence for arithmetic in the grades, for which we have 
haunted the child's mind the first eight years of his school life? 

In making a course of study, why not be governed by what we know 
to be true in life, namely, that an education is not such a little thing as 
the learning of certain facts about any particular subject or subjects, but 
consists rather in awakening and stimulating the mind to activity along 
some line of thought? Why not treat the children of the public as we do 
our own ? If one of you had a child who was deficient in mathematics or 
languages, or, more mildly and perhaps more truthfully, was perfectly 
indifferent to them, what would you do? You certainly would not keep 
him at these subjects till he became completely discouraged and disgusted 
with all study ; you would not lock the door to that part of your library 
which contains the volumes of literature, history, and science, saying to 
him : "You must not think of trying to become acquainted with any of 
these until you have first solved the problems in an academic algebra as 
far as logarithms." If you were set upon having your daughter become 
a musician, and it turned out that she could not learn music, or, what is 
equivalent, she would not try, would you not attempt to give her any 
accomplishment? The reverse of this, you know, would be true. You 
would, on this account, put forth all the more effort to arouse her interest 
in other directions. Why not, then, treat my child, whom I send to you 
for training, in the same manner? The school should aim to recognize 
diversity of talents, tastes, and dispositions — and respect them — "the same 
as does the home. 

To this end the board made the entire high-school course elective. 
It considered that the twenty who annually dropped out of the beginning 
class, for lack of interest or lack of ability to do the work prescribed, 
ought to receive as much aid as the public school could possibly give, 
and were certainly in greater need of it than the sixty who were able to 
do the particular work given, and remained. 

I will admit that this is all nonsense, if the only object of the high 
school be to prepare its pupils for college, or to make of the more gifted 
an educated aristocracy. At a recent meeting of the Schoolmasters' Club 
of New England the mayor of Boston gained the distinction of being the. 
first to advocate publicly such a high school. To be just to him, one must 
admit that the burden of his speech, as reported, was not opposition to 
the high school so much as dissatisfaction with the kind of work it is 
attempting to do with what he was pleased to call "the unfitted half." 
It was a call to schoolmen to be sensible in their dealings with children, 
rather than an attack on our sacred institution. However, if the main 
object of the high school be to raise the masses to a high plane of living 
and usefulness, if it be to help the dull and the slow as well as the bright 



Superintendence] . ELECTIVES IN HIGH-SCHOOL WORK 87 

—  — -— ■' »■■■  iip!   ■--■■ —y -   - —  1  1  1 —  

and active — the distinctive characteristic of our institutions, and the glory 
of our civilization — then the plan of elective studies is just and wise. 

We arranged our work in three courses : (1) the scientific, with algebra 
and geometry, but no foreign languages, designed for those who do not 
intend to enter higher institutions of learning, yet who want a broader 
education than the grades give ; (2) the Latin, intended for those who 
wish to prepare for college ; (3) the commercial, designed for those who 
wish to prepare themselves especially for commercial life. This arrange- 
ment, however, is simply suggestive to the pupil. *He is at liberty, at any 
time, with the consent of his parents, to make a different selection, pro- 
vided the subjects are being taught. To each subject is given a certain 
number of credits, the unit being one month of twenty recitations. For 
example, algebra, which extends thru nine months, is given nine credits. 
When any subject is not completed, no credits are given for it. When 
the pupil gets one hundred credits, whith means one hundred months of 
successful work, he i« given a diploma, in which is written the entire list 
of subjects completed and the value of each — making not only an intel- 
ligible diploma, but an honest one. 

As was said at the beginning of this paper, the Galesburg High School 
has been conducted on the elective plan exclusively since September, 1895, 
the first class graduating last June. We have had time enough to expe- 
rience the terrible results that some assured us would certainly follow if 
pupils were allowed to pass thru school studying only those subjects 
they might see fit to select. It was claimed that the subjects required for 
college entrance, that give mental fiber, would be passed by and the 
so-called easier ones substituted in their places ; that their education would 
resemble a crazy quilt ; that, in short, it would be a mere farce. 

The elective course, perhaps, makes this possible. It is certainly pos- 
sible to go thru the classical course of any college and come out with 
such an education. But it is a mistake to assume that boys and girls in 
their teens, when properly managed, will make such a choice. The healthy 
and ambitious boy is no more seeking an easy job than the successful or 
ambitious man. This is even more true of his sister. The teacher who 
thinks the child is a shirk, that he does only what he is compelled to do, 
has, to put it mildly, missed his calling. Some imagine that their success 
in life is due to the fact that they had a hard time when young and were 
driven to do their work. If this be true, why do not all the poor and 
oppressed rise to success ? Their lot is certainly hard enough and the 
outside pressure sufficiently great. The mistake of such people and such 
teachers is in locating the ppwer that compels to continuous and heroic 
effort as coming from without, whereas it comes from within the child. It 
is an impelling, not a compelling, force that develops the child. It is the 
work that he does because he desires to do it, not what he does because he 
must do it, that contributes most to his growth. When once this impelling 



88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION . [Columbus 

power, this consuming desire, is created .within the pupil, compared to 
which all else is insignificant, the problem of his education is virtually 
solved. Anything short of this is not worthy to be called teaching. An 
elective course of study in the hands of a true teacher produces this 
result to a remarkable degree. 

Some went so far as to say that it was absolutely silly to think of 
allowing boys and girls of high-school age to choose what studies they 
would pursue, for they have neither the knowledge nor the maturity 
of judgment to decide such questions. This is perhaps true, but who 
has ? I know from experience that my own judgment in such cases is not 
very reliable. I may understand the educational value of the subjects, 
but I don't always know the boys and girls. 

The way we had been doing in this matter, previous to the adoption 
of the elective system, was to ask the pupils, when they presented them- 
selves for admission to the high school : " Which course do you wish to 
take, the Latin or the scientific ? " They indicated their preference, and 
were assigned accordingly. Thus, it is seen, we had been asking these 
immature boys and girls, unconscious of their mental ability or bent of 
mind, and ignorant of the choice they were to make, to decide at once 
what subjects they would choose for the next three years. Incapable 
of choosing for one term, we demanded of them a decision for three 
years. Then, at the close of the fall term, when ten or fifteen pupils real- 
ized that it was impossible for them to carry their work in algebra or 
Latin, and their teachers were perfectly aware of the fact, we left them in 
the class to drag along as drones, belaboring them daily for their dullness 
and stupidity, till one by one they dropped out of the class and the school, 
to begin life with a broken spirit. Now, under the elective system, they 
are encouraged to choose another subject, which they ofttimes master, and, 
gaining confidence in themselves, complete a course with credit. Need I 
ask which is the better way? 

The elective system thus permits the work to be adjusted to the pupil 
as he develops, as his capacity is manifested, and his type of mind is 
revealed — two things which the high school certainly does for every pupil. 
School boards, as well as parents, that ignore either of these, the capacity 
and type of mind, in the education of children, find their efforts and good 
intentions often failures rather than blessings. 

This freedom of choice does not intoxicate the pupils nor cause them 
to follow every freak of their fancy, but it sobers them rather, sets them 
to thinking, and results in bringing them to their parents and teachers for 
advice. We have found this to be almost universally true. This has a 
most marked effect upon the teachers. When you are once admitted into 
the confidence of a child, he is never again the same person to you, and 
you are ever after a different one to him. It makes a great difference with 
the teacher whether he is required merely to record his opinion of a pupil's 



Superintendence] ELECTIVES IN HIGH-SCHOOL WORK 89 

knowledge of the subject, or is expected to be called upon by that pupil 
for advice about pursuing the subject farther or taking some other in its 
place. The one makes the teacher cold and indifferent, the other sympa- 
thetic and kind. 

Since the elective system has been adopted, a great change has come 
over the relation between the high-school and the eighth-grade teachers. 
Each has actually grown interested in what the other is trying to do, visit- 
ing one another at work. In May the high school sends to each eighth- 
grade pupil an invitation for himself and parents to attend a reception 
given on an afternoon. The pupils of the high school give a short pro- 
gram, and the principal explains, as far as possible, the nature of the first 
year's work, giving to each pupil at the close a card on which the subjects 
are printed. Forty-five out of fifty of the eighth-grade pupils attend these 
receptions, and in most instances are attended by one or both of their 
parents. The eighth-grade teachers are consulted by great numbers of 
these pupils and parents, and the high-school principal gives days of his 
time for such consultation. The tendency is to bring about the same 
conditions in the school that ought to exist in the home, where the chil- 
dren strive, not only to do their work well, but to do a little more work 
than is expected. 

That freedom of choice does not cause pupils to slight what are called 
the disciplinary studies, but stimulates them rather to greater activity, 
leading them to do even more than is required, can be proved only by 
experience, and I here submit the record of our experience. 

For four years previous to the change the average number entering the 
Latin, college, or orthodox course was seventy-six. During the four 
years of the present plan the average number choosing the same course 
has been ninety-eight, or, in other words, the number taking Latin and 
algebra for four consecutive years under the elective system is 27 per cent, 
more than for the same number of years under the former plan, showing 
conclusively that the elective system does not jeopardize the cause of 
so-called higher education. Of the ninety-four who graduated last June 
more than one-half had credits in excess of the number required — some 
as many as fifteen or twenty more than the necessary one hundred credits 
— proving that the tendency is to do more work than is required for 
graduation. 

The principal reason, however, for permitting pupils to elect their 
studies in the high school is that it greatly extends the blessings of edu- 
cation. It reaches a large class of children who would otherwise never 
think of entering the high school, and, by broadening their horizon with 
a knowledge of history, literature, science, commercial branches, and 
manual training, greatly adds to their personal happiness and general 
usefulness as members of society. 

Under the elective system the Galesburg High School has grown from 



9° NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

234 to 518 pupils, an increase of 121 per cent. During this time the 
grades from which the high school is fed have increased only 9 per cent. 
How can the other 112 per cent, of growth be accounted for ? It must 
be on some other ground than increase of population. When it is found 
that the number of pupils now in the high school who are pursuing other 
than strictly the Latin and scientific courses is 56.7 per cent, of the entire 
school, is it not fair to infer that they are there because of the provision 
that allows them to take these studies ? 

In conclusion, it has been shown, from theory and experience, that 
the purely elective system in the high school gives all the people the kind 
of an education they desire for their children, which we regard for our- 
selves as our most sacred right ; that it increases, rather than lessens, the 
number that prepare for college ; that the pupils do more work than is 
ordinarily done under the non-elective system ; and, best of all, that it 
brings the spirit of the home into the school. 

What our high schools need most today is heart in their organization 
and in their teachers — not cold laws and bare facts. 



THE SCHOOL DIRECTOR AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 



BY SAMUEL HAMILTON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ALLEGHENY CO., 

BRADDOCK, PA. 

Education has a business side. Viewed from that standpoint it is a 
kind of joint partnership, in which there are three partners — the teacher, 
the parent, and the director. Each contributes something to its success 
and participates to some extent in the profits. Each has rights which 
should be respected and duties which should be performed. And the 
greatest return in profits comes from this business when each knows his 
rights and will insist upon them, and at the same time is willing to per- 
form his duties. Then each aids all in the participation of rights, and all 
aid each in the performance of duties. 

To the teacher is intrusted the actual work of instruction. To per- 
form his duties aright "he should be an active, aggressive, intelligent 
compound of love, zeal, wisdom, virtue, and justice. To him virtue is its 
own reward, and he receives little of any other kind on this side of the 
Eternal City." 

The parent supplies the running expenses of the business and the 
capital stock which is invested. This investment, for a period of eight or 
nine years, is his child, the most precious asset in all the world to him. 
And its value as a living, working entity, in the wisdom and wealth of the 
world, will depend to a very large extent upon the education which it 



Superintendence] DIRECTOR AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 9 1 

receives during this period. From this investment the parent has a right 
to expect large dividends in intelligence, .virtue, wisdom, and culture ; in 
sterling character, right habits, correct morals, pure patriotism, and noble 
manhood and true womanhood. 

FUNCTIONS OF THE DIRECTOR 

The director is the business manager of this partnership. In him is 
vested the power to do anything and everything necessary to the opera- 
tion of the school as a business institution. His duties are both local and 
legal ; he represents the people, he also represents the state. The state 
supports a school system in order that it may have a wise, virtuous, intel- 
ligent, patriotic citizenship. To this end it establishes the school and vests 
in the director its complete legal and business management. 

But the director is more than the business factor in the school problem. 
As the official manager of the system, he practically controls its profes- 
sional progress. With his hand on the financial lever he can aid or 
retard this progress at pleasure. His vote will enrich and expand, or 
impoverish and contract, the curriculum. It means to his school a living, 
active, intelligent, professional teacher, or a lifeless, indifferent, mechan- 
ical bungler. It means growth or decay, life or death, to the professional 
spirit of education. He can make of his community a valley of dry bones, 
or one teeming with spiritual and professional life. His influence is 
either positive and helpful, or negative and hurtful. He is thus clothed 
with the power to start, aid, encourage, and direct the professional side 
of education, or to discourage, retard, hinder, and stop it. He may be 
either a destructive force or a constructive cause, but not both. 

RESPONSIBILITY AND POWER OF THE DIRECTOR 

Accepted authority means assumed responsibility. To the director 
the measure of the former is surpassed only by the magnitude of the latter. 
This responsibility has a financial, a civic, and a moral aspect. The finan- 
cial responsibility is recognized when we remember that the director dis- 
burses annually $185,000,000. The civic responsibility is greater even 
than the financial. The state, in a sense, is mercenary. To some extent 
its motives are egoistic, not altruistic. It supports schools to make citi- 
zens. From the civic standpoint education is simply the training which 
the state gives to those who are to be its citizens, in order that the intel- 
ligence, advancement, and civilization of one age may be retained and 
made the basis of still greater achievement. All civic progress depends upon 
the virtue and intelligence of the citizen ; these depend upon the school, 
and the school depends upon the director. The moral responsibility is not 
less important than the civic. We are all consumers of the common stock 
of accumulated moral worth. He who contributes more than he consumes 
is a benefactor, while he who draws in excess of his contribution is a 



92 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

beggar. Every child in every school will be either a beggar or a bene- 
factor. His moral worth will depend upon his education, his education 
upon his school, and his school upon the director. Life is a warfare, 
every child a soldier. The battle is unto death. Shall the child be one 
of the victors or one of the vanquished ? Shall he go forth morally and 
intellectually as a strong, sturdy, stalwart giant, or as an aimless, helpless, 
hopeless pigmy ? The director who provides the school and selects the 
teacher, and thus in a large measure determines the extent and nature of 
the child's education, must answer this question. 

This responsibility is recognized in two ways : first, by the oath which 
many states require the director to take ; and, second, by the almost unlim- 
ited power conferred upon him by legal enactment. Relying upon the 
solemn obligation that he will faithfully and impartially perform his duties, 
the state proceeds to make him, not only the business manager, but the 
legal prosecutor, the judge and jury, of the school system. Clothed with 
all this authority to direct the institution which is to shape human destiny 
and to mold human lives, it is highly important that the director be a 
man keen and accurate in his observation of educational facts, sincere in 
his convictions, correct in his conclusions, wise in his enactments, right 
in his decisions, and just in the performance of his important and mani- 
fold duties. In our examination of the director as the business, and the 
indirect professional, manager of the school system, it may be well for us 
to attempt to analyze him more critically and discover his ideal qualifica- 
tions. 

IDEAL QUALIFICATIONS OF THE DIRECTOR 

i. He must have high ideals in education. These ideals will hold up 
to his admiring vision the necessary characteristics of a good teacher, of a 
good school, and of good educational facilities. His ideal will not be 
realized. No ideal ever is. The mind may contemplate it as an ethereal 
vision — faultless, harmonious, symmetrical, and complete. But, while it 
may be thought out, it can never be wrought out. As a mental will-o'- 
the-wisp it ever flits above us, luring us onward, receding as we advance, 
ever escaping our grasp, and refusing to become an embodied reality. 
Visionary and ethereal as an ideal must be, it is nevertheless an essential 
requirement of a good school director, High ideals mean progression, 
low ideals retrogression. The former means vigorous effort, healthful 
growth, boundless achievements ; the latter, feeble effort, stunted growth, 
arrested development, retrogression, decay, death. 

2. The model director must have keen perceptive power with which 
to discover the defects in the schools, when comparing the actual with the 
ideal. The first step toward the ideal strength to which we would attain 
is a just appreciation of the weakness we possess. And the first step 
toward educational progress begins in the complete discovery of the slow 



Superintendence] DIRECTOR AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 93 

pace at which we are traveling. As a child can never be made to com- 
prehend the knowledge possessed by the teacher until the teacher has first 
comprehended the child's ignorance, so the perfections of an ideal cannot 
be even approached until the imperfections in the real are first discovered. 
The director, therefore, must have keen perception if he would note the 
lack of harmony between the actual and the ideal. 

3. The model director must have good judgment with which to select 
and inaugurate the necessary remedial agencies that will help him to 
realize his ideals. This is the day of fads. Small-tonnage educational 
theorists have gotten far out from the shore on the sea of pedagogy, and, 
having lost their compass, are guessing the way to the desired haven. 
Little progress will be made in realizing high educational ideals if the 
director adopts the plans of these dreamers, these visionary theorists and 
pedagogic fortune-tellers. Sailing, not drifting, should be the motto of 
the business manager of our school system. To do this he must equip 
his vessel with the best machinery, follow the truest charts, and have on 
board a most reliable pilot, in whose hands is a compass tried and true. 
This equipment is the result, not of haphazard guesswork, but of a wise 
choice deliberately made by good common sense and sound educational 
judgment. 

4. The ideal school director must possess an intense personality. 
Such a man is greater than his environments. He is the creator, not the 
creature, of circumstances. His real power is not in his environment, 
but in himself, in his character, his individuality, his attainments, his 
spirit, his personality. The director must have educational wisdom mani- 
fested in his high ideals, his keen perception, and his good judgment. 
But he must have zeal and personality as well as wisdom. Wisdom 
strikes when the iron is hot, zeal builds the fire and heats it. Wisdom 
seizes the opportunity, zeal makes it. Wisdom guides, zeal moves. Wis- 
dom spreads the sails, zeal makes them. The director must have both. 
He must either lead or be led by the educational sentiment of his com- 
munity. And whether he is to be its master or its slave will depend very 
largely upon his zeal, his individuality, his personality. 

All will agree that these qualifications are desirable, and in a measure 
essential. And all will admit — I presume with equal unanimity — that 
they are not possessed in the superlative degree by the average director. 
The question I wish to ask, not answer, is : Can we do anything to help 
the director to secure this necessary zeal and wisdom ? Certainly the 
age demands a more careful study of this question, even if we are as yet 
unable to formulate a desirable answer to it. The study of the director 
as a factor in education has received but little attention, and nothing 
practically has been done to help him. Much has been done for the 
child and for the teacher. To aid them the history of education has 
been written, its philosophy discovered, its science explained, and the 



94 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

method of instruction outlined. We have normal schools, technical 
schools, and institutes for teachers ; but we have nothing for the director. 
The beneficent results which these schools seek to bring about are often 
rendered null and void, because directors are ignorant of, or not in sym- 
pathy with, the spirit of progress they suggest. 

THE NECESSITY FOR BETTER-TRAINED DIRECTORS 

If these qualifications are desirable, let us ask if there is any existing 
necessity for a better education of the school director along these lines. 
The average director is the synonym of educational indifference, and edu- 
cational indifference is the child of educational ignorance. The director 
who possesses it has little interest in healthful progress. He has no 
educational ideals commensurate with the age, and worthy of attainment. 
He sees no defects and is able to suggest no remedies. His influence, 
therefore, is negative and hurtful, rather than positive and helpful. He 
is a retarder rather than a director, a hinderer rather than a helper. This 
is possible in our school system. The director as its business manager 
has unlimited power. In most states his word is law. As its financial 
manager he controls its progress. His vote means substantial financial 
aid for or against every improvement. The same law which makes it 
possible for him to help, aid, and direct makes it possible for him to 
retard, oppose, and hinder. His educational sin may be omission, com- 
mission, or both. 

But is there any real necessity for an attempt to educate him ? We 
answer, yes, and cite three of the many reasons that might be given for 
our answer: 

i. An adequate supply of trained teachers has always been a perplex- 
ing question. It will always be such until we have an adequate supply 
of trained directors. The law of supply and demand is inexorable. The 
latter always regulates the former. As long as the indifferent director 
will hire indifferent teachers, we may expect indifferent results, and a 
large supply of untrained teachers. " We have scotched the snake, not 
killed it." Completely to remove the effect we must remove the cause. 
And the untrained director is certainly one of the causes of the untrained 
teacher. 

2. The condition of the average school property is a monument to the 
indifference and carelessness of the director. Especially is this true in 
rural districts and small villages. The grounds are unfenced, and the 
vagrant cattle of the neighborhood hold camp-meetings on the school lot. 
The gate is a postless, palingless, hingeless, latchless fabrication of the 
imagination. In fact, there is nothing of the gate there except the place 
where it ought to be, and even that cannot be located without a surveyor. 
The doors of the outbuildings are hung without latch or hinge, as these 
are regarded as nonessential in outhouse architecture. For want of care 



Superintendence] DIRECTOR AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 95 

and disinfectants these buildings often degenerate into dismal, dirty, 
dingy, disagreeable, and disgraceful devil-devised dens, with sin-scratched 
walls and sin-suggesting sentiments. Their condition thus is repulsive to 
the refined tastes and pure moral tone of the child, and they become 
"seminaries of sin," whose vicious, venomous, voiceless, vice- producing 
virus is sufficient to annul the whole moral influence of the best of teach- 
ers. The well or spring was not cleaned prior to the opening of school, 
and is filled with decaying and death-dealing animal and vegetable mat- 
ter. The pump is without a handle, spout, or stalk, and the supply of 
water is neither pure nor abundant. The door is without a knob, and the 
windows without glass, and the building during vacation was in all prob- 
ability the gloomy abode of tramps and bats. There are no fastenings 
on the shutters, and their flappings in the wintry wind are like the spir- 
itual rappings of some departed director who failed to do his duty while 
in flesh, and thus in aimless, endless restlessness returns as a warning to 
the living. The windows are without shades, and the blinding sun beats 
in upon the unprotected heads of the children, imparing the delicacy and 
the power of the eye for all time. The unpolished stove is covered with 
an incrustation of rust that has been accumulating since the days of Jack- 
son. The door has but one whole hinge, and the crack in the bowl of 
the stove, from which exudes deadly gases to stifle the children and retard 
their mental progress, is neither a thing of beauty nor utility. The school 
building has not been cleaned within the memory of man. The craze for 
cleaning schoolhouses once every twenty-five years, whether they need it 
or not, has not yet reached every school district in every state. 

Barring hearsay evidence, many careless directors could scarcely prove 
that the schools are kept in actual operation, as they seldom drop in to see 
them. They abundantly and lavishly supply the schools with floors, ceil- 
ings, and walls; but the "extras" which beautify the room and charm the 
child, and cultivate within him a love for the beautiful in nature and art, 
are there only as mental concepts, not as material realities. 

I have thus brought before you the worst conditions of the worst 
schools in the worst communities, that you might see in this unsightly 
aggregation the accumulated results of the director's indifference and 
carelessness, and the necessity of an attempt to train him. And while 
these conditions are not the rule in this country, some of them are found 
in some districts, a few of them in many districts, and many of them in a 
few districts. 

3. There is a mass of library legislation in the country. In fact, in 
every state in the union save two the library law is a part of the school 
law. All this library legislation is based upon the principle that the free 
public library is and should be an essential part of the public-school sys- 
tem, and as such should be supported by public taxation. The public 
library is thus regarded as the complement of the public school. The 



96 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION rColumbns 

school trains the mind, the library enriches it. The one builds the mental 
structure, the other furnishes it. The one sharpens the mental appetite, 
the other gratifies it. It is now more than forty years since these relations 
of the library to the school were first pointed out. Yet the school director, 
as the business manager of our school system, has scarcely considered the 
subject, and in most communities nothing practically has been accom- 
plished. In the name of justice, must our children, the priceless treasures 
of home and the dearest hope of the nation, be robbed of their birthright 
for forty years more because of the indifference of the school director ? 
We spend large sums in making it possible for the children to learn to 
read, but thru the indifference of the director we have done almost noth- 
ing in making it possible for them to read to learn. Learning to read 
comes first, reading to learn naturally follows. Without the latter the 
former is unnecessary. 

THE METHODS OF TRAINING DIRECTORS 

Assuming that there is a necessity for better-trained school directors, 
the question naturally arises : Is it possible to train them, and how may it 
be accomplished ? The time has come for raising this query for thought 
and discussion, even tho we may not be able to answer it satisfactorily. 
For thought and discussion must precede the practical solution of every 
educational question. 

If the director is ever to be reached and helped to a higher and truer 
appreciation of his importance as a factor in education, it is evident 
that it will not be by sending him to school: It must be done for him 
largely in his home; and the press, the platform, and the book must be 
the means by which it is accomplished. This is a difficult problem. But 
its difficulty is the state's opportunity. What, then, is the opportunity of 
the state ? 

i. It could furnish him gratuitously with a paper, edited expressly for 
him by its brightest and brainiest educational writers. 

2. The state could prepare and furnish to the director a set of directors' 
reference-books, covering every phase of his work, to be turned over by him 
to his successor in office. We have books for lawyers, books for doctors, 
and books for teachers — why not have books for directors ? Every pro- 
fession and every vocation has its library — why not have a small library 
of a dozen books for the director ? 

3. The organization of directors by counties and then by states will 
aid greatly in an effort to train school directors. In this way much has 
already been done in some states. The Department of Administration of 
the National Educational Association will in due time give recognition to 
the director as a factor in education, and at the same time focus the study 
of educators on the school problem from his standpoint. Formation must 
precede reformation, and evolution revolution. This work must proceed 



Superintendence] DIRECTOR AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION 97 

from within. The director must be put to studying himself and his duties, 
ere the dormant seeds of truth will spring up into vigorous growth. 
Organization, agitation, and investigation will help, but the main work 
must be accomplished thru the agency of books and papers. 

4. The institute or educational meeting should do more for the director 
than it has yet accomplished. His presence should be required, even at 
public expense, at every such meeting, and the program should provide 
for the discussion of such subjects as would be of interest and profit 
to him. 

The reading of a few books may not accomplish the desired end at 
once, but it will help. Two books carefully read by a poor Danish boy, 
whose only heritage was the poverty of his shiftless parents, made Hans 
Christian Andersen a great literary character, and gave to the world one 
of its brightest stars. The reading of a single book resulted in the estab- 
lishment of the society of Jesuits, and called into existence a system of 
education which in a few short years controlled the schools of Italy, 
France, Spain, and Austria, and for more than a century was the domi- 
nating intellectual power of the world. 

Books and papers may not do all that is desired, but they will do 
something. This is an age of organized movements to train the masses 
by courses of reading. The Chautauqua movement, the various reading 
circles, the scientific clubs, the women's clubs, and the correspondence 
schools are not visionary schemes. They are successful institutions, 
accomplishing much in their lines. The Cosmopolitan University enrolled 
twenty thousand students the first year. Why not organize such a move- 
ment for the school director ? 

A systematic effort to train directors will cost something. So does 
the effort to train the children. There is something more absurd than 
the blind leading thq blind. It is the blind trying to lead those who see. 
We pay annually $185,000,000 to educate the children. Would it not be 
good business, common sense, and economy to spend a small part of it 
in an effort to train those who are to disburse the balance ? 

But is the state justified in training the director at public expense ? 
It is its duty to maintain at public expense a complete school system. 
The director is a necessary and an important factor in it. He is an essential 
part of it. And is not the duty of the state to the part, part of its duty to 
the whole ? The director holds the balance of power in the school 
system. He regulates and controls its progress. He is expected to per- 
form an important gratuitous service to the state, and should not the state 
in return perform this important gratuitous service to him ? Without 
the latter we may scarcely expect the former. The director has not spent 
and will not spend his money to help the state. Will the state be 
without that help, or spend the money that will aid in securing it ? 

The director is the absolute monarch of the school system. As its 



98 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

business manager his authority is unlimited. And as the financial con- 
trol regulates the professional spirit, this authority means progress or 
retrogression, growth or decay, life or death to the school. If this 
authority is to mean life, growth, progress, certain qualifications are 
necessary in him who exercises it. It is certainly desirable that he 
possess these qualifications. Is it expedient that we attempt to develop 
them in the director by systematic training ? If we try, shall we succeed, 
and what shall be the nature of the effort ? We have asked these ques- 
tions, but not answered them. 

Some may attribute these questions to the speculations of an idle 
dreamer or a visionary theorist, and toss them over into the great peda- 
gogical museum of fads, fossils, and freaks, fit only to augment the hodge- 
podge of impossible, improbable, and impractical educational suggestions. 
It is futile to remind such objectors that Lovejoy, Garrison, Whittier, 
and Wendell Phillips were once regarded as idle dreamers ; that some of 
the professors in the universities of Europe were the last among the 
people to accept the discoveries of Newton ; that Galileo had to deny 
the truth of his discoveries upon his knees ; and that a learned engineer 
proved beyond a doubt that no steam-vessel could ever cross the Atlantic, 
because it could not carry coal sufficient to propel it more than one-third 
of the distance. The proposition to train directors may now be impos- 
sible and impractical, just as it was once impossible to look thru the human 
hand. But we should remember that the impossible has time limitations, 
and human progress consists, to a large extent, in making the impossible 
posssible. 



REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS 



To the Department of Superintendence, National Educational Association : 

Your committee, appointed at the Chattanooga meeting of this body 
to report upon some uniform style of financial school report for the use 
of cities or school districts, and also upon some form suitable for the use 
of state school systems, begs leave to report as follows : 

The committee has not found it practicable to have a meeting of its 
members before coming to Columbus. Discussion of the matters com- 
mitted to it has been carried on by correspondence, both between mem- 
bers of the committee and with others. 

The printing of this report, so that it might be in the hands of the 
members of the department at this meeting, was authorized at the time 



Superintendence] REPORT ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS 99 

this committee was appointed, but, in view of the fact that the members 
have not been able to meet for final discussion of the matters intrusted 
to them until the assembling of the department in Columbus, it seemed 
best to have printed only the proposed form. 

It is not probable that any form for financial school report could be 
presented which would be entirely satisfactory to everyone. Your com- 
mittee is of the opinion, however, that most persons would agree on 
nearly all important items, and that an agreement should be made thru- 
out, even tho, to some, the classification of a few minor items seem 
arbitrary or incorrect. 

While local conditions enter into necessities for expense in any public- 
school system, yet one of the most useful means of estimating proper 
expenditures, and the necessity for particular expenditures, should be 
afforded by a study of the financial school reports of other, similar cities 
or districts. As these reports are at present made, they are of little use 
in this respect. Items given in one report are omitted from another. 
Items of income or outgo are differently grouped in different reports, 
and the statement is made. in such a way that it is impossible to separate 
the items for the purpose of reclassification. In getting the cost of 
education per child, different items are put into the total cost of educa- 
tion, which forms the dividend, while sometimes the divisor is the number 
enrolled, sometimes the average number in daily membership, sometimes 
the average number in daily attendance. 

One of the chief studies of a wise administrator of schools is to make 
the cost of education per child as low as consistent with the best service. 
Attention to this and to a comparative study of reports for a period of 
years, now that most of our school systems have become established on a 
somewhat similar plan, should give an idea of the average or normal cost 
of education per child. Having this, the manager of schools may know 
how expense in his system differs from this normal standard, and, if not 
normal, why it is .above or below. This knowledge cannot be arrived at, 
however, until the same items are included when computing cost of 
education and the same divisor is used in obtaining the average. By 
easeful comparative study, railroad men know the average cost of hauling 
freight per ton per mile, and the cost per mile of transporting a passenger. 
Those administering schools should be as well informed upon the cost 
of education. 

The two things which one studying a report of school finances most 
desires to know are, first, the rate of direct local taxation for schools borne 
by the community reporting, and, second, the average cost per child per 
year for the usual educational expenses. There are many items, which, 
when given, are explanatory of these two, and serve to correct the infer- 
ences which might be drawn from a bald statement of them. There are 
also many items, not directly related, , which aid in giving a correct 



IOO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

estimate of the conditions surrounding the school organization repor- 
ting. 

In arranging the proposed form an attempt has been made to group 
items so that the two prime facts which such a report may show may be 
easily determined ; and to give, in addition, information of interest and 
use in such comparative study of income, outgo, and conditions as those 
charged with the management of school systems find it profitable to make. 

The heading of the blank form was, at the suggestion of members of 
the committee, made to cover cities, school districts, or school corpora- 
tions. In some cases the city and the school district have the same 
boundaries ; in other cases the school district covers territory not included 
within the limits of the city; in some cases the title varies, and the school 
district is called a school corporation. The proposed heading will permit 
the form to be used not only for cities, but for any school district, or 
for any form of organization the purpose of which is to carry on 
public schools. 

Taking up the items of the form, Nos. i, 2, and, 3 serve to show the 
rate of local school tax, and to determine how this rate in one system of 
schools compares with that in another. The proportion of the true value 
•at which property is assessed for purposes of taxation varies so in different 
states and different cities that all of these items are necessary that a com- 
parison may be made. A tax of seven mills on the dollar, where prop- 
erty is, as in some cases, valued for taxation at only one-tenth of its 
actual value, is really much lower than a tax of four mills in a city where 
property is valued for taxation at two-fifths its actual value. The tax of 
seven mills on the one-tenth valuation might be increased on the same 
valuation to a tax of sixteen mills before it would be as great in reality as 
the four-mill tax on the two-fifths valuation. A tax of six mills on the 
dollar where property is assessed at one-fourth its actual value is in 
reality only one-half as great as a tax of three mills where property is 
assessed, as in Massachusetts and in some other states, at its full actual 
value. With the figures given in Nos. 1, 2, and 3, valuation and tax rate 
may be reduced to a common basis, and fairly compared. 

Under the head of receipts, the ordinary and extraordinary sources of 
income are separated. The ordinary sources, items 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, serve 
to explain each other, and also to explain No. 3. In some states little or 
nothing is received from state distribution or funds ; on the other hand, 
in at least one commonwealth, this state school fund is so generously 
.endowed that, with prudent care, it should, in the future, carry a large 
part of the expense for public education. Where this source of income 
is large, the necessity for local taxation is correspondingly reduced. In 
cases where the county figures to a considerable extent as the unit of 
taxation the necessity for tax in the local school district is likewise lessened. 
In many cases the amount received into the school fund from fines, 



Superintendence] REPORT ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS 101 

licenses, and penalties is considerable. On the other hand, this source 
of revenue is sometimes large, in some cases even providing the greater 
part of the funds needed for the maintenance of the schools. Where such 
a condition as this exists, the necessity for taxation, of whatever sort, is 
materially reducecl. Cities or districts sometimes have unusual or tem- 
porary sources of income — gifts or bequests, interest on permanently 
invested funds, tuition of non-resident pupils, etc. These items, indicated 
in No. 8, serve to put all the facts before the reader of the report. 

Receipts from money borrowed and from the sale of bonds are not 
natural or regular sources of income. The receipts from sales of bonds 
are generally to be applied to some particular purpose, usually the pur- 
chase of sites and the erection of buildings. Income from loans is a 
temporary makeshift. Nevertheless, these two items must be reported 
to give a correct understanding of the situation. 

Expenditures seem to fall into three classes : the usual current expen- 
ditures necessary for the maintenance of the schools ; expenditures for 
sites, buildings, permanent improvements, and equipment ; other expendi- 
tures which, for various reasons, are not put in either of the two preceding 
classes. 

For the purpose of this report the first of these classes is by far the 
most important, for it would probably be conceded that from this item of 
current expenses should be determined the cost of education per child, 
the most important item to be shown. Most of the difficulties in prepar- 
ing such a form as is here proposed are met in the attempt to agree upon 
the items which should be included and those which should be excluded 
from item 13. Item 12 is simple, including only expense for regular 
and special teachers, and for those engaged in supervising or direct- 
ing the work of instruction. An agreement is easily reached upon most 
of the elements making up the total in No. 13. Here, without doubt, 
belong all expenditures for salaries of executive officers of the board ; 
salaries of janitors ; fuel ; light ; water, where this is purchased ; material 
and labor for ordinary repairs to buildings and premises ; the care of 
grounds ; text-books, where these are owned by the school board ; school 
stationery ; school supplies, both those for janitors and those used in the 
work of instruction ; cartage and freight ; advertising ; election expenses; 
school census ; legal expenses ; postage ; telegraph and telephones ; etc. 
Your committee would also include sums paid for rooms or ground rented 
for the use of the schools. It may seem inconsistent to include rent here, 
while excluding interest paid, and interest estimated on value of buildings 
and grounds used for school purposes. Rent, however, is seldom a large 
item, and it seems best to class it as current expense. 

Actual usage as to items included in " cost of education " varies widely 
in different cities. Perhaps in one case only part of what is included in 
No. 12, simply the expense for teachers, is included. In another city 



102 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

the cost of instruction and supervision, all of No. 12, is included, and 
this is reported as " cost of education." Sometimes to these items is added 
cost of janitors, fuel, and school supplies, while all other items are omitted. 

It has been urged that to the items grouped under No. 13 should be 
added the sums paid for interest, and also a sum for interest, estimated 
at the current rate, upon the value of all grounds and buildings owned by 
the school district and used for school purposes. The item of interest 
paid upon bonds or upon temporary loans has been arbitrarily excluded 
from No. 13. This has been done because interest is not directly an 
expense for educational ends ; because in many cities no debt exists and 
no interest is paid. If the item is included, it will in some cities weigh 
unduly in the showing of the cost per child. Whether school buildings 
and grounds shall be purchased by direct appropriations of funds from 
the school treasury, or by funds derived from the sale of bonds, is a matter 
regulated by each community for itself, under state laws, and one plan or 
the other is followed, as the particular community considers advantageous. 
The matter is largely out of the management or control of those directly 
charged with administering the schools. Your committee has, therefore, 
recommended this exclusion. 

The question might be raised as to including in No. 13 the interest 
upon estimated value of buildings and sites and permanent equipment. 
While it is true that the community is permanently deprived of the use 
for other purposes of the sums invested, its inclusion would be a wide 
departure from any prevailing usage. Estimates of the value upon which 
interest should be computed would vary largely, as one person after 
another, in different years, was called upon to make the estimate, and the 
item would become a variable factor, causing apparent cost of education 
to show strange increase or decrease. Your committee has, therefore, con- 
sidered it wiser to exclude both interest paid and interest estimated from 
"cost of education." 

Items 14 to 19, inclusive, show permanent investments in plant. The 
items are separated, because it is desirable to know amounts expended for 
each purpose. Some little perplexity may arise in classifying expendi- 
tures under Nos. 16 and 17. Probably window shades and poles, and 
carpets, should go under 16, while door mats should go with brooms 
under 13. The repairing or replacing of shades should probably go 
under 13 also. Maps, charts, globes, etc., with all original fitting up of 
laboratories and workrooms, as well as additions of permanent pieces of 
apparatus, belong under 17 ; while the repair of apparatus and the replace- 
ment of the daily consumption and small breakage of laboratory material 
and utensils should be counted under 13, as should rebindingand repairs 
of library and reference-books. Bookcases, etc., an improved heating 
plant, a new system of ventilation put in a building, fall naturally 
under 19. 



Superintendence] REPORT ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS 103 

Items 20, 21, and 22, not placed with either of the foregoing classes 
of expenditure, are desirable for information, and are therefore included. 

Altho this form for report does not resemble a bookkeeper's balance 
sheet or exhibit, yet item 24 is desired as a matter of information, as is 
also item 27. Items 25 and 26 are necessary to give a correct understand- 
ing of the significance of item 24. Items 28 and 31 are also desired as 
items of information, important as giving a full knowledge of the situation 
which exists in the reporting district. Nos. 29 and 30 modify consider- 
ably the significance of 28. 

Items 32, 33, and 34 give an opportunity to estimate the cost of 
ordinary schools, free from complications with the unusual schools indi- 
cated in these items. They also give information as to what extraordinary 
educational responsibilities are assumed by the community. 

Item 35 is inserted simply as information often desired, but frequently 
omitted from school reports. 

Item 36 sheds light on the item following, and both of them are things 
well to be known when considering items 38, 39, and 40. These facts 
are not all strictly related to finances, but help in a view of the whole 
situation. They should often be borne in mind as correctives when con- 
sidering items 3 and 44. 

Items 41, 42, and 43 bear the same relation to 40 that 32, 33, and 34 
do to the sum of 12 and 13. They permit the cost of education for the 
common schools to be separated and computed apart from that of the 
schools for special classes or purposes indicated in 41, 42, and 43. 

There will no doubt be criticism of the selection of No. 40 as the divisor 
in obtaining No. 44. Both No. 38 and No. 39 were considered. 

No. 38 varies so in different cities in proportion to the school popula- 
tion, and the average number of days each pupil enrolled is in attendance 
during the year varies so, that this does not seem to provide a divisor 
that is in any degree stable or reliable. Neither does the enrollment, in 
any great degree, determine the number of teachers or the school accom- 
modations necessary. 

For many reasons No. 39 seems the most suitable divisor. If com- 
puted in a uniform manner, the figures showing number in average daily 
membership would most nearly show the requirements for schoolrooms, 
furniture, supplies, and teachers. But it is not true that these figures are 
obtained by the same processes, or based upon the same facts, in differ- 
ent school systems. Usage varies so in computing membership in differ- 
ent schools — pupils in some cases being counted as members of the 
schools, when in other cities the same state of facts would cause the child 
to be conside-red as no longer a member of the schools — that fair com- 
parison is apparently not practicable by the use of this divisor. 

Your committee is of the opinion that a divisor as little subject to 
misunderstanding as possible, and one based upon facts which are obtained 



104 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

in the same way everywhere, is of the first importance. The members 
believe this is provided by item 40, and we have, therefore, made that item 
the divisor to be used, in connection with items 12 and 13, to obtain 
what shall be known as the "cost of education." 

Your committee further recommends that the accompanying form for 
reports of cities or school districts be used as a basis for uniform financial 
reports by state superintendents of public instruction. 

Your committee finds it impracticable, without further time than has 
been at the disposal of its members, to present a suitable form for report 
showing the important facts as to finances of state schools and educational 
institutions other than public schools. 

Respectfully submitted, 

C. G. Pearse, 

W. W. Stetson, 

John R. Kirk, 

C. A. Babcock, 

C. M. Jordan, 

E. B. Prettyman, 

D. M. Geeting, 

Committee on Uniform Financial Reports. 



PROPOSED FORM FOR 

REPORT OF THE SCHOOL RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF 

THE CITY 

(OR SCHOOL DISTRICT OR SCHOOL CORPORATION) 

of for the year ending 19- 

1. Estimated actual value of all property in the city (or 

school district or corporation) $ 

2. Assessed valuation of all property in city (or school dis- 

trict or corporation).. 

3. Rate of school tax levied on each dollar of assessed valu- 

ation of city (or school district or corporation) 



RECEIPTS 

4. Received from state apportionment or taxes $, 

5. Received from county apportionment or taxes 

6. Received from city (or school district or corporation) 

taxes 

7. Received from fines, licenses, penalties, etc 

8. Received from all other sources except loans and bond 

sales. (Specify different sources) $ 



» < 



Superintendence] REPORTS ON UNIFORM FINANCIAL REPORTS 105 

9. Received from loans 

10. Received from bond sales 

11. Total receipts, all sources 

EXPENDITURES 

12. Paid for salaries of teachers and supervisors 

13. Paid for other current expenses, excluding interest : 

Salaries of officers 

Janitors 

Fuel and lights 

Text-books, including copy- and drawing-books 

Stationery 

Other supplies for schools 

Ordinary repairs to buildings, etc 

All other current expenses 

14. Paid for sites A 

15. Paid for additions and new buildings 

16. Paid for permanent furnishings and furniture 

17. Paid for permanent equipment for manual training, 

science laboratories, etc „ 

18. Paid for reference and library books..... 

19. Paid for all other permanent improvements, such as 

grading, paving, etc. (Specify different expendi- 
tures) , 

20. Paid for interest % 

21. Paid on principal of loans 

22. Paid on principal of bonded debt 

23. Total paid out, all purposes 

24. Cash on hand at beginning of year 

25. Cash on hand at beginning of year in fund for sites and 

buildings. (Included in 24) .* 

26. Cash on hand at beginning of year in sinking fund. 

(Included in 24) 

27. Warrants outstanding, beginning of year 

28. Cash on hand at end of year 

29. Cash on hand at end of year in fund for sites and build- 

ings. (Included in 28) 

30. Cash on hand at end of year in sinking fund. (Included 

in 28) ' 

31. Warrants outstanding at end of year 

32. Paid current expenses, evening schools. (Included in 

12 and 13) 

33. Paid current expenses teachers' training schools. 

(Included in 12 and 13) 

34. Paid current expenses, schools for defectives or other 

special schools. (Included in 12 and 13. Specify 

different schools) 

35. Bonded school debt of city (or school district or cor- 

poration) at end of year 

36. Population of city (or school district or corporation)... 



• • • • • • • 



Io6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

37. Persons of school age, to ...... years, inclusive, in 

city (or school district or corporation) 

38. Number pupils enrolled, all schools 

39. Average number in daily membership, all schools 

40. Average number in daily attendance, all schools 

41. Average number in daily attendance, night schools. 

(Included in 40) 

42. Average number in daily attendance, teachers' training 

schools. (Included in 40) , 

43. Average number in daily attendance, schools for defect- 

ives or other special schools. (Included in 40. Specify 

different schools) 



44. Annual cost of education per pupil. (Sum of Nos. 12 

and 13 divided by No. 40) • $ 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AMENDED SPELLING 



To the Department of Superintendence, National Educational Association : 

Your committee " appointed to. consider the advisability of advocating 
additional changes looking toward the further and more rapid amend- 
ment and simplification of English orthography," presents the following 
report : 

The orthography of the English language never has been, and, in the 
nature of things, never can be, constant or fixed. Only dead languages 
can present an unchangeable orthography. The form of words in Chaucer 
(" wel of English undefyled") is so different from that in use now as to 
render the reading of the Canterbury Tales without a glossary impossible. 
Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, each in turn, spells differently from his 
great predecessor, and it is therefore an unreasonable demand that the 
present orthography shall be retained for all time. 

Since the spoken is the real language, changes in spelling, in order 
more perfectly to represent its words, can in no sense be regarded as 
marring it, or breaking the continuity of English speech or literature ; 
and apprehensions on this score can be attributed only to lack of knowl- 
edge of the science of language, or to little acquaintance with the history 
of literature. Nor can the present spelling be justified on the ground of 
etymology, for it often sets at defiance all etymological rules and prin- 
ciples; moreover, it is not the office of spelling to teach etymology, nor 
can it do so : it can simply illustrate the etymology of the word to those 
already conversant with the history of the language. 

The object of written or printed words being to represent the sounds 
of the language, and these varying from age to age, the symbols which 
represent them must be changed correspondingly, if the two are not to 



Superintendence] fiEmKT ON AMENDRD SPELLING I O 7 

be wholly divorced. Changes must consequently come aft some time, 
and be advocated by somebody; and it would seem that upon litis 
department, constituted as it is of persons whose profession it is to direct 
public. education, and the object of which is the improvement of the work 
of the schools by the invention of better methods of teaching, the respon- 
sibility of taking the initiative in the advocacy of amended spelling 
devolves in an eminent degree. It would be difficult, indeed, to point to 
a greater waste of time and mental ability in tlje entire educational field 
than that which is caused thru the teaching of our utterly indefensible 
orthography. The general adoption and teaching of amended spelling, 
facilitating the learning to read and spell, would bring in its train a saving 
of time and mental powers which could be devoted to other branches, 
and this would mean an enrichment of the public-school course of instruc- 
tion. It would also facilitate the acquisition of our language by people 
of other lands, and thus greatly aid our missionaries in their efforts to 
Christianize (as this generally means to Anglicize) the heathen by whom 
our English Bible must be studied, as well as all other persons desir- 
ing to learn our tongue, thus hastening the time when English shall 
be the universal medium of communication. A powerful incentive to 
this course presents itself to us at this time, when our government has 
practically assumed parental relations to large populations in the East 
and West Indies speaking in other tongues, whom it is our interest and 
our duty to win to the use of English as soon as possible. So also our 
relations with Spanish America, which practically means the entire conti- 
nent south of the United States, have become, and should continue to 
become, more intimate, and hence present another strong argument 
urging us to render our medium of communication more easy of acquisi- 
tion to these people. 

Other nations have led the way — Germany by imperial edict; Italy, 
Spain, and Portugal gradually — in order to promote ease of utterance as 
well as acquisition ; and in our country, in this nineteenth century, great 
progress has been made toward simplifying and amending our orthog- 
raphy, notably by lexicographers and writers on scientific subjects. Most 
important of all is the fact that the changes recommended by this depart- 
ment, and adopted by the National Educational Association at Washington 
in 1898, have been largely accepted. 

Moreover, as we now find odour and odor, sate (preterit of " sit ") and 
sat, why not also are and ar. give and giv, possible and posibl, etc. ? Give 
freedom to use that which is preferred, and the right and common sense 
will prevail, and amended spelling will soon be a fact. It should always 
be remembered that it is not necessary that all persons familiar with the 
present orthography should set about to learn the amended spellings ; only 
teachers, authors, editors, proof-readers, and stenographers need do so. 

As regards proof-readers, who would be especially inconvenienced and 



108 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION LColumbus 

would be obliged Xo learn the new spellings, it may be said that their 
labors would be on the decrease as fast as the new generation of spellers 
would become the authors, and writers, and contributors to the press. 
Our first aim must be to secure recognition for the amended forms in the 
dictionaries and schoolbooks, and then leave the work to free will and 
time. 

Your committee heartily indorses the ten rules adopted and recom- 
mended by the American and the British Philological Associations, but for 
prudential reasons limits its recommendations at this time to those men- 
tioned below, fearing that prejudice, lack of knowledge of the subject 
and of the reasons for the change, and a general innate resistance to 
change from long-established usage, aroused by such sweeping changes, 
would prevent the general adoption of amended spellings, and thus 
retard, rather than promote, the end in view. Your committee, therefore, 
presents only the following resolutions, with the request that action on 
them be deferred until the next regular meeting, one year hence : 

Resolved, That in all the published proceedings of this department the recommenda- 
tions of the American and the British Philological Associations be adopted at once, so 
far as said recommendations refer to the dropping of the final e in words in which it does 
not serve to lengthen the preceding vowel, but rather tends to mislead the learner — thus 
spell hav, giv, ar, bad (preterit of "bid"), definite derivative amiabl, etc.; and to the sub- 
stitution of f for ph and gh when these digraphs represent the sound of f — thus spell 
geografy, f ant asm, and enuf, etc. ; and to the dropping of gh in all words in which this 
digraph is silent — thus spell thot, bou (bough), ni (nigh), etc. 

Resolved, That in all words in which the amended spelling recommended by said 
associations is in accordance with the etymology of the word, it be adopted in the published 
proceedings of this department ; thus spell coud, sovran, hole (whole), Hand, gastly, etc. 

Resolved, That the publishers of dictionaries be requested to extend recognition to 
these changes by inserting these spellings with those now recognized in the body of all 
dictionaries published or revised hereafter, and that authors and publishers of schoolbooks 
be requested to use only the amended form of spelling in such publications after July 4, 
1900; and that all literature intended for use and circulation in the East and West Indies, 
especially the schoolbooks to be used there, be published with the amended spellings 
recommended by the associations mentioned above. 

Resolved, That a standing committee of five members of this department be 
appointed, whose duty it shall be to promote by every means in their power the amend- 
ment and simplification of English orthography, and to make a report to this department 
annually. 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the committee. 

R. K. Buehrle. 
Thomas M. Balliet. 
C. C. Rounds. 
E. O. Vaile. 



Superintendent*] ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 109 



ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 



CONDUCTED BY J. P. SHARKEY, SUPERINTENDENT OR SCHOOLS, VAN 

WERT, O. 



PROMOTIONS AND GRADING 



FIRST PAPER 

BY W. W. CHALMERS, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, TOLEDO, O. 

There has been so much said upon this subject within the past two years that I feel 
like offering an apology for its introduction here this afternoon. I gave a paper upon this 
subject of grading and promotions at a meeting of an educational association at Tiffin in 
November, and, in response to a request from the chairman, I am before you today. 
I desire to say that in what I shall offer upon this subject you will readily see that I 
present nothing new. There will probably be something new in combinations. 

I am not one of those who believe that the plan of grading schools and the promotion 
of pupils is the most important problem which presents itself to a school superintendent* 
The plan of grading and promotions has to do with the machinery of school administra- 
tion, and has, therefore, not enough life in it to be of paramount importance. It seems to 
me that some superintendents in this country for the past few years have given undue 
prominence to this subject. They have magnified this one part of a superintendent's work 
until it has obstructed their view of the weightier matters. A superintendent of schools 
is the responsible representative of the manifold educational interests of the community he 
serves. He must watch all sides of his field ; the plan of grading is one ; the floor plans 
of his school building, heating and ventilating, statistical reports, reports of work, courses 
of study, and many other considerations should receive their due attention. But they all 
belong to the machinery of school administration, and should be given only the minimum 
amount of attention to keep them in smooth running order, and the maximum amount of 
thought should be given to the heart and soul of the whole thing — the boys and girls. 

You may say : " Then why occupy our time and attention with a matter which is 
regarded as of minor consideration ? " My answer is this : Until a school district has in 
operation a rational, flexible system of grading, it is of vital importance. Until your dis- 
trict has in force such a scheme, there is no subject which I could call to your attention 
that could be of more interest to your pupils, teachers, and patrons. 

I take it for granted that all here are in favor of a class interval of less than one year. 
The yearly-promotion plan, with its annual official examination to determine the ability of 
pupils to pass, represents one extreme of the question under consideration. The other 
extreme is represented by individualism in education. I assume that we are all of the 
opinion that the happy solution of this difficult problem in school administration lies 
somewhere between, these two extremes. What I shall say to you on this subject is only 
my present belief. It is the best solution I can offer at this time. I believe in the plan I 
shall propose to you, because I have used it and found it helpful. I do not say it is the 
best, because others are succeeding with a different plan. 

Any plan of grading which is based on the requirement that just so much ground 
must be covered in a given time with a fixed degree of thoroness is wrong, but I have come 
to the belief that it is compatible with good school administration to ask a given grade or 
class to cover a given portion of a given subject in a given time, and that this can be done 



HO NA TJONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOC! A T10N [Columbus 

without becoming enfeebling to the so-called brightest third or discouraging to the dullest 
third in the class. The mistake comes when we require all pupils to cover the grade out- 
line with the same degree of thoroness. Let the brightest third, the middle third, and the 
dullest third cover the grade work in a given time, and let the outline be planned for the 
brightest, rather than the dullest, division of the class. A wise reclassification of pupils is 
needed at the end of the grade ; and this brings us to the main question under considera- 
tion : When and how shall this reclassification be made ? The when has to do with the 
length of the class interval, and the how with the manner of reclassification. I shall give 
you my own experience upon these points and the conclusions I have drawn, based 
upon that experience. I have worked with the yearly interval between classes, with the 
half-year interval, and have done some experimenting with the quarter-year interval, and 
with even less divisions ; but in a city system of schools I am most heartily in favor of 
the half-year interval in the essential subjects in the elementary course, and the yearly 
division in the general-culture and the manual -culture subjects. A shorter interval than 
the half year dissipates the energy of the teacher, results in an almost ungraded school, 
and eliminates the possibility of training pupils along the line of the culture side of an 
education. I think, however, in the beginners' grade; or the first half of the first grade, 
the classes or sections should be only six, eight, or ten weeks apart. This I call the " pro- 
bationary grade." Some pupils can be promoted from the beginners' to the first grade in 
two or three months, and some require a year to prepare them for first-grade work. 

When the class interval is settled, the question is then reduced to the considerations : 
(i) how pupils may be promoted at stated times, or at the end of the grade period ; and 
(2) how pupils may be promoted in term. It seems to me that the best possible answer 
to the first question is to leave the whole matter of the promotion or non-promotion of a 
pupil to his teacher and principal. It is desirable for the superintendent to lay down cer- 
tain general rules, such as : no pupil who has been regular in attendance and effort shall 
be required to repeat a grade more than once ; but the teacher who knows a pupil's pro- 
ficiency in the preceding grade should be the one to pass upon the question of advance- 
ment. Her decision should be based upon the pupil's class history, both written and 
unwritten, his effort, age, health, heredity, daily work, tests, etc. In regard to the second point 
under consideration, a plan for the promotion of pupils irregularly or during mid-term, 
there are several matters that require careful thought r (1) mental capacity of pupil ; (2) 
health ; (3) bent, including industry and ambition ; (4) age, and (5) home environment. 
Some cities maintain an ungraded room in the buildings, where backward pupils and pupils 
who cannot be readily classified are placed until they are fitted to enter a regular class. 
Here, too, are pupils who are preparing themselves to skip grades. Four years ago 
I recommended to the board of education the establishment of ungraded rooms in 
the large buildings in each section of the city. The plan was not only to offer an oppor- 
tunity to do this ungraded work, but triat the pupils of the regular grades who show 
more working capacity than the course' covers be given an opportunity to do supple- 
mentary work in this room. I have since modified my views upon the necessity of main- 
taining the expensive ungraded room. 

In Toledo we have a supplementary course in German, and maintain a German room 
whenever there is any demand for the work. We have also adopted the plan of supervis- 
ing principals. It seems to me that some of this supplementary work and all of the 
so-called tiding-over work should be done by supervising principals and the regular 
teachers. At the opening of this school year we made a half-year division of classes in all 
so-called essential subjects, and continued the yearly unit in the general- and manual- 
culture subjects. We have combined with this semi-annual promotion scheme some of 
the advantages found in the spiral or longitudinal plans of covering grades. This per- 
mits pupils to double their grades without missing a single page of the course. 

The plan is this: Our unit is five months. In the essential subjects we cover the 
work in four months and give one month for review. The bright pupils from the class 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS in 

below join the higher class in the review, and thus cover two semesters 1 course in one 
without missing any of the work. I feel very much encouraged over the outlook for this 
plan. We now have our schools thoroly organized upon the half-yearly promotion scheme. 
The classes are well balanced. Because of this plan of grading, about six thousand pupils 
have gained a half year. This is the same as three thousand pupils gaining a whole year. 
This means three thousand years gained to the community, to be added either to the school 
life of the pupils or to their business career. This means much to the educational and 
commercial interests of the city. It also has an important bearing upon the question of 
school taxation. It is a great saving in dollars and cents to the taxpayers. 

Our plan' is not to hurry pupils thru the school course at a break-neck speed, but to 
give pupils the utmost freedom in their advancement, that they may go fast or slowly, 
depending on their age, health, regularity in school attendance, industry, and ambition. 

The question under consideration is strikingly American — American and twentieth- 
century. It is an index of our national type. The. craze for speed is on. Reduce 
restraint and friction to the minimum, is the sign of the dawning century. Every effort 
to stem the tide or resist the accumulated force of the age means to be crushed under the 
wheels. 

Let me say in conclusion that this or any other plan worked out by a board of control 
will stand or fall, succeed or fail, depending entirely upon its execution. The whole 
matter reverts to the central consideration in all school administration : the teacher makes 
the school. The conclusions drawn from a consideration of this question turn upon our 
concept of the end of education. If one's idea of the end of education is to receive high 
marks and pass grades, his line of argument would differ from that of the one who 
believes that the end of all education is to fit for life, to so train and educate both body 
and soul that a pupil will live up to his greatest possibilities. I believe that it is possible 
for a given class, that has completed creditably the eighth grade, to repeat the eighth 
grade with Miss A as a teacher, and be better fitted for its life-work than to be passed on to 
the high school for one year and be under the tuition of Mr. U and the Misses X, Y, and 
Z. I make this statement that you may know how much importance I place upon a pro- 
motion card. 



SECOND PAPER 

BY PAUL A. COWGILL, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, LAPEER, MICH. 

It has been a noticeable fact that, whenever we have found a time-honored custom or 
manner to be in fault, there have immediately sprung up those who have gone to the 
opposite extreme as the only true solution of the question ; and while I truly believe that 
we have reached that point in our educational progress where we can safely say that the 
yearly-promotion scheme does not satisfy us, I just as certainly believe that we will make 
a still greater mistake if we follow Paul W. Search and others in their reckless plunge to 
the other extreme of individualism. 

Indeed, it has been my experience that any interval shorter than the half year results 
in needless waste of time to the pupils and additional work for the teachers ; in fact, it 
tends toward all the disadvantages of an ungraded school. 

This situation, however, still confronts us that, altho we may arrange our course of 
study so that the majority of our pupils will require eight years to pass from the first 
grade to the high school, there will be a few who will have to spend eight and one-half, 
nine, or ten years on the same work, and others who will be able to finish it in as few as 
five years. 

I cannot agree with many who think it necessary to overthrow our entire educational 



112 NA 7 ZONAL EDUCA 7I0NAL ASSOCIA 1 ION [Columbus 

system for the sake of these few, yet it would be very desirable if some simple arrange- 
ment could be made by which punctuality, attendance, good habits, and additional work 
might be rewarded by unrestrained advancement. 

In connection with this subject I have read with great pleasure the plans used by Dr. 
Prince, of Cambridge, Superintendent Van Sickle, of Denver, and many others. Of these, 
the plan suggested by Superintendent Chalmers, of Toledo, seems the most practical 
solution of the problem. 

It is, in brief, as follows : 

Their term's work is five months. In the essential subjects they cover the work in 
four months, and give one month for review. The brightest pupils from the class below 
will join the higher class in the review, and thus cover two semesters of the course in one 
without missing any of the work. 

To this plan I should like to offer a single amendment. When we take out from 
the last month of each half year the time given to examinations, promotional exercises, 
etc., there will be but barely three weeks left in which to review the work of the term, and 
if these pupils are able to complete the half year's work with the advanced class in three, 
or even four, weeks, the first term's work cannot possibly employ all of their time and 
energy for four months. Would it not be better to extend this month of review over the 
entire five months, using the last day of each week or of each second week for review ? 
Supplement this with one or two weeks' additional review at the end of the term, and we 
shall not only have given these brightest pupils the one month in which to complete the 
work, but have allowed them to use in addition any time during the entire half yearthat 
they may have at their disposal after having satisfactorily prepared each day's work of 
the lower grade. 

The criticism of this plan that once presents itself to you is that it will be difficult for 
the teacher to arrange her work so that a review may be profitably taken each 'fifth or 
tenth day. In answer I will say that the success or failure of whatever plan you may try, 
be it in this or any other line of educational work, will depend almost entirely upon the 
amount of earnest, conscientious effort put forth by your teachers. 



THIRD PAPER 

BY H. E. KRATZ, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, SIOUX CITY, IA. 

It is not my purpose to present to this body any definite system of promotions and 
grading. My experiences along this line lead me to the conclusion that there is no one 
plan that can be called best for the various systems of schools. 

There are two extremes which we meet in this discussion. On the one hand mass, or 
class, teaching, and on the other, individualism. Each plan has its advantages and its 
disadvantages; each its marked excellences and also its serious defects. Discussions 
over these two leading ideas as to which should chiefly govern in promotions and grading 
have, in consequence, become vigorous, even virulent at times. 

On the one hand, the individualist, seeing only the serious evils arising from an 
inflexible system of grading, seeing only the tyranny of mechanism which possibly may 
characterize a few unprogressive schools in this country, but certainly not the large 
majority of them, rushes into print and bitterly denounces the crime that is being com- 
mitted against the school children everywhere by the " lock-step " system. On the other 
hand, the advocate of class teaching, seeing only the possible evils arising from indi- 
vidualism, seeing only the possible disorganization of all system and order, and the evils 
of the ungraded school rolled back upon us again, in turn denounces the individualist as 
possessing anarchistic tendencies, which threaten to overturn our entire school system. 



Superintendence! ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 1 13 

The general public, reading the severe criticisms set forth by these extremists, becomes 
alarmed, and is convinced that our schools are in a deplorable condition, when the fact 
is that the alarming conditions, as a rule, only exist in the lively imaginations of our agi- 
tated, but ill-advised extremists. 

Permit me to give an example of this. At the last meeting of this department, held 
in Chattanooga, a superintendent stated that only fourteen schools of Iowa had a class 
interval of less than a year, when the facts disclosed, by an investigation of fifty of the 
largest school systems of Iowa, that forty-four out of the fifty had an interval between 
classes of a half year or less. 

My contention is that we ought to be able to carry on this discussion as to the rela- 
tive merits of class teaching and individualism (and there are meritorious features in each) 
without conveying the erroneous impression that our schools are in a highly deplorable 
condition. Our schools, unfortunately, have enough sins to answer for without, wittingly 
or unwittingly, charging them for sins of which they are not at present generally guilty. 

I believe that those rushing toward extreme individualism are losing sight of some 
of the advantages which may fairly be claimed for class teaching. Leading educators 
rightly hold that the child is to be trained so that he may be able to meet the demands of 
the civilization of which he is to become a part ; that he is to be fitted, as a social being, 
for institutional life ; that school life should, as nearly as possible, parallel the larger life 
which he is to take up when he leaves the schoolroom. Class work, where he thinks, 
discusses, competes, contends with his fellows, is in the highest degree essential to his 
achieving success in that larger life beyond the schoolroom where competition is so keen 
and intense. 

Criticisms here should be tempered with justice and moderation, because every super- 
intendent must provide for conditions which in some directions are peculiar to his city. 
The superintendent who lives in a densely populated city, with large school buildings, 
can arrange his classes with half-year, quarter-year, or even a few weeks' intervals with- 
out encountering any serious difficulties ; but, should he attempt such close classification 
in a thinly populated city, or in certain thinly populated and somewhat isolated districts, 
he would encounter more serious difficulties than those from which he was attempting to 
escape. 

In conversation with many of the leading superintendents of the country I learned 
that, while nearly all had some form of the half-year or less interval, yet each city-school 
system had its own method of working out its modifications of that plan. I venture the 
assertion that but few superintendents of this country can be found whose eyes are not 
wide-open to the serious evils which grew out of the inflexible system of grading which 
has prevailed, and are engaged, in various ways best adapted to their peculiar conditions, 
in remedying those evils, thru a combination of the best features of both individual and 
class teaching. The exact extent to which each of these ideas should be incorporated into 
a city- school system, in order to secure the greatest efficiency, can be determined only by 
the superintendent, who is familiar with all the conditions under which the promotions 
and grading are to be done. To criticise indiscriminately and in a wholesale way, as the 
extremists are inclined to do, any system of schools which does not make strikingly promi- 
nent either rigid classification or extreme individualism is neither wise nor intelligent. 



DISCUSSION 



Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass. — It seems to be assumed by most of the speakers 
that semiannual promotions, if permitted in any part of the course, must necessarily be continued thru the 
whole, including the promotions to and thru the high school. Theoretically, indeed, this would be the case, 
but in practice there is no need of it at all. It is true that a class entering a grammar school in the middle of 



;.H4 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Columbus 

-     - —  — ■■■■■*>l   M^ — — ^^— ^ ^^— — ^»^— ^^—  % — . ... I .    |  I    — ^^^^»» 

a school year would, if it kept company front thru its whole course, necessarily complete its work there in the 
middle of some other year ; but, as a matter of experience, such classes always break up easily, some pupils 
gaining a half year and some falling back a half year, long before the course is ended. We have had semi- 
annual promotions in Lowell for twenty years in the primary and grammar grades, and an annual promotion 
to the high school, with no practical difficulty at all. Indeed, most of my grammar masters break up the 
February, or mid-year, classes they receive from the primaries sooner, rather than later, than I wish. 

For mitigating the evils of close grading I am very favorably impressed with the plan presented today 6f 
allowing a part of a class to go on with advanced work when the rest stop for reviews. Without the use, how- 
ever, of any formal plan whatever, of which I have studied, with more or less care, at least a score, we have 
' secured by individual promotions, as the result of constant sifting by intelligent and interested teachers, about 
as many changes as seem to me to be desirable. Of the 351 pupils who graduated from our grammar schools 
last year, 195 completed the course in less than the prescribed time, of whom 133 did the nine years' work in 
eight, 51 in seven, 10 in six, and 1 in five. 

In conclusion I wish to assert that the evils of the graded system, tho doubtless real, are far less than plat- 
form educators are wont to assert. That children entering school together differ widely in ability, in ambition, 
in health, in regularity of attendance, and a dozen other ways, is obvious, and that the holding of such children 
together for eight or nine years in one compact, unbroken mass would be an injury to many is undoubtedly 
true ; but no children ever were so held together .in any school of which I have had knowledge. There is, too, 
always a difference of more than one year in the real attainments of the members of any class graduating from 
a grammar school, and the leaders of such classes rarely appear to have lost power or interest because of their 
position, nor have the pupils at the other end of the class failed to get a reward for their work fairly commen- 
surate with their abilities. Add to this the shifting of positions which always takes place thru individual pro- 
motions and demotions, and the evil shrinks from a most imposing bugbear to very modest proportions indeed. 

Superintendent J. N Study, Fort Wayne, Ind. — In answer to the question from the rear part of 
the room as to whether or not promotions into the high school semiannually make necessary semiannual gra- 
duations, I can speak from fifteen years' experience with semiannual promotions, and say that semiannual 
admissions to the high school do not necessarily involve semiannual graduations therefrom. The class coming 
into the high school at the middle of the school year can easily be given work that will occupy a half year of 
its time and enable it to have credit for a half year's work in some three or four subjects. Thus, for instance, 
without materially burdening the teaching force, the incoming class may be started in algebra, may take phys- 
ical geography, may enter a class in American or English literature, and may take work in, composition and 
such other special work as is provided ; or the course may be so arranged that a science study, occupying a 
school year for its completion, may be started at the beginning of the second half year, in which case the 
. incoming class may enter along with those who entered the school at the beginning of the first half year. Of 
those entering at the middle of the year some, who are above the average in physical and mental ability, will 
be able to take an additional study each term, and complete the whole four years' course in three years and 
one-half, and graduate with the class entering a half year earlier than they entered. Some, who are not so 
strong physically or mentally, are all the better for having four and one-half years before them in which to do 
the regular four years' work, and will gladly drop into the class entering just behind them. Should any of the 
class, however, finish their work in the middle of the year, and receive credit for all the regular work of the 
course, it will be easy for them to take some additional work in subjects that do not regularly lie in their course 
of study, and thus" extend their course, or perfect themselves in something in which they have not been very 
strong. It is a matter which really presents very few practical difficulties, unless the teaching force of the high 
school be so scant as to preclude the organization of about two new classes at the beginning of the second 
term. Of course, when a high school reaches the size that the incoming class at the middle of the year is suf- 
ficiently large in numbers, and remains sufficiently large thruout the course, to form one or more sections of 
itself, then it becomes necessary to furnish teaching force sufficient to take care of it by itself all the way thru 
and institute semiannual promotions in the high school itself ; but even in this case semiannual promotions in 
the high school do not necessarily imply semiannual commencement exercises. This is a matter that rests 
entirely with the school authorities. If they wish to have two commencements a year, they can do so, or if 
they wish to have but one commencement each year, then those who finish the required course at the middle of 
the year may take post-graduate work for the remainder of the year, or may stay out of school and come in 
and take their diplomas with the class graduating in June ; or, in case anyone should remove to some other 
place, his diploma may be given to him without formal exercises. In all cases where the high school is of suf- 
ficient size to warrant semiannual promotions thruout the whole high-school course it is decidedly beneficial 
to keep them up, as many a pupil is thereby enabled to save himself a year's credit by being turned back at 
the middle of the year, when to go on, under the annual system, would mean a loss to him of a whole year's 
credit in some particular branch. This is one of the subjects in which the theoretical difficulties are much 
greater than the practical difficulties. 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 115 



COURSE OF STUDY FOR PUPILS WHO CANNOT COMPLETE HIGH- 

SCIfOOL WORK 



FIRST PAPER 

BY J. M. BERKEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, JOHNSTOWN, PA. 

[synopsis] 

Under an ideal system' of public education there would apparently be no need of a 
discussion of this subject. In theory, a public high-school course, or its equivalent, is 
essential to the evolution of young life, and fundamental to a high degree of successful 
living in any department of labor and service. No convention of workers in and for the 
public schools would entertain for a moment the proposition that high-school privileges 
should be limited to certain classes or conditions. To do so would be divorcing the 
public high school from its rightful relation to the general system of universal education, 
and denying to it its legitimate function as a factor in the development of a common, 
intelligent, and useful citizenship. As a part of the free-school system, the high school 
must assume to be a common good to the common people, open and free to all alike who 
under the law become the educational wards of the state. Under ideal conditions, there- 
fore, all pupils should have, and would have, a well-rounded, properly adapted, and fully 
completed high-school course. 

But, in the words of the man of destiny, " it is a condition, and not a theory, which 
confronts us." There is a higher law than the law of ideal development under possible 
conditions. It is the law of the greatest good — not to the largest number, merely, but to 
the individual under present and pressing environment. What is the best for the boys 
and girls, as we know them in our crowded city schools, as we find them in our city 
homes, as they leave our schools early — very early — to furnish the brawn, if not the 
brain, of the ceaseless and grinding industries in the great centers of population ? What 
is the best course of study and training for these young people, here and now, to the end 
that we may realize, in and by them, the highest and best in the future citizenship of the 
commonwealth and the social fabric of the home community ? 

We know, as a matter of fact, that the pupils in our primary and grammar grades do 
not all enter the high school. Superintendent Kendall, of New Haven, Conn., published 
a year ago statistics gathered from the official records of over two hundred cities thruout 
the United States, showing, among other things, that the number of pupils in the high 
schools, as compared with the whole number of pupils enrolled, varied from 4 to 12 per 
cent., with a general average of about 9 per cent. Assuming that the length of the city 
course of study is twelve years — four, or one-third of the number, in the high-school 
course — there ought to be, upon the ideal theory, one-third of the whole number of pupils, 
or at least 30, instead of 9, per cent., in the high schools. 

If it be true, then, as the records fully justify, that only one pupil out of three or four 
who come into our elementary schools subsequently enters the high schools, is this 
course of study which aims to prepare for the high school ; that, as a rule, permits no 
deviation ; that allows no special or optional lines of work ; that affords no good stop- 
ping-place short of high-school graduation ; is this the best course for the two-thirds or 
the three-fourths who cannot — or, at least, who do not — get beyond the grammar 
grades ? This is the vital question at issue in this discussion. 

I am persuaded that it is not the fault of the superintendent or the teacher, and that it is 
not the course of study which is responsible for the non-attendance of pupils in the higher 
grades. It is simply the result of conditions which can be overcome only thru the 



1 1 6 NA T10NAL EDVCA T10NAL ASSOCIA TION [Columbus 

evolution of a higher civilization, and a more universal appreciation of the use and the value 
of a scholastic training for all the purposes of successful living. To this end, as a matter 
of course, the public-school friends and forces must largely contribute. But while we 
thus complacently relieve ourselves of the responsibility for certain conditions and results 
which we know are not as they should be, there are other conditions and results, which 
grow out of the course of study and its proper application, for which school officials and 
teachers are directly responsible. There is that in the application and the adaptation of 
the principles which underlie an elementary course of instruction which can and will do 
much for the class of pupils that never reaches the high school. While it is true that 
many pupils leave school because they cannot help it, there are many — very many — who 
leave because they become discouraged, indifferent, stubborn ; discouraged, because the 
work is too difficult ; indifferent, because they were not promoted with their class, or else 
they regard the class work as simply so much dull routine for the sake of drill, rather 
than productive of practical interest or immediate and tangible results ; stubborn, because, 
for lack of a better motive, the teacher or the parent says, " You must." The truants 
from the schoolroom are not always the dull or the do-less, not the vicious or the hope- 
less. They are very often the naturally apt and ambitious pupils ; but because they find 
the work of the schoolroom so much in conflict with their natural inclinations and activi- 
ties, they will yield to the first, and very often the only, opportunity to escape from its 
exacting and unvarying routine. 

While other forces may hold and help these pupils who are apparently predestined 
never to complete a high-school course, let us notice some features in the course of study 
that will, I believe, give to these the most and the best it is possible for them to obtain 
from the public school. And, while reaching out for this class of pupils, I would not in 
any way interfere with the rightful course of training for those who are pushing straight 
forward to the high school in regular order. 

In the first place, the grammar-school course should be rounded and complete. 
Such a course should mean to the pupil and to his parents a well-balanced and well- 
rounded common-school education ; such a course as is contemplated by the general law 
as the common heritage of every child in the state. Such a course would necessarily 
include a carefully selected and wisely directed course of reading and literature, the study 
of state history and government as a complement of national history and civics, a year's 
work in algebra as the complement of practical arithmetic and concrete geometry, the 
essentials in business forms and simple bookkeeping, the elements of vocal music and 
drawing, together with the subjects generally included and required in every elementary 
school. 

The end in view in such a completed and supplemented course of study for the 
grammar school is twofold, viz., as a preparation for legitimate high-school work under 
the departmental system, and at the same time to offer to such pupils as may not enter 
the high school at all the opportunity- to accomplish a certain amount of work which, 
when accomplished, shall afford them the stimulus and the encouragement of definite and 
recognized scholastic attainments. Whatever the form, there should be a recognition of 
the completed grammar-school course. This certificate of attainment will not only serve 
as a passport to the high school, but will also be an honorable discharge for those who 
have worked and waited and struggled to reach this point, when they felt that they could 
not reach anything higher. 

Let me anticipate here a probable objection to this extended grammar-school course : 
Would it not require more than eight years for the pupils of average ability ? I answer 
frankly, yes. But what law of nature or of pedagogy fixes eight years for the grammar- 
school course and four years for the high school ? Why must it be so ? I do not believe 
that the high-school course need necessarily be four years, any more than that the gram- 
mar-school course should be limited to eight years. It is worthy of note that quite a 
number of cities, having a ten-months' school term, have but recently expanded the 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 1 1 7 

standard grammar course to nine years, but have made the system of grading and promo- 
tions sufficiently flexible to permit the stronger pupils to complete the same work in eight, 
or even in seven, years. But the larger number of pupils, even tho a little slow, are allowed 
to move with their grades in regular promotion. Such a plan gives special stimulus to 
the ambitious and the strong, and yet leaves no room for discouragement to the pupils 
less fortunate in mental endowment or physical vigor. In Cambridge, Mass., the pupils 
are classed at the end of the fourth primary year, the stronger to reach the high school in 
four, and the weaker in five, subsequent years of study. The point I make, therefore, in 
favor of pupils who cannot complete high-school work is this, viz., that the system of 
grading shall' be sufficiently flexible to give them standing room and recognition, without 
crowding them with overwork, on the one hand, or discouraging them with non-promo- 
tion, on the other. 

Again, the course of study, below as in, the high school should permit optional 
studies and special lines of training. Manual training may take the place of mental arith- 
metic or United States history for pupils who are "born short" along certain lines. 
Domestic science or mechanical drawing may fill a minimum requirement for those who 
cannot or ought not to take the maximum course. One course of study coming under my 
notice has three years of optional or special work below the high school, not necessarily 
for the dull or the slow pupils, but to meet the constantly increasing demand for special 
lines of training. My plea in this connection, however, is for all possible optional and 
varied lines of work in advanced grammar grades that local conditions and school facili- 
ties will justify, to the end that larger opportunities and a more helpful training may be 
given to those young people who cannot, and perhaps ought not to, cross the threshold of 
the city high school. 

I could not if I would, and I would not if I could, lay down any fixed or definite 
course of study for such pupils. That is the problem of the local management, guided 
only by this one common, fundamental principle, viz. : the schools are for the children, 
and to their highest good, individually and collectively, all systems of management must 
bend and all courses of study must conform. 



SECOND PAPER 

BY J. W. CARR, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ANDERSON, IND. 

Before attempting to discuss the course of study for pupils who cannot complete the 
high-school course, I wish to outline briefly a course of study that I believe should be 
offered to all high-school pupils. This should consist, in my opinion, of English (includ- 
ing literature and composition), mathematics, history and civics, science, Latin, German 
or some other foreign language, each continued from three to four years. In addition to 
these I would add music and drawing, some commercial studies, manual training for boys, 
and manual training and domestic economy for girls. These various subjects should be 
arranged into a number of different co-ordinate courses, and pupils should be allowed to 
choose from the whole, under the guidance and direction of parents and teachers. In 
this way individual tastes and abilities may be consulted, and the sexes and classes have 
a high-school course of study suitable to their needs. 

Pupils cannot complete the high-school course for various reasons, of which the fol- 
lowing are the most important : ( I ) because they have not the physical strength or the 
mental ability to do the required work ; (2) because they lack the industry and persever- 
ance necessary to complete the course of study ; (3) because they cannot remain in 
school the required length of time. 



1 1 8 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA T10N [Columbus 

Now, I believe that the arrangement of the course of study for all pupils, as out- 
lined above, will meet the requirement of pupils who cannot or will not complete the 
high-school course. To this proposition I now invite your attention. 

The first class of pupils — those that are physically or mentally unable to do the 
required work — should not only be permitted to choose the subjects they will study, but 
they should also be allowed to take fewer studies at a time than are required of the average 
pupil. If they are unable to do passable work in a subject, they should be permitted to 
try something else, rather than remain an indefinite time endeavoring to master some- 
thing which is beyond their strength or ability. With such freedom and privileges, the 
maximum number of pupils of this class will remain in school the maximum length of 
time, thus receiving the largest benefit possible. Encouragement, guidance, freedom, 
and time are the things most helpful to these. 

The treatment of the second class — those who cannot, or rather will not, complete 
the high-school course for lack of application — should differ somewhat. They should 
be given freedom in choice of subjects under the direction of their teachers. Then, if 
they have the right kind of teachers and a variety of subjects from which to choose, 
many pupils of this class will show interest and perseverance, who otherwise would 
simply drop out of school. Such pupils should be required to do a required amount of 
work daily, and should be held to a strict account for the excellence of the same. They 
should be encouraged, yes urged, to do their best ; and, above all, they should not be 
allowed to idle away their time. Many pupils who do little or nothing in the traditional 
high-school subjects have been found to do excellent work in the manual-training school. 
They became interested in school work and made marked improvements in other subjects. 
Again, freedom of choice and elasticity in the course of study are found to be beneficial. 

But little in addition needs to be said concerning the third class — those who cannot 
remain in school long enough to complete the high-school course. For them also I 
believe the system of electives to be the best. This enables pupils who can remain in 
school but a short time to choose those things which will be most beneficial to them in 
fighting the battles of life in which they are about to engage. The traditional dis- 
ciplinary subjects — Latin, Greek, algebra, etc. — are excellent for the mind, but these 
may not be the subjects that are most useful to the boy who can remain in school but one 
or two years. English, commercial arithmetic, drawing, bookkeeping, history, and 
manual training may be the ones that are most helpful and needful to him. If so, let 
him take them. If the work is well done, the mental discipline will take care of itself. 

So far I have spoken of those only who are in the high school. But it is in the 
grades that we find the great numbers who cannot possibly complete the high-school 
course, perhaps not even the graded-school course. What shall we do with them ? Shall 
they pursue the same course of study prescribed for the rest ? In part, I answer, no. 
Certainly I would have them acquire the rudiments of an English education, if it is 
possible for them to do so. I would also have them receive that moral instruction so 
necessary to the formation of character. Yet I am of the opinion that some form of 
industrial training should be given, at least to this class of pupils, while they are in the 
primary and intermediate grades. 

While this is my belief, yet I have not given the subject sufficient thought to formu- 
late a plan which I am sure will stand the test. I am aware of the fact that experiments 
along this line are being made in some American cities, yet I have no data at hand which 
will enable me to speak of the results. I have long thought of the advisability of introdu- 
cing industrial training in the grades,, in my own city, and I am only waiting for the oppor- 
tunity to make the experiment. The plan I have in mind is not to attempt to establish 
industrial training in each school district, but to have one school, centrally located, in 
which industrial training is given. The course of study in this school would be more 
elastic than in the others and the classification less rigid. This would lessen the expense 
for teachers and equipment, and at the same time enable us to gather into this school 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLE OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 119 

those pupils of the primary and intermediate grades who are much older than their fel- 
lows, as well as those who fail in their classes. We could, therefore, give to these special 
attention under more favorable conditions, thus fitting them the better to meet the duties 
and responsibilities of life. 

Finally, the course of stutly for those who cannot complete the high school, as well 
as for those who can complete it, must be determined chiefly by the society in which we 
live and by the occupations in which the pupils are expected to engage. In the past, 
education was the heritage of the few. The aristocracy of learning might prescribe a 
fixed curriculum consisting of classical knowledge of antiquity. The pursuit of this 
course of study they might solemnly declare to be the only road to learning. They 
might even go so far as to outlaw all other courses, and to arrogate to themselves a mon- 
opoly of learning. But if we are to have a democracy of learning jji America, we must 
have a course of study that will meet the needs of the people. This course must be 
arranged so as to develop head, hand, and heart, thus fitting the children to engage in 
the busy, bustling, complex American civilization of the twentieth century. This course 
is not a legacy from the past, for the past has never had a civilization similar to our own. 
It cannot be imported from a foreign country, because nowhere else are the conditions 
and people like our own. But, like the principles of our government and the character 
of our people and their institutions, the course of study must be a resultant of the past, 
the foreign and the native not simply welded together, but fused into a new substance 
which is truly American. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF ACTIVE MEMBERS 

ENROLLED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE LIST FOR 1898-99 

(Washington Meeting) 



APRIL 26, 1899 



LIFE MEMBERS 

(Omitted from former lists) 

1884. Athenaeum Society of State Normal President, Alfred Kuykendall ; Secretary, 

School. Arthur Hughes, Platteville, Wis. 

President, Mary Lewis; Secretary, Lydia „_ „ „ , r 

Kreutz Platteville Wis 1884. Charles F. Vibbahn. 

1884. Philadelphian Society of State Normal i8Si - Superintendent of City ; Schools and Prin- 

School cip-J of High School, Watertown, Wis. 

ACTIVE MEMBERS 



1895. Charles E. Albright. 

1892. Instructor in Physics, Central High 

School, 449, 5th Ave.,W., Columbus, O. 
1898. John L. Alger, A.8., '90, A.M., '95, Brown 
Univ. 

1895. Superintendent of Schools, 211 Washing- 

ton St., Bennington, Vt. 

1897. Richard H. Allin, B.D., '622. Univ. of Iowa. 

Manager Educational Map and Globe 
Department, Rand, McNally & Co., 
320 E. 57th St., Chicago, 111. 

1898. Sarah Dyer Barnes. 

Supervisor of Grammar Schools, Provi- 
dence, R. I. ; residence, Manton. 
1898. James A. Barr. 

1891. Superintendent of City Schools, Stockton, 
Cal. 

1897. James H. Beazell. 

1894. Superintendent of Public Schools, 632 

Pine St., Port Huron, Mich. 

1898. Brigham Young College. 

President, W. J. Kerr, Logan, Utah. 

1896. Granville W. Brumbaugh, M.E., '89, Juni- 

ata Coll., Pa. 

1896. Principal Seventh District School, 1226 

W. 1st St., Dayton, O. 
1898. Bryson Library, Teachers' College. 

Librarian, Miss E. G. Baldwin, Morning- 

side Heights, 120th St., W., New York, 

N.Y. 
1898. James M. Carr. 

1893. Superintendent of Schools, Frazeysburg, 

1898. Chicago Public Library. 

Librarian, Fred. H. Hild, Chicago, 111. 
1898. City Library Association, Springfield. 

Librarian, J. C. Dana, Springfield, Mass. 
1898. E. N. Coleman. 

Superintendent of City Schools, 1401 
Madison St., Le Mars, la. 
1875. Fayette L. Cook. 

President South Dakota State Normal 
School, Spearfish, S. D. 
1898. Fassett A. Cotton. 

1895. Deputy State Superintendent of Public 

Instruction, Room 27, State House, In- 
'dianapolis, Ind. 

1898. Paul A. Cowgill, B.S., Univ. of Mich. ; B.Pd., 

Mich. State Nor. Coll. 

Superintendent of City Schools, Lapeer, 
Mich. 

1899. Anna M. Chandler, Ph.M., '79, Univ. of 

Mich. 
1888. Superintendent of Public Schools, 4x1 E. 
Ridge St., Marquette, Mich. 
1894. Ellwood P. Cubberley, A.B., '91, Ind. Univ. 
1899; Associate Professor of Education, Leland 
Stanford Jr. University, Stanford Uni- 
versity, Cal. 



1898. John Wirt Dinsmore. 

Superintendent of City Schools, 425 N. 
4th St., Beatrice, Neb. 

1896. William T. Dix. 

Secretary, Thomas Charles Co., 195 Wa- 
bash Ave., Chicago, 111. 

1898. Richard Elwood Dodge, A.B., '90, A.M., 

*94, Harvard Univ. 
1896. Professor of Geography, Teachers' Col - 
lege, Columbia University, 120th St., 
W., New York, N. Y. 
1892. James E. Dorland. 

1892. Agent American Book Co., 1807, xst St„ 

Louisville, Ky. 

1899. James C. Doughty. 

Principal of Schools, Tuscarora, Nev. 
1898. John E. Edwards. 

157 Washington St., Cumberland, Md. 

1897. Anne T. Farley. 

Principal of Primary Department, Gram- 
mar School No. 81, 128 E. 63d St., New 
York, N. Y. 

1898. Maurice Fels, A.B., '83, Johns Hopkins 

Univ. ; LL.B., '85, Univ. of Pa. 

1312 Franklin St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

1899. Frank L. Ferguson, B.D., Yale. 

President of Pomona College, Claremont, 
Cal. 

1897. Mary S. Garrett. 

1893. Principal of Home for the Training in 

Speech of Deaf Children before they 
are of School Age, Belmont and Monu- 
ment Aves., Philadelphia, Pa. 

1898. H. D. Grindle, A.B., '91, Ohio Wes. Univ.; 

A.M., '98, Defiance Coll. 
1898. Superintendent of Public Schools, Colum- 
bus Grove, O. 
1898. Samuel Hamilton, A.M., Grove City Coll. 

County Superintendent of Schools, Brad- 
dock, Pa. 
1898. Myra H. Hanson, Mt. Holyoke Coll. 

1898. Teacher of Latin in High School, The 
Monticello, Toledo, O. 
1898. Edwin S. Harris, M.A., '89, Union Coll. 



1898. Superintendent of Schools, Nelson House, 

Harris, A.B., gi 
1897. Principal of High School, 501 N. Mad- 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
1898. James H. Harris, A.B., *oi, Univ. of Mich. 



ison St., Bay City, Mich. 
1898. Illinois State Normal University. 

President, John W. Cook, Normal, 111. 
1898. Jacob Tome Institute. 

President, Mrs. Evelyn S. Tome ; Libra- 
rian, Caroline Burnite, Port Deposit, 
Md. 
1898. David Starr Jordan, M.S., Ph.D., M.D., 
LL.D. 

President Leland Stanford Tr. University, 
Stanford University, Cal. 



120 



Superintendence] 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF MEMBERS 



121 



898. Franklin W. Johnson, A.B., '91, A.M., '94, 
Colby Univ. 
1894. Principal Coburn Classical Institute, 6 
Dalton St., Waterville, Me. 
898. Dorm an S. Kelly. 

Superintendent of Schools, 63a E. Chest- 
nut St., Jeffersonville, Ind. 
898. Keystone Literary Society ok the Key- 
stone Normal School, Kutctown, Pa. 

897. F. G. Kraege, B.L., '89, M.L., '95, Univ. of 

Wis. 

1897. Superintendent of Public Schools, 336 S. 

Monroe Ave., Green Bay, Wis. 

896. Frederick H. Lane, Ph.D., '95, 111. Wes. 

Univ. 

With Silver. Burdette & Co., 31 £. 19th 
St., New York, N. Y. 

898. John Loman, A.B., '8s, Yale. 

1896. Principal of High School, Duluth, Minn. 

897. Orlando M. Lord. 

Superintendent of Schools, Portland, Me. 

898. L. E. Lovbridge. 

Western Agent, The Morse Co., Publish- 
ers, 195 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
898. E. A. Lyman, A.B., *86, Univ. of Mich. 

Professor of Mathematics, State Normal 
School. xa6 N. Washington St., Ypsi- 
lanti, Mich. 
898. Gillespie K. Lyons. 

Agent American Book Co., 2130 Law- 
rence Ave., Toledo, O. 

898. Alfred E. Malsbary, Grad., '89, Ind. 
State Nor.; A.B., '96, Ind. State Univ. 
Superintendent of Schools, Peru, Ind. 

898. Miles E. Marsh, A.B., '93, Oberlin Coll. 
Principal of Academy of Berea Col- 
lege, Berea, Ky. 

898. H. W. McArdlb, B.Sc, '87, Mich. Agri. 
Coll. 

Professor of Mathematics, North Da- 
kota Agricultural College, Fargo, 
N. D. 
898. Milwaukee Public Library. 

Librarian, George W. Peckham, Mil- 
waukee, Wis. 
898. Minneapolis Athenaeum. 

Librarian, Jessie McMillan, Minne- 
apolis, Minn. 
898. Newberry Library. 

Librarian, J. Y. Cheney, Chicago, 111. 
898. New Hampshire State Library. 

Librarian, Arthur H. Chase, Concord, 
N.H. 
898. Chauncey F. Nbwkirk. 

Manager Western Educational De- 
partment, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
378-88 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
898. Normal School, Dayton. 

Principal, Grace A. Greene, Dayton, 0. 
898. William J. Oliver. 

1898. Teacher of Manual Training, Indian 

School, Albuquerque, N. Mex. 

898. Omaha Public Library. 

Librarian, Edith Tobitt, Omaha, Neb. 

899. James H. Penniman, A.B., '84, Yale. 

1886. De Lancey School, 4326 Sansom St., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

898. Philomaths an Literary Society, Key- 

stone State Normal School, Kutztown, 
Pa. 

899. Pomona College. 

President, Frank L. Ferguson ; Librarian, 
F. P. Brackett, Claremont, Cal. 
898. J. H. Pugh. 

Agent, Werner School Book Co., 378 
Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
898. J. D. Richardson. 

898. John F. Rieman, B.S., '97, Univ. of Mich.; 

B.Pd., '99, Mich. Nor. Coll. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, 
Monroe, Mich. 

899. Kbrnan Robson, A.M., '94, Harvard. 

1898. Instructor in Philosophy and Pedagogy, 
Pomona Coll., Claremont, Cal. 
896. Howard J. Rogers, A.B., '84, Williams 
Coll. 



1895. Deputy State Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction, 115& Lancaster St. 
Albany, N. Y. 
1898. F. J. Roller. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, 24 
Main St., Niles, O. 
1898. W. S. Russell. 

Western Manager, Educational De- 
partment, Harper & Bros., 203 
Michigan Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1898. John M. Sarver, A.M., Ohio Nor. Univ. 

1899. Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 
3x36 W. Tuscarawas St., Canton, O. 

1896. Frank A. Schmidt, Pd.D., '91, New York 

Univ. 
1885. First Assistant Grammar School No. 49, 

V Van Nest Place; Charles St., New 
ork, N. Y. 
1898. Lbandbr William Sheppard. 

1898. Teacher in High School, 79 E. xxth 
Ave., Columbus, O. 
1898. Mrs. Constance B. Smith. 

1894. Supervisor of Music in Public Schools, 
239 Webster Ave., Jacksonville, 111. 
1898. Joseph W. Southall. 

State Superintendent of Public In- 
struction, Richmond, Va. 

1897. Catherine Spencer. 

Primary Teacher in Jefferson School, 
1700 E. 8th St., Kansas City, Mo. 

1898. State Normal and Industrial College 

of North Carolina. 

President, Charles D. Mclver, Greens- 
boro, N. C. 
1898. State Normal School, Fitchburg. 

Principal, John G. Thompson, Fitch- 
burg, Mass. 

1898. State Normal School, Whitewater. 

President, Albert Salisbury, White- 
water, Wis. 
1897. Gustav Straubenmuller, A.B. 

Associate Superintendent of Schools, 
Boroughs of Manhattan and the 
Bronx, 347 Manhattan Ave., New 
York, N. Y. 

1899. Francis A. Swangbr, M.S.D., '92, Mo. 

State Nor., Kirksville; A.M., '98, Willam- 
ette Univ., Ore. 
1897. Superintendent of Schools, Park City, 

Utah. 
William M. Swingle, Ph.D. 

Superintendent of Schools, Orange, 



1898. 

1898. 

1898. 
1898. 



N.T. 

7SE CE 



1898. 
1898. 
1898. 
1898. 

1898. 

1898. 
1897. 



Syracuse Central Library. 

Librarian, Ezekiel W. Mundy, Syra- 
cuse, N. Y. 
Blanche Torrbnce Thomas. 
1896. Kindergarten Teacher, Pawnee, Okla. 
Edward Lee Thorndike, A.B., '95, Wes. 
Univ.; '96, Harvard; A.M., '97, Har- 
vard; Ph.D., '98, Columbia. 
1898. Instructor in Education and Teaching, 
College for Women, Western Reserve 
University, 18 Adelbert Hall, Cleve- 
land, O. 
I. A. Thorson. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, 
Renville, Minn. 
University of Pennsylvania, Library. 

Librarian, Morris Jastrow, Jr., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 
University of Texas, Library. 

President, George T. Winston; Libra- 
rian, Benjamin Wyche, Austin, Tex. 
University of Washington. 

President, Frank Pierrepont Graves; 
Librarian, Rev. Clark Davis, Seattle, 
Wash. 
Vassar College, Library. 

Librarian, Frances A. Wood, Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y. 
Sherman Williams. 

10 Grove Ave., Glens Falls, N. Y. 
T. Howard Winters, A.B., '96, Ohio 

Wes. Univ. 
X896. Teacher in Kingsbury High School, 
130 S. 6th St., Ironton,0. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 



AT THE ANNUAL MEETING HELD AT CHICAGO, ILL. 
FEBRUARY 27 AND 28, AND MARCH I, I9OO 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION 

1900 



PRINTED AT 

Z be innivereitg of Chicago press 

1900 



CONTENTS 

CHICAGO MEETING 



PAGB 



Secretary's Minutes - - - - - - 5 

Status of Education at the Close of the Century — Butler - - - 10 

Discussion — Eliot, Harris - - - - - - 18, 21 

Two Opportunities for Improvement in the Administration of Graded School 

Systems — Harvey .- - - - - - - 25 

Discussion — Bayliss -------- 32 

The Trail of the City Superintendent — Gove - - - '36 

The Superintendent in Small Cities — Gorton - - 44 

Alcohol Physiology and Superintendence — Atwater - - 51 

Discussion — Button y Boone, Carroll, Parker, Kiehle, Webster, Sabin, Carter, 

Hall, Pearse, Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Bolte, Atwater - 72-88 

Obligations and Opportunities of Scholarship — Alderman - - 88 

How can the Superintendent Improve the Efficiency of the Teachers under His 

Charge 1—Cook -------- 98 

The Superintendent as an Organizer and an Executive — Denfeld - - 109 

Discussion — Mark - - - - - 116 

Supplementary List of Active Members - - 119 



[It is a matter of regret that it has been impossible to secure for publication several of the papers read 
before the department, especially the evening addresses of Mr. Walter H. Page and President Benjamin Ide 
Wheeler. — Secretary.] 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 

CHICAGO MEETING 



SECRETARY'S MINUTES 



FIRST DAY 

MORNING SESSION.— Tuesday, February 27, 1900 

The Department of Superintendence was called to order in University Hall, Fine 
Arts Building, Chicago, 111., at 10 A. M., President Augustus S. Downing in the chair. 

After music by the Glee Club of the Hyde Park High School of Chicago, an invoca- 
tion was offered by Right Rev. Bishop Fallows. Another selection by the Glee Club fol- 
lowed, after which Hon. Howard S. Taylor, representing his honor, Mayor Carter H. 
Harrison, delivered an address of welcome on behalf of the city of Chicago. Dr. E. 
Benjamin Andrews, superintendent of city schools, welcomed the department on behalf 
of the board of education and the teachers of Chicago. President Downing responded 
on behalf of the department. 

An address was then delivered by Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia Univer- 
sity, New York city, on the subject, " The Status of Education at the Close of the Cen- 
tury." The paper was discussed by President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University 
and Dr. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. 

The department then adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The afternoon session was called to order at 2 : 1 5, President Downing in the chair. 
The president appointed the following 

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS 

Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis, Mo. Superintendent L. C. Greenlee, Denver, Colo. 

Superintendent E. H. Mark, Louisville, Ky. 

Hon. L. D. Harvey, state superintendent of public instruction of Wisconsin, pre- 
sented a paper on " Two Opportunities for Improvement in the Administration of Graded 
School Systems." The paper was discussed by State Superintendent Alfred Bayliss of 
Illinois. 

The report of the committee appointed at Columbus to make a recommendation with 
reference to the location of the meeting for the years 1901 and 1902 was then presented, 
as follows : 

Members of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association: 

Your committee appointed by virtue of the following resolution passed at the annual meeting of the 

department at Columbus, O., February, 1809, viz. : 

*' That a committee of three be appointed with instructions to report on the first day of the meeting in 

1900, recommending a place for the meeting of the department for the two succeeding years, 1901 and 190a," 

submits the following report : 

That the meeting of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational- Association be 

held in Chicago in the years 1901 and 1902. 

Aaron Gove, 

O. T. Corson, 

George H. Martin, 

Committee. 



6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

A motion to adopt the report was made by William J. Cox, of Moline, 111. Superin- 
tendent C. M. Bard well, of Aurora, 111., "moved as a substitute that the report be laid on 
the table until Wednesday morning, and taken up immediately after the close of the 
regular program. The substitute was lost. A vigorous discussion of the motion then 
followed, which was participated in by Messrs. Glenn, of Georgia; Gove, of Colorado; 
Prettyman, of Maryland ; White, of Ohio ; Treudley, of Ohio ; Brown, of Illinois ; and 
Bouton, of Massachusetts. Superintendent Bouton then moved to amend the report so 
that it would apply only to the year 1901. The motion was carried by a vote of 89 to"59, 
and the president declared that Chicago was the choice of the department as the place 
for meeting in 190 1. 

The following Committee on Nominations was appointed and instructed to report at 
12 M. on Wednesday, February 28 : 

COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS 

Superintendent George B. Cook, of Arkansas. Superintendent D. L. Bardwell, of New York. 

Superintendent W. C. Bates, of Massachusetts. President R. H. Halsey, of Wisconsin. 

Superintendent G. R. Glenn, of Georgia. 

The department then adjourned. 

EVENING SESSION 

The evening session was held in Central Music Hall, beginning at 8:15, Presi- 
dent Downing presiding. Music was furnished by the Joseph Medill High School 
chorus. After prayer by Rev. Jacob Stofc, Walter H. Page, of New York city, delivered 
an address upon " Right Use of Speech in a Democracy." 

Adjourned. 

SECOND DAY 
MORNING SESSION.— Wednesday, February 28, 1900 

The session opened at 9 : 30, with the president in the chair. An invocation was 
offered by Rev. Dr. A. C. Hurst, of Chicago. Music was furnished by Miss Joy, of Cali- 
fornia. 

Superintendent Aaron Gove, of Denver, Colo., read a paper entitled " The Trail of 
the City Superintendent." The discussion of this paper was opened by Superintendent 
Charles M. Jordan, of Minneapolis, Minn. 

Superintendent Charles E. Gorton, of Yonkers, N. Y., then read a paper entitled 
" The School Superintendent in Small Cities." 

Assistant Superintendent A. P. Marble, of New York city, concluded the discussion 
of Superintendent Gove's paper. 

E. O. Vaile, editor of Intelligence, Oak Park, 111., introduced the following resolution, 
and moved its adoption : 

Resolved^ That the Department of Superintendence does hereby memorialize the Board of Directors of 
the National Educational Association at its next meeting in Charleston, S. C, to appropriate the sum of 
$1,000 for each of the next five years, to be expended in promoting the cause of simplifying our English spell- 
ing, under the direction of a commission composed of the following members: 

Dr. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C, president. 

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia University, New York, first vice-president. 

Dr. F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of schools, St. Louis, Mo., second vice-president. 

Dr. William R. Harper, president of the University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

Dr. W. H. Ward, editor of the Independent) New York. 

Francis J. Child, professor of English, Harvard University. 

Thomas R. Lounsbury, professor of English, Yale University. 

William Dean Howells, New York city. 

Benjamin E. Smith, managing editor of the Century Dictionary. 

Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, superintendent of schools, Chicago. 

It being provided that any vacancies arising in the above board shall be filled by a vote of the members. 



Superintendence] SECRETARY'S MINUTES 7 

Resolved, That the retiring secretary of the department is hereby instructed to see that the above 
memorial is duly communicated to the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association. 

After discussion by Dr. E. E. White, of Ohio, President A. S. Draper, of Illinois, 
Colonel Francis W. Parker and Superintendent O. T. Bright, of Chicago, it was moved 
that the matter be referred to the Board of Directors of the National Educational Associa- 
tion, with an expression of opinion from the department. This motion was lost. It was 
then moved and carried that the resolution be laid on the table for one year ; yeas, 93 ; 
nays, 71. After further discussion it was moved and carried that the substance of this 
resolution shall be assigned a place for discussion on next year's program of the Depart- 
ment of Superintendence. 

Dr. W. T. Harris introduced the following resolution : 

Resolved^ That the president of this department be, and he is hereby, authorized and instructed to 
appoint a committee on the National Bureau of Education, the same to consist of six members, whose duty it 
shall be to aid that bureau, in whatever way they find it practicable, to accomplish its work. 

The resolution was adopted. 
The department adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The afternoon session opened in University Hall at 2 o'clock with a paper by Pro- 
fessor W. O. Atwater, of Wesleyan University, Connecticut, upon " Alcohol Physiology 
and Superintendence." A formal discussion of this paper was introduced by Superin- 
tendent S. T. Dutton, of Brookline, Mass., and closed by Superintendent R. G. Boone, of 
Cincinnati, O. It was then moved that the discussion close at 4 : 30, and the president 
ruled that no speaker should exceed five minutes. The following took part in the dis- 
cussion : Superintendent C. P. Carroll, of Massachusetts ; Colonel F. W. Parker, of Illi- 
nois ; Dr. D. L. Kiehle, of Minnesota ; Professor George W. Webster, of Chicago ; Hon. 
Henry Sabin, of Iowa ; Superintendent Joseph Carter, of Illinois ; Professor Winfield S, 
Hall, of Chicago ; Superintendent C. G. Pearse, of Nebraska. 

It was moved by Superintendent Boone, of Cincinnati, that thirty minutes of the 
Thursday morning meeting be given to the further discussion of this topic. 

The committee, provided for by the resolution of Dc. Harris was announced, as 

follows : 

COMMITTEE ON BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of New York. Superintendent N. C. Dougherty, of Illinois. 

President A. S. Draper, of Illinois. Dr. E. Oram Lyte, of Pennsylvania. 

Superintendent G. R. Glenn, of Georgia. Superintendent Aaron Gove, of Colorado. 

Department adjourned. 

EVENING SESSION 

The evening session was held in Central Music Hall, Vice-President G. R. Glenn in 
the chair. An address was delivered by President Edwin A. Alderman of the University 
of North Carolina, upon the subject, " The Obligations of Scholarship." 

Department adjourned. 

THIRD DAY 
MORNING SESSION.— Thursday, March 1, 1900 

The department was called to order in University Hall at 9 : 30 A. M., President 
Downing in the chair. Music was furnished by the eighth-grade class of the Brainerd 
School, Chicago. After an invocation by Dr. William Lawrence, of Chicago, the discus- 
sion of Professor Atwater's paper was continued. On motion, Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, of 
Boston, was allowed fifteen minutes to discuss the paper. She was followed by Mrs. 
Jessie Willard Bolte, of Winnetka, 111. Superintendent Dutton, of Massachusetts, moved 



8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

that Professor Atwater be allowed what he may regard as sufficient time in which to close 
the discussion. An amendment allowing him ten minutes was lost and the original 
motion carried. At the close of the discussion the following resolution was offered by 
Superintendent Joseph Carter, of Champaign, 111.: 

Resolved, That it is the judgment of this department of the National Educational Association that the 
teaching of temperance, errors being corrected if there be any in our books, shall be continued by law in our 
schools. 

Superintendent C. M. Jordan, of Minneapolis, Minn., introduced the following : 

Resolved, That the Department of Superintendence expresses its deep interest in every legitimate effort 
to further the cause of temperance, and its hearty approval of temperance instruction, based upon sound peda- 
gogical principles, in the public schools of the country. 

Both resolutions were referred to the Committee on Resolutions. 

At tljis point President Downing surrendered the gavel to President Corson of the 
National Educational Association, who introduced a delegation from South Carolina, 
consisting of Superintendent H. P. Archer, Charleston ; Hon. J. J. McMahan, state super- 
intendent of public instruction ; and Dr. A. P. Montague, president of Furnam Univer- 
sity, who constituted a committee, appointed by the city of Charleston, to present to the 
department the greetings of the citizens of that city. These gentlemen, in eloquent and 
impressive addresses, extended to the department an invitation to attend the annual con- 
vention of the National Educational Association, to be held in Charleston in July, 1900. 

Superintendent Bright, of Illinois, then moved that the department proceed to com- 
plete the business which was to come before it. Carried. The report of the Committee 
on Nominations was as follows : 

To the Members of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association: 

Your committee begs leave to submit the following nominations for officers of the department for the 
ensuing year : 

For President x-'L. D. Harvey, Madison, Wis. - 

For First Vice-President — A. K. Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass. 

For Second Vice-President — W. F. Slaton, Atlanta, Ga. 

For Secretary — F. B. Cooper, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

George B. Cook, Chairman, 

W. C. Bates, 

R. H. Halsey, 

G. R. Glenn, 

D. L. Bardwell, 

Committee on Nominations. 

It was moved that the secretary cast the ballot of the association for the names pre- 
sented by the committee. The motion was carried and the ballot so cast, and the officers 
named were declared elected. 

Adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The afternoon session was called to order at 2 o'clock. 

President John W. Cook presented a paper on the subject, " How a Superintendent 
may Improve the Efficiency of His Teachers." A formal discussion of this paper was 
opened by Professor A. S. Whitney, of the University of Michigan. 

Superintendent R. E. Denfeld, of Duluth, Minn., then presented a paper on " The 
Superintendent as an Organizer and Executive." This paper was discussed by Superin- 
tendent E. H. Mark, of Louisville, Ky. 

The Committee on Resolutions presented the following, which were unanimously 
adopted : 

To the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association: 

The Committee on Resolutions respectfully submits the following report : 

Resolved, That the thanks of this department are hereby tendered to the retiring officers for the wisdom 
and energy they have displayed in the preparations for this meeting, which by their efforts has been one of the 
most successful department sessions in the history of the association. 



Superintendence] SECRETARY'S MINUTES 



Resolved, That the thanks of the department be tendered to those who have presented the papers and 
the addresses which have formed the program of this meeting. 

The department expresses its appreciation and gratitude to the Local Committee of Arrangements, 
whose work has contributed so much toward the success of the meeting ; to the board of education, and to the 
city and the citizens, of Chicago, for their generous hospitality; to the press for its extended and satisfactory 
reports of the sessions; to the Woman's Club of Chicago for its generous reception; to the railroads for the 
facilities which they have offered for this meeting and for the reduction in the rates of transportation. 

Resolved^ That the request which this department made to the directors of the National Educational 
Association one year ago, and which met with generous compliance, be renewed for the next session, viz. : 
that an adequate appropriation for the meetings of this department be provided; and that the officers be 
directed to present this request at the next session of the Board of Directors. 

In consideration of the deep interest which this department takes in every legitimate effort to advance 
the cause of temperance, and of its desire to promote in the schools of the country the teaching of temperance 
based on sound pedagogical and scientific principles, be it 

Resolved^ That the chair appoint a committee of seven, whose duty it shall be to report upon the teach- 
ing of physiology in the schools, especially with regard to the condition and progress of scientific inquiry as 
to the action of alcohol upon the human system, and to recommend what action, if any, by this department is 

justified by the results of these inquiries. 

F. Louis Soldan, Chairman^ 

L. C. Grrknlee, 

£. H. Mark, 

Committee. 

EVENING SESSION 

The evening session was held in Central Music Hall. The meeting was opened at 
8:15 with prayer by Superintendent N. C. Schaeffer, of Pennsylvania. An address was 
delivered by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the University of California, upon 
" The Place of Secondary Schools." At the conclusion of the address the following com- 
mittee upon temperance instruction in the schools was announced by the president : 

' COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS 

District Superintendent A. G. Lane, of Chicago, Chairman . 

Hon. O. T. Corson, of Ohio. 

Superintendent J. H. Van Sickle, of Colorado. 

Dr. E. Oram Lyte, of Pennsylvania. 

President E. A. Alderman, of North Carolina. 

Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, of Missouri. 

Superintendent E. P. Seaver, of Massachusetts. 

The incoming president, Superintendent L. D. Harvey, of Wisconsin, was then pre- 
sented and made a few remarks. ' 

The department adjourned sine die. 

Charles M. Jordan, 

Secretary. 



IO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION fChicaeo 



PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS 



STATUS OF EDUCATION AT THE CLOSE' OF THE CENTURY 

BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND 

EDUCATION, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

Imagination and feeling increasingly bear the brunt of shaping human 
opinion and human conduct. Intelligence does its organizing work and 
then disappears below the surface. Much of life goes on without its 
active co-operation, just as many of our mental reactions, first organized 
in the brain, come to be carried on thru the spinal cord alone. When 
we stop to think, we realize that a century is of human making, a purely 
arbitrary division of time. Century might have been the name given to 
a longer or a shorter period, twenty years or two hundred, without doing 
violence to anything save present associations. The limits of a century 
are wholly imaginary. The skies do not change when a century is ushered 
in, or the thunders roll when, it passes out. A century begins and ends 
as noiselessly and as unperceived as any moment which glides from the 
future into the past. Imagination, however, gives to the century an 
objective reality, and feeling welds our thoughts to it. The arbitrary 
period of time wh,ich it covers, and the events which happen in that period, 
come to have for us a relation of cause and effect or of reciprocal depend- 
ence. We cannot rid ourselves of that feeling. Fancy, if you can, Attila 
charging upon the Western Empire in a century called the fifteenth 
instead of the fifth, or Louis XVI. losing his head in the eighth century 
instead of the eighteenth, or Columbus discovering America in the 
twentieth! 

We do well to resign ourselves to the spell of these mental creations, 
and to learn, as Macaulay somewhere said, to know our centuries. But 
who can know the nineteenth century ? Development so rapid, changes 
so startling, inventions so undreamed of, crowd each other in a whirl of 
confusing images when we try to picture this century and to note its 
salient facts. It is the century of Napoleon and of Lincoln, of Hegel 
and of Darwin, of Goethe and of Kipling, of Bessemer and of Rocke- 
feller. More leaders of enterprise and more captains of industry have 
appeared during this one hundred years than in all previous recorded 
history. The average of human intelligence and of human efficiency 
has been raised to a point, in the United States certainly, which a few 
hundred years ago would have entailed notoriety, and perhaps distinction. 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE OF CENTURY 1 1 

Prosperity and querulousness, 1 desire and happiness, have alJ multiplied 
together. How can all this be interpreted ? 

The wisest answer seems to me to be this : The nineteenth century is 
pre-eminently the period of individual liberty — political, religious, intel- 
lectual, industrial ; and its manifold triumphs and achievements are due 
to the large opportunities which have been granted to individual initiative 
and to individual expression. The greatness, the shortcomings, and the 
contradictions of the nineteenth century are alike due to this. 

It must be borne in mind that mankind discovered the significance of 
the individual rather late, and that, when discovered, this significance was 
variously interpreted. Man's early institutions and his law, based as they 
were on kinship, took the family, bound together by tie of blood, as the 
unit. The individual was of very secondary importance. The horde, 
the tribe, the state were successive aggregations of families, or, perhaps 
better, a larger family. The interest, the ambition, the vengeance of 
the group or community controlled each individual's acts afnd, in large 
measure, his opinions and his thoughts. Under such circumstances edu- 
cation could only be tribal or ethnic in its aims and in its forms. It 
sought to reproduce a type, not to develop a capacity. 

The journey during the history of civilization from this point of view 
to one from which the individual is himself of importance is a long and 
arduous one. Of representative ancient thinkers the Sophists, the Cynics, 
and the Stoics alone championed the cause o( the individual as such, and 
their appreciation of the real meaning of individualism was most imper- 
fect. The Sophist hope that a man could spin a web of successful and 
useful existence out of the shadowy contents of his own perceptions was 
dashed once and for all by Socrates. The Cynic revolt against social 
order and convention is typified by Diogenes with lantern and with tub. 
The Stoic outlook was a broader one, but it in turn was shut in by the 
massive height of an omnipresent, overruling law, before which man could 
only seek virtue thru stern resignation. The clue suggested by the master- 
mind of Aristotle, by which the essential nature and the limitations of 
individualism might be made known, was not fully followed up for cen- 
turies. Yet from the fifth century before Christ onward philosophy was 
increasingly becoming, not only the science of human conduct, but the 
art of human living ; and individualism was necessarily the gainer. How 
shall a man live to attain wisdom and virtue ? was the question which the 
Greek and Roman moralists pressed home upon each individual listener 
with tremendous force. Then Christianity came, with its teaching of the 
equality of every human soul before the judgment-seat of God. Here, 
at last, individualism seemed to have found a secure foundation. The 
Sermon on the Mount was its charter and its moral guide. A man's sal- 
vation depended upon himself alone. Speedily, however, a reaction set 
in, and the old habit of setting hard and fast limits for the individual 



12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

asserted itself. Christianity grew rapidly into an elaborate system of 
doctrine to be held in its entirety semper, ubique, ab omnibus. On the 
other hand, the Roman jurists were elaborating a system of personal 
rights, which was destined to afford individualism a new foothold and to 
exercise a profound influence upon European society. Superficially, then, 
individualism was checked by a body of doctrine, uniformly prescribed, 
which guided faith and practice ; under the surface, rights and oppor- 
tunities for the individual continued to develop slowly. Education took 
on the form of the superficial appearance of uniformity, and for centuries 
the western world continued steadily to uncoil itself in constantly widen- 
ing circles, but still in circles. At length the inner contradiction between 
the two great elements of mediaeval civilization asserted itself and the 
crash came. With the mocking jests of Rabelais, the caustic wit of Mon- 
taigne, the masculine fervor of Luther, pent-up individualism hurled 
itself against the bars which confined it. It broke thru, now here and 
now there, and rushed headlessly hither and yon, searching for escape. 
It tried mysticism in religion as a relief from the clanking chains of 
dogma, and absolutism in politics as a protection from its nearest foes. 
Meanwhile, the crushing force of ancient tradition- asserted itself with 
dogged determination. But it was too late ; the long-checked desire for 
a freedom which was too often interpreted as anarchy, and for a liberty 
which in its newness appeared to mean license, could not be controlled. 
In its name the persistent Anglo-Saxon challenged the house of Stuart, 
and after two centuries worked himself substantially free from the old 
forms of bondage. The more passionate and quick-moving Celt had to 
wait longer, but he acted more quickly. In the dramatic horrors and 
sublimities of the French Revolution he gained his immediate end at the 
risk of losing every precious possession of the race. 

The smoke of the French Revolution hung over Europe when the 
nineteenth century opened. As it gradually cleared away it became 
obvious that the successful struggle of individualism for recognition was 
almost over, but that the results were to be worked out by argument, not 
by anarchy. The century soon to close records what happened. 

Education, as a matter of course, has always borne the impress of the 
civilization whose product it was. From the fourteenth century to the 
nineteenth, the demand of individualism for representation in the schools 
has been heard, now earnest and reasonable, now passionate and incohe- 
rent. Politics and religion so far overshadowed education in importance 
that it was a long time before there was any widespread recognition of 
the close relation in which education stood to them. On this matter the 
seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries brought great light, and there 
was new hope for the schools. False and partial as we must hold much of 
the French and English philosophy of the eighteenth century to be, it is 
nevertheless to be credited with having convinced the world that a 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE OF CENTURY 1 3 

fundamental principle bound together rational progress in politics, in 
religion, and in education. To this conviction the nineteenth century 
has clung most tenaciously. The result has been an unexampled and 
dazzling expansion of educational endeavor and- accomplishment. 

When the century opened Rousseau had been dead nearly twenty- 
three years. Pestalozzi had just left Stanz for Burgdorf, and at the age 
of fifty- five was crying ecstatically: "The child is right; he will not 
have anything come between nature and himself." Froebel, an intro- 
spective youth of nineteen, was at Jena, at that moment the very center 
of the productive activity of German thought. Reinhold had been 
expounding the new gospel according to Kant there, and Fichte had only 
recently been expelled while trying to interpret it. Then and there 
Froebel, as he himself said, began to know the names of Goethe and 
Schiller and Wieland. Hegel, too, was at Jena. His Lehrjahre were 
behind him, and at thirty years of age he was nearly ready to measure 
his strength with the masters. The lecture programs of the University of 
Jena, as has been said, at that time fairly " dripped " philosophy. Herbart, 
who had been one of Fichte's pupils at Jena a few years earlier, was still, 
at twenty-four, studying and giving private instruction. These five men — 
Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Hegel, and Herbart — were to give to 
nineteenth-century education most of its philosophical foundation and 
not a few of its methods. From them have come the main influences 
which have shaped education for a hundred years. 

Each one of the five pleaded in his way for the value of the individual. 
Rousseau, with no institutional sense and no insight into the meaning of 
history, exclaimed : "O man, concentrate thine existence within thyself, 
and thou wilt no longer be miserable ! Thy liberty, thy power, extend 
only as far as thy natural forces, and no farther. All the rest is but 
slavery, illusion, prestige." Pestalozzi, whose intellect never quite caught 
up with his emotions, was really neglecting the individual by his method 
of trying to care for him. Froebel and Hegel saw far deeper. They 
knew the meaning of institutions, of thought-relations, of development, 
both inner and outer. They taught the individual as a Gliedgflnzes, a 
whole and yet a part of a larger whole, and so gave us our truest view of 
individualism in education. Herbart's individualism was hard and 
mechanical, tho his doctrine of apperception gave promise of something 
better and more vital. 

These men, then, projected individualism into contemporary educa- 
tional theory. They had hosts of disciples in many lands, and the 

 

movement grew apace. It needed, however, the touch of practice to 
make it genuinely real. This came after 1848, the line which divides the 
century into two parts — the earlier part dominated by thought, with 
spirits like Goethe, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Emerson as its expo- 
nents ; the latter dominated by action, with Lincoln, Gladstone, and 



14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION fChicaeo 

Bismarck as exemplars. In 1848 the individual gained the foothold 
which he had struggled for, but lost, in the haste of 1789. 

The pressure from practical life followed. The old educational 
material and the traditional educational methods were attacked with 
greater frequency and with greater vigor, as not adapted to modern 
needs. The ancient languages and the civilizations they embalmed were 
denounced as fetishes. The world's philosophy was nonsense; its art was 
archaic; its literature pedantic and overlaid with form. Straightway 
altars were erected to new and unfamiliar gods ; befpre all to that product 
of the human understanding called science, which Mr. Herbert Spencer, 
with a humor quite unconscious, defined as partially unified knowledge. 
The new spirit exulted in its freedom. It accomplished much ; it ignored 
much. In a thousand ways it impressed itself on life, on literature, and 
on art. Education was shaken to its foundations. Nothing was sacred. 
No subject of study, no method of teaching was immune. Old institutions 
of learning were too slow to move and to adapt themselves to these con- 
ditions. New ones were invented, created, set in motion. Wealth, 
public and private, poured out like water to make possible and to sustain 
these new types of school. The seven liberal arts faded into insignifi- 
cance beside the endless list of subjects now found to be worthy of 
study. 

This great, world-wide movement justified itself for the time by its 
results. Commerce, industry, and invention multiplied apace. The 
forces of nature were commanded thru being obeyed. Education had 
become democratic, and was ready to offer training in preparation for 
any calling. The traditional list of learned professions was increased by 
architecture, engineering, and a dozen more. Early and complete adap- 
tation of the individual to his appropriate career was hailed as the new 
educational ideal before which all else must give way. In consequence, 
the hasty conclusion was drawn that not only methods of procedure in 
education, but the sole principles upon which to proceed, could be 
learned by the study of the infant mind and the infant body. Upon this 
as a basis a superstructure of educational theory and practice was erected, 
which would have delighted the heart of that arch- Philistine, Rousseau. 
All that had been was wasteful, misleading, wrong, not on its merits, but 
simply because it had been. The progress of the race in civilization was 
explained as having taken place in spite of men's ideals, not because of 
them; and it was therefore rejected as a source of inspiration and of 
information. Individualism had not only won a great victory, but appar- 
ently its opponents were annihilated. 

This new philosophy, however, had not established itself without a 
protest, and as this type of individualism became more and more extreme 
in its claims, the protest grew louder and more earnest. Could the 
crowded centuries of the human past teach us nothing ? Were the art 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE OF CENTURY 1 5 

of Phidias and of Raphael, the verse of Homer and of Dante, the phi- 
losophy of Plato and of Kant, the institutions of the Roman law and of 
constitutional government, all to depend for their educational meaning 
and value upon the carefully noted actions and preferences of the 
unformed infant in its cradle ? The humor of the situation revealed 
itself, and the reaction set in. 

Individualism had gone too far. In the effort of forming its fullest 
flower it had torn itself up by the roots. History did mean something 
after all ; and environment was discovered to be a thing of three dimen- 
sions, not of two only. Reflection succeeded to controversy. Meanwhile 
the new sciences of nature had themselves been studying embryology and 
heredity. These words, took on new meanings. The individual was seen 
to be a product as well as a producer. Product of what ? Of all that 
man had thought and done, and of his own infinitesimal self. But if 
this were true, then what of education ? Obviously, the defenders of the 
new must shift their ground and retreat from the untenable position of 
Rousseau to the impregnable fortress, Gliedganzes ', of Froebel, of Hegel, 
and of all philosophical teachers of evolution. This change has been 
made, and as the century closes the soundest educational philosophy the 
world over teaches that the individual alone is nothing, but that the 
individual as a member of a society and of a race is everything. Self- 
hood, which can only be attained by entering into the life-history and 
the experience of the race, is now put in the high place which was about 
to be rashly filled by Selfishness. True individualism, which would 
enrich the life of each with the possessions of all, is well-nigh supreme, 
and sham individualism, which would set every man's hand against his 
fellow, is disposed of, let us hope forever. Education rests securely upon 
the continuous history of man's civilization,, and looks to the nature of 
each individual for guidance in the best methods of conducting him to 
his inheritance, but not for knowledge of what that inheritance is. 

Every conception of this nineteenth century, educational as well as, 
other, has been cross-fertilized by the doctrine of evolution. In whichever 
direction we turn we meet that doctrine or some one of its manifold 
implications. We have incorporated it into educational theory and have 
thereby shed a flood of light upon problems hitherto dark. Evolu- 
tion has assisted mightily in that interpretation of individualism which I 
have just defended. It has bound the universe together by homogeneous 
law, and the relations of each to all, both physical and social, have 
become far clearer and more definite. But much remains to be done in 
applying the teachings of evolution in actual plans and methods of 
instruction. The application is going on, however, all around us and 
without cessation, and is the cause of not a little of the existing educa- 
tional inquiry and unrest. Our schools have shed one shell and the other 
is not yet grown. Illustrations of this will be found in the teaching of 



1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION TChicago 

mathematics, of language, of history, and of the natural sciences. We 
halt often between the logical and the psychological order, failing to 
appreciate that evolution gives a place to each. The logical order is 
the orcjer of proof, of demonstration ; the psychological order is the 
order of discovery, of learning. Children do , not learn logically ; they 
come later to see logical relations in what they have learned. The well- 
equipped teacher knows both logic and psychology. He is prepared to 
guide the pupil in his natural course of learning, and also to point out 
to him the structure of relationship of what he has learned. Text-book 
writers the world over have been slow to see this distinction; but, with only 
few exceptions, the best American text-"books, which control so powerfully 
all school processes, are in advance of those most in use in Europe. The 
logical order is so simple, so coherent, and so attractive that it seems a 
pity to surrender it for the less trim and less precise order of develop- 
ment ; but this will have to be done if teaching efficiency according to 
evolution is to be had. 

The course of evolution in the race and in the individual furnishes us 
also with the clue to the natural order and the real relationships of 
studies. It warns us against the artificial, the bizarre, and points us to 
the fundamental and the real. Only educational scholarship can protect 
the schools against educational dilettantism. 

Two lines are needed to determine the position of a point. The two 
principles of evolution and of an individualism, viewed in the light of the 
history of civilization, seem to me to determine the status of education 
at the close of the century. The working of these principles is exempli- 
fied in practice in a thousand ways. They lie behind and determine 
every effort for improvement and for progress. The diverse types of 
school, higher and lower, with their widely different special ends and yet 
with a common fund of basic knowledge which they all impart, reveal a 
purpose to cultivate and to adapt the special powers and talents of the 
individual, while holding him in touch with the life and the interests of 
his kind. The existence of the wonder-working elective system in sec- 
ondary schools and colleges, together with the limitations put upon it, 
is due to a real as opposed to a sham individualism. The marked 
emphasis now laid upon the social aspect of education, in Europe as well 
as in the United States, and also upon the school as a social institution 
and a social center, is additional evidence of the dominance of the indi- 
vidualism of Froebel rather than that of Rousseau. The demands for 
the establishment of a proper system of secondary education in England, 
for the making over of the secondary-school systems of France and of 
Germany, for the closer articulation of lower schools and higher schools, 
of schools and colleges, in the United States, for making elementary- 
school instruction as little wasteful and as full of content as possible, for 
bringing forward studies which give adequate scope for expression in 



Superintendence] EDUCA TION A T. CLOSE OF CENTUR y 1 7 

various forms, and the demand that the community shall relate itself to 
its educational system simply and effectively — all these are based, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, upon the desire to apply the teachings of evo- 
lution and to progress toward the ideal of a perfected individualism. 

Education, so conceived and so shaped, has made an irresistible appeal 
to every civilized nation. During the century education has definitely 
become a state function, not as a dole, but as a duty. Consequently, the 
public expenditure for education has become enormous. In the United 
States it amounts annually to $200,000,000 for the common schools alone, 
or $2.67 per capita of population. This sum is about one-tenth of the 
total wealth of Indiana or of Michigan as determined by the census of 
1890. In Great Britain and Ireland the total public expenditure on 
account of education is over $88,000,000, or $2.20 per capita. In France 
it is about $58,000,000, or $1.60 per capita. In the German empire it 
is over $108,000,000, or more than $2 per capita. These four great 
nations, therefore, the leaders of the world's civilization at this time, with 
a total population of nearly 210,000,000, are spending annually for edu- 
cation a sum considerably greater than $450,000,000. 

The annual expenditure of the United States for common schools is 
quite equal to the sum total of the expenditures of Great Britain, France, 
and Germany combined upon their powerful navies. It is nearly four- 
fifths of the total annual expenditure of the armed camps of France and 
Germany upon their huge armies. It is a sum greater by many millions 
than the net ordinary expenditures of the United States government in 
1880. This expenditure for common schools has nearly trebled since 
1870, and during that period has grown from $1.75 to $2.67 per capita 
of population and from $15.20 to $18.86 for each pupil enrolled. 

These imposing and suggestive statistics mark, in the most objective 
fashion possible, the distance we have traveled from the beginning of the 
century, when there was literally no such thing in existence anywhere in 
the civilized world as a state system of education. But pride of achieve- 
ment should yield to a feeling of responsibility for the future. In the 
light of the nineteenth century no man dare prophesy what the twentieth 
century will bring forth. We only know that a democracy shielded by 
insight into the past and armed with trained minds, disciplined wills, 
and a scientific method is as ready as man's imperfect wisdom can make 
it for whatever may come in the future. 

Daniel Webster, in his oration at the laying of the cornerstone of the 
Bunker Hill monument, exulted honestly in the conviction that the 
example of our country was full of benefit to human freedom and to 
human happiness everywhere. " We can win no laurels in a war for inde- 
pendence," he said. " Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them 
all. Nor are there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and 
other founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains 



1 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

^ ^ ^^^^— ^-^^—  — » y   — ..■--■...■ ■■-■ _M 

to us a great duty of defense and preservation ; and there is opened to 
lis, also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of the times strongly invites 
us. Our proper business is improvement." This injunction, laid upon 
Americans by their great orator three-quarters of a century ago, has lost 
none of its force. It applies with peculiar directness to teachers and to 
teaching. The glory of founding educational systems cannot be ours ; 
but the effort for improvement, by building wise practice upon sound 
theory, is within the reach of each one of us. 



DISCUSSION 



President Charles W. Eliot, Harvard University.— l Afr. President, Ladies and 
Gentlemen: The scholarly address to which we have just listened has described so clearly 
and comprehensively the educational progress of this century that I need say nothing about 
the philosophical and biographical aspects of the subject. It only remains for me, in the 
few minutes during which I can occupy your attention, to supplement in some particulars, 
as best one may in extemporaneous speech, Dr. Butler's admirable paper. I will touch 
on three or four of the leading features of educational progress during the last half of this 
century. As Dr. Butler has already said, it is during the last half of the century — since 
1848 — that the chief progress in education has taken place. 

The first great movement of reform was the introduction of freedom in choice of 
studies — first in universities, or colleges, and later in schools. Like most other large 
educational movements, this change proceeded from new conditions entirely outside of 
the proper realm of education. It proceeded from the wonderful development of new 
knowledges which took place during the first half of the century, accompanied by the dis- 
covery of new principles and methods of scientific investigation. These new knowledges 
and new methods of inquiry commanded public attention, and created an imperative 
demand that youth should be instructed in them. The managers of education positively 
have had no option with regard to the introduction of some sort of elective system. They 
have been compelled to introduce it. A limited elective system was first introduced into 
Harvard College in 1826 during the administration of President Josiah Quincy, a layman 
who came late to an educational post, having previously been a member of Congress and 
mayor of Boston. His two successors in the presidency did not agree with him as to the 
importance' of an election of studies; so they tried to extinguish the system in Harvard 
College. The second of these two presidents put on record in his own reports his failure 
completely to extinguish the system, and gave the true reason for the failure — namely, 
the incoming of such a number of new sciences and of new philosophical and practical 
intellectual interests that it was impossible to restrict the program of studies in the col- 
lege to the old seven or eight so-called liberal arts. Thus then the great change wrought 
in the second half of our century in public education was forced on college administra- 
tions from without. They had no choice ; they must give to the student freedom in 
choice of study; and they must so specialize the teaching that the professor should have 
freedom to develop thruout all his career the teaching of a single topic. 

Let me attempt to give you an idea of what has been going on since 1870 in this one 
institution in regard to the teaching of a single subject — political economy. A few days 
ago there died in Cambridge in his seventieth year Professor Charles Franklin Dunbar, 
who, having previously been a man of business and the editor of an influential paper 
in Boston, was made in 187 1 professor of political economy — an immensely important 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE OF CENTURY 19 

subject, which at that time had no teacher exclusively devoted to it in Harvard University. 
It merely received a scanty portion of the attention of a professor of "natural religion, 
moral philosophy, and civil polity." In his first year of service Professor Dunbar gave 
instruction in one course prescribed for juniors, and in that same year he offered one 
elective course to seniors. Such was the modest beginning of the university's department 
of political economy. When he died there were in Harvard University three full pro- 
fessors of political economy, one assistant professor, and six instructors. There was no 
prescribed course, but a large number of optional courses ; and any youth who wanted 
to study political economy with thoroness could begin that study as a freshman, and 
continue it for four years, that is, thru his whole college course ; and then he might 
devote two or three years' time to it in the graduate school. One thoughtful, resolute, 
clear-headed, just man developed this important department of instruction in one Ameri- 
can college, in a little less than thirty years, thru freedom for student and teacher alike. 

Many persons have a very inadequate conception of the meaning of election of studies. 
They think of it chiefly as a questionable, liberty for a thoughtless student. It is really 
the sole means of developing thoro, far-reaching university instruction in any subject, 
or in all subjects, and, therefore, is an indispensable means of promoting and stimulating 
American scholarship. It is as essential to the production of great teachers and great 
authors as it is to the training of well -equipped students. x 

I pass on to the next fundamental change in American education — a change which 
is pure, far-reaching gain, and which has been wrought out better in America than in 
any other country. I refer to the change in school discipline. Again, this is a change 
brought about, not exclusively by professional teachers, but by social forces working 
thru all the community, but especially developed in schools and colleges. Nowadays 
we realize that the fundamental object in all education is to develop self-control and the 
power to give an intense mental attention ; and we realize that self-control is not to be 
cultivated in children under the arbitrary pressure of another's will. As a boy I went to 
what was considered the best public school in Boston — one famous thruout the country — 
the Boston Latin School ; but I have to testify that the chief disciplinary motive to which I 
felt myself subjected during my boyhood in that school was fear — fear of the rough 
tongue of the teacher, fear of the harsh construction put on the childish motive and the 
childish conduct, and fear of physical pain as an inducement to an unnatural quietness 
and to mental application. That is a true picture of school discipline before the middle 
of this century all over the world, the school world, for thousands of years ; but here in 
about the middle of this very century came a great change. It came partly thru the 
church. Fear began to cease to be the prime religious motive. Men began to find out 
that systematic theology is an exclusively human science. They began to see that it was 
a marvelously presumptuous thing in one man, tho he were a St. Augustine, a Calvin, 
or a Dr. Hodge, to undertake to state in the forms of human logic God's scheme for the 
salvation of men, and to describe the nature and the results of God's justice. Men began 
to emancipate themselves from the terrors of systematic theology. Then, too, we began 
to learn all over this country that government should not really be what for thousands of 
years government had been — the work of one arbitrary will, or of a few arbitrary wills ; 
but rather that it should be government by the people for the people. We all began to 
think that the right conception of government for the citizen might teach us something 
concerning the government of a child. It occurred to us that, if self-government was the 
whole object of political freedom, then self-control might be the legitimate primary object 
of a child's development. Again, home discipline began to change for the better. 
Family government became gentler ; and all these changes in society helped wonderfully 
to the beneficent change in the school. There has not been a more blessed change in the 
world than this change in home and school discipline from fear to love, from driving to 
leading. Wonderful has been the fruit of this change on the temper of our people and 
the happiness of our homes. 



20 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

I pass on to another immense change, brought about quite outside the schools and 
colleges, which has nevertheless affected profoundly the public provision ot systematic 
instruction. During the last fifty years, on account of industrial changes, the population 
in our own country, and in most of the civilized countries of the world, has been rushing 
into cities and large towns. This rush into urban life has had a very ill effect on schools. 
It has tended to make schools large machines ; and of course it has deprived the children 
of the natural out-of-door sports of country life. The grading of classes in a large school 
had to be inflexible, and the product had to be uniform like that of a flour-mill. That 
meant that the quick children were held back and the slow were driven forward, to the 
great disadvantage of both sorts. It meant marking time. It meant also bad air, bad 
light, and crowded rooms, with fifty or seventy pupils to a teacher. These are impossible 
conditions for good teaching. The condensation of population introduced new risks of 
health ; so that what was the normal rural death-rate rose in all large cities and towns to 
an unnatural height. The children suffered most from these increasing risks. Gradually, 
but chiefly within the last twenty years, we began to escape from some of these evils. We 
gave greater attention to good air, proper heat, and proper light ; we gave greater flexi- 
bility to programs, and options among studies ; in short, we attended to the conditions 
under which the children and the teachers worked, and tried to make them wholesome. 
But more than that it has been absolutely necessary to do. When a child grows up in 
the country it gets a natural training in accurate observation. It wants to find a four- 
leaf clover ; it runs to see where the green snake went to ; it tracks the woodchuck to its 
hole and gets it out ; it learns the songs of the birds ; and knows when the smelts run up 
the brooks, and when the twilight is just right for finding the partridges. In short, the 
country child gets naturally a broad training in observation. It also has on the farm an 
admirable training in manual labor. From an early age it can actually contribute to 
the care of animals, the successful conduct of the household, and the general welfare of 
the family. In the city all this natural training is lacking, and substitutes for it have to 
be artificially provided. This necessity has brought into our schools nature study and 
manual training, to teach the child to use its eyes and its hands, and to develop its senses 
and its muscular powers ; and these new beneficent agencies in education, already well 
in play, are in the near future to go far beyond any stage at present reached. 3Ve do not 
yet see how to replace in urban education the training which the farmer's boy or the sea- 
coast boy gets from his habitual contest with the adverse forces of nature. The Gott's 
Island boy, on the coast of Maine, goes out with his father in the' early winter morning in 
a half-open sailboat to visit their lobster traps and bring home the entrapped lobsters. 
They start with a gentle breeze and a quiet sea, tho the temperature is low. The boy 
knows just how to steer the boat five or six miles to sea, where the traps are sunk on some 
rocky spot which the lobsters love. The father is busy pulling the traps ; the boy watches 
the weather, and suddenly he says : " Father, there is a northwester coming. See the 
clouds driving this way over the hills ! " The boy knows just as well as the father what 
that means. It means a fearful beat to windward to get home, facing a savage wind and 
a falling temperature, the spray dashing over the vessel, and freezing to the sails and 
- ropes, and loading down the bow with ice. It means a life-and-death struggle for hours 
— the question being : Shall we get into harbor or not before we sink ? Now, that is a 
magnificent training for a boy, and the sheltered city offers nothing like it. The adverse 
forces of nature, if not so formidable that men cannot cope with them, are strenuous teach- 
ers ; but in modern cities we hardly know that the wind blows, or that the flood is coming, 
or that bitter cold is imperiling all animal life. 

Lastly — for my time has almost expired — a new motive is presented in our day to 
the teacher, the parent, and the children — the motive of joy thru achievement. The 
great joy in life for us all, after the domestic affections, is doing something and doing it 
well, getting where we want to get, and bringing others where they would like to be. Give 
every child, we say, the joy of achievement. Do not set it to do what you know it cannot 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE K OF CENTURY - 2 1 

do well. Set it to do what you think it can do well, and show it how. That is just what 
goes on in a happy kindergarten, or in a successful university conference or seminary. 
This is the new and happy aim in modern education — joy and gladness in achievement. 
I need not say that freedom is necessary to this joy. Schools used to set children 
doing things they could not do well. That, fellow-teachers, is the unpardonable sin in 
educational administration. It is not for the happiness of the children only that this new 
motive — to increase joy — has come to bless us. It brings new happiness to the teacher 
also. It is means of happiness for everybody thruout life. As a result of the advent of 
this new policy we are learning not to use with children a motive that will not work when 
the children are grown up. To be sure, we must admit that this doctrine condemns 
almost all the school discipline of the past, and much of the family discipline ; but the 
future will not mind that, if it finds the new doctrine beneficent. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I do not know a more sacred occupation than the function of 
a superintendent of schools in the United States. The more I see of the kind of work a 
good superintendent does, the more I am impressed with its beneficent character. Let me 
urge you to mix freedom with all your policies and efforts. It seems to me that nobody's 
name lives in this world — to be blessed — that has not associated his life-work with some 
kind of human emancipation, physical, mental, or moral. Dr. Butler very justly named 
Rousseau as a great contributor to educational progress. The main work of that man's 
life tended and still tends toward human liberty, and that one fact has almost sanctified 
an execrable wretch. Do you remember what Rousseau did with five of his wife's babies, 
one after the other, in spite of her prayers and tears ? He put every one of them in suc- 
cession into the public criche, knowing that in the then condition of foundling hospitals 
that destination meant all but certain death. Yet we sit here and listen to the praise of 
that mean and cruel creature. How shall we account for these two judgments of one 
man, both just ? We can only say that he tied the main work of his intellectual life to 
the great doctrine of human liberty. Verily, to have served liberty will cover a multitude 
of sins. May you serve freedom and humanity in all your labors, and then have no sins 
to cover! 

Dr. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. — After the address of 
Dr. Butler to which you have listened this morning, giving a survey of the movements of 
this century in the light of former centuries, and after the discussion of President Eliot, 
who holds with an iron grasp the facts of his time and compares them with the highest 
ethical standard of our civilization, I am sure that every schoolmaster here feels at least a 
head taller than before. Dr. Butler has made a magnificent review of the century, show- 
ing the growth of its spiritual interests. What he says concerns the work of every person 
present, and I presume that there are one thousand " one-man powers " here this morning 
(including several one-woman powers, too, who are superintendents of cities, and even of 
states). The great moVement has been toward individualism, and what has been shown 
is that this movement is possible only with a reverse movement at the same time from the 
individual toward the universal by means of an all-around culture ; for the highest indi- 
vidualism is that achieved by a self-activity by which the solitary human unit adds to 
himself the insights and achievements of his entire race, and makes them his own posses- 
sion so completely that he can use them to conquer nature and to draw closer his union 
with his fellow-men. For this century of individualism has been made possible by the efforts 
of scholars to make a scientific inventory of nature and to use the discoveries of science 
in labor- saving inventions. 

I wish to recall to your minds some facts and figures that form one of the best indexes 
of the rate and character of progress that is going on in this country, namely, the statistics 
of the increase of higher education. In twenty-five years the number of students in insti- 
tutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities, has increased from 598 in a 
million to 1,215 * n a million inhabitants, or more than double. Secondary education shows 



a a NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

the same increase. While in 1876 there were only 2,150 in a million working on studies 
preparatory for college and branches of study of an equivalent degree of advancement, 
it\ 1807-98 there were 7,630 students (in each million inhabitants) engaged on such 
branches. The increase of secondary students studying Latin and advanced mathematics, 
and in general taking up the branches which are supposed to be more of the nature of a 
solid foundation than the other branches, is also very encouraging. In eight years the 
number studying Latin has increased from 33 per cent, of the entire number of secondary 
students to 49 per cent. 

The increase of the quota of the population that acquires secondary and higher edu- 
cation shows conclusively that, in proportion as wealth increases and the productive power 
of the people gains in strength, the people at large give their children better educational 
opportunities. What these better opportunities mean in general I will attempt to show 
by discriminating the cultivation of eye-minded ness from the cultivation of ear-minded- 
llcss. It wiH be admitted that the illiterate person knows language or speech only by the 
ear, As all people do their thinking mostly in words, the illiterate person may be said to 
be car minded. When a person comes to know language by the ear, he gains in ability 
ill learning the experience of other fellow-beings, such an experience as the highest brute 
lUtimul is debarred from. For by the use of speech each person may live vicariously over 
again the lives of other people. He may, by hearing them tell their experiences, their 
(ilibpivulions, reflections, and deeds, get the net results of their living, so that man even 
if illileiate may be properly described as an animal who possesses the power of living 
suveial lives in one. 

Man is an animal who as individual can become a species by acquiring the knowl- 
edge and power, the experience and wisdom, of his race. But how limited is this power 
Willi the illiterate person! By means of letters one comes to be able to put down his 
lilt: i:*peiieuce in written and printed words, and all persons who can read get the power 
id living over Ids experience, interpreting the signs which are addressed to the eye and 
mil to the ear. Thru letters the person becomes eye-minded, and when a person can read 
\\ lllioiit cltuit he finds himself in possession of a much more accurate mind than is possible 
ill llu: t 4m: of the illiterate. Ear-mindedness, having to keep up as it does with the 
bpoUii woid, tuid having to depend on the memory of what is spoken, cannot critically 
^•inline the oMIcments and descriptions, the definitions and deductions, as it can do 
yvhyu It Iwi* heloie it the printed page. In fact, accurate thinking for the most part 
lit 1 omits pobbihlu thru eyemindedness and not thru ear-mindedness. Then just think of 
tlu: m upu wlih'h eve miudedness attains! It does not depend at all upon the living 
\nlii:, iuit it can heroine participant in the experience of persons at a distance, of all 
niilloiialuu'h dwelling in all parts of the world. It is not limited by time. It can make 
iiv.uliildu loi iU iihu the writings of all peoples that belong to the historical era, and, in 
!•%«. I, it t an u*i' lite eipeiieiu'e even of the peoples whose only records are monuments and 
W 1 illi-it Uldt'U ol lite pieliibtoric era. 

Tlttuk ot the meaning of this for the development of individuality, the development 
\\\\\\\\ it.i* luxii dt'bvilhi'd so eloquently this morning as the peculiar index-mark of the 
iiUntitnlh I'culmv! Vm individuality grows thru ihe appropriation or assimilation 
td othei individuality, and while the ear-minded person can command by means of 
\\i allh the hvivUTb ot oud teachers and gains his instruction thru absorbing the lives of 
his oul UMvhi'i*, the en* minded, on the other hand, can command the services of the 
book, and the hook awaits his leisure. All parts of the earth become to him substantially 
pioc ul like hi* own village. Not merely ordinary teachers come to his service, but the 
»i>v nun vd hU nuv await his leisure in the books which he possesses. These facts 
about eai-uitudcducsb and eve-mindednesa seem trite like a twice-told tale, but few per- 
son* ale ui the habit of thinking what a difference it makes with an entire people to pass 
ttom eai uiiudcdue»* to eye miudedness thru the beneficent influences of the common 
m hoolb. Ui our minds there remains the impression of what we read in the papers this 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT CLOSE OF CENTURY 23 

morning regarding the victory of yesterday in south Africa. Some of us read this with 
grief in our souls, and some of us read it with great rejoicing. As an eye-minded people, 
with us world gossip has taken the place of village gossip in its hold on our lives. 

An educational philosopher in Germany gave us a very profitable point of view from 
which to study the general meaning of education. He called the chief function of edu- 
cation self-alienation. It was the greatest philosopher in Europe who first used the 
German word Selbstentfremdung in this sense. The human being who takes up the expe- 
rience of his fellow-men orally or in print has to make in a certain sense a journey out of 
himself and to entertain hospitable ideas — tolerant ideas — of the others in order to 
understand them, and when he comes to see their motives aiid to find their logical con- 
nection with his own experience, he has returned in a certain sense to himself. He has 
completed his cycle of self-alienation and has learned to find himself at home in a social 
whole much larger than himself as a mere individual. But it is more correct to say that 
he has enlarged his individuality. What is strange and alien to him at first becomes 
familiar and rational, and he is prepared to understand far-off peoples, not merely the 
English, nor merely the Boers, but also the Hottentots and Kaffirs, even the Feejee 
Islanders and the Patagonians. Substitute eye-mindedness for ear-mind edness, and how 
easy and how extensive becomes this matter of self-alienation ! One extends the sphere of 
sense-perception to all the world, using vicariously the senses of all the peoples of the 
world. 

We must not fail to remember that in the place of immediate sense-perception which 
fills almost the entire life of the savage or illiterate civilized person there comes to be a 
vicarious sense-perception wherein the human being verifies the sense -perception of all 
the world thru the little sphere of sense -perception in which he lives himself. This is 
the scientific power of a Humboldt, an Asa Gray, an Agassiz, a Huxley, or a Herbert 
Spencer, who all performed prodigies of observation, mostly of this vicarious kind, for 
they have learned best how to perceive the world thru the senses of all observers. 

With this era of eye mindedness we are entered on an era of discoveries. We may 
define our modern civilization since the discovery of America as a borderland civiliza- 
tion, and Shakespeare is the poet of the borderland. There is scarcely one of his plays 
that does not in one or more acts take its leading characters out of the civilization into 
the wild Uitland (or outer land). In As You Like It the forest of Arden becomes the chief 
resort; in The Winter's Tale, the wilds of Bohemia; in The Tempest, the far-off island 
in the still vexed Bermoothes ; in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a wood outside of Athens ; 
in Cymbeline, the rocky hills of South Wales. When Shakespeare was beginning to write, 
Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, and the great mariners of England had begun 
their exploration of the borderland and their struggle with the Spanish for the mastery of 
the new world. 

This age of discovery is in a certain sense, too, a repetition of earlier ages in the 
unfolding of modern Europe. There was before it the era of the crusades in which all 
Europe gathered itself together for a mighty struggle with western Asia on its eastern 
frontier. This was an external crusade. After it came the internal crusade in which 
the European universities arose, and a great struggle began to master the thoughts of Asia 
and of the. classic periods of Greece and Rome. Here was self- alienation, which ended 
in an enlargement of the mind of western Europe until it was at home not only in its 
immediate environment and local history, but also at home in the great world-movements 
of the preceding sixteen centuries. In the internal crusade, which ended in the build- 
ing up of the great systems of theology within the Christian church thru the mighty 
thought of such men as Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, Bonaventura, and their com- 
peers, the thought of Christendom overcame the attacks made upon its western or 
European idea by the oriental thought which moved at the bottom of Asiatic civilization. 

The Anglo-Saxon race has continued to become more and more a cluster of nations 
that is active on the borderland of the world. With the industrial results of science and 



24 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

the application of the powers of nature to the subjugation of the elemental forces, it has been 
joined gradually by the other races one after the other, until at present the home-staying 
Germans have learned the lesson and have taken an advanced position among the people 
who are to take possession of the earth in the interest of the highest civilization. Not a 
savage people but shall be put to school to learn the two lessons of civilization — first, 
how to conquer nature by means of machinery ; second, how to unite one's own locality 
with all the rest of humanity, not only by commercial exchange of goods and by pro- 
ductive industry, but especially by intercommunication of experience and ideas. 

A Massachusetts poet has stated this remarkable ideal, interpreting the words of the 
great Neoplatonist Proclus, who saw in the Osiris myth of the Egyptians a poetic image 
of the race of man on the earth. Osiris, the god, was killed and his body cut into pieces 
and spread abroad over the land, and the life in the plants and animals of Egypt 
seemed to him to be the body of Osiris cut up into separate individualities. Bronson 
Alcott, the poet, expressed the idea in this versicle : 

Man omnipresent is, 
All round himself he lies 
Osiris spread abroad 
Upstaring in all eyes ; 
Nature his globed thought. 
Without him she were naught ; 
Cosmos from chaos were not spoken 
And God bereft of visible token. 

Thus to the race which has become eye-minded the world becomes more and more 
a revelation of reason to man, and in general all knowledge becomes more and more 
self-knowledge, because thru self-alienation one comes to find his wider and wider self. 
Many people indulge their fancy as to the lines future progress in science and inventions 
will take. I have been greatly impressed with the discovery of Professor Langley, the 
head of the Smithsonian Institution. To Joseph Henry (his predecessor) we owe the 
telegraph and the telephone, so far as the scientific nucleus of the discovery is concerned 
To Professor Langley I think the future will trace back the'practical solution of the ques- 
tion of navigating the air. I mention this to show how the lines of future discovery 
must go toward bringing civilized people into closer communion, not merely by railroads 
and steamships, but by airships — toward the conquest of the borderland as we have 
discussed it this morning. 

Self-alienation involves not only the journey outward from the self toward what is 
strange and foreign to him, but it involves the conquest of what is strange and foreign and 
the conversion of it into what is familiar. One must learn to make himself at home in 
what is abroad, and individualism must be carried over into socialism, using that word in 
its best sense. 

This, too, is the line of development of freedom. We cannot conquer our border- 
lands and assimilate them except by elevating them into the civilization which we possess. 
We must make them to be as free as we are, and we must make their people as able to 
think and as able to observe nature ; and we must make them as hungry for intercom- 
munication with all the earth as we are. 

It goes without saying that the borderlands* of the world do not now possess this 
freedom, but it is the duty of the nations that possess the highest civilization to labor for 
the elevation of those people into productive industry — into learning with regard to 
nature and learning with regard to man. Hence, as I have said, while individualism 
develops thru education, it at the same time thru education makes the individual uni- 
versal, so that the more free the race is, the more it participates in the life of all the races 
on the face of the earth. The people of every race and tongue must go to school to this 
highest ideal of education. Learn to command nature by means of science and learn to 
convert it to" human uses. Each race must learn to know the most internal motives of all 
other peoples and to appreciate them at their true value. The grand vision of universal 



Superintendence] ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 25 

tolerance, which has taken possession of our minds thru the words of President Eliot, is 
to become the reality of the new century. For this movement, which goes out to the 
borderlands and makes us cosmopolitan, has to develop perforce the principle of 
toleration. We can get no good from our fellow-men unless we approach them in the 
spirit of this principle. We must learn to find the good in our fellow-men. We must 
hold back our tendency to discover only what is bad. The change in our point of view 
will make us continually more helpful to others. 

I close with my thesis, assumed at the beginning, namely, that our movement toward 
individualism is possible only in connection with a reverse movement from the individual 
toward what is universal, and the attainment of this by means of culture — by means of the 
increase of education of all kinds, especially of higher education. 



• TWO OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT IN THE 
ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOL SYSTEMS 

BY LORENZO D. HARVEY, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

Ot WISCONSIN 

The necessity for improvement in the administration of graded school 
systems seems apparent, in view of the very general complaint that these 
schools are failing to secure adequate results, either in the acquisition of 
the most useful knowledge or in training for the development of power. 
No one knows better than those engaged in educational work that much 
of the criticism directed against the administration of our school systems 
is based on ignorance of the real conditions, and is therefore unjust. But 
it is true that those who have studied the school systems in this country 
most thoroly believe that in many cases they are failing to secure the 
highest results attainable. I shall not attempt to give detailed specifica- 
tions as to the shortcomings of the schools, but shall indicate what seems 
to me to be an opportunity for improvement in existing conditions, even 
in the best of these systems of schools. It is claimed that the courses of 
many of our city schools are overcrowded, and that pupils are compelled 
to do more work than the results of such work seem to warrant. I do 
not believe that this overcrowding is so much the result of the incorpora- 
tion of too many subjects in the course as it is the result of wasted time 
and energy on nonessentials in the course. An opportunity for reform, 
then, which seems to me to exist, is in the elimination of nonessentials, 
and the better co-ordination of essentials in order of time and in relation 
to the capacity of the pupils. 

When the proposition for elimination of nonessentials is presented, 
the question arises : What are the essentials, and what are the nonessen- 
tials ? Thfs is a problem too large to be solved in detail in this paper, 
and probably too large for any one man to solve, but it is a problem 
urgently demanding solution. It is not my purpose to attempt its 



26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION TChicago 

solution here, but to indicate the proper order of procedure in case its* 
solution is attempted. The first step is to determine the ends for which 
instruction and training are given in the graded schools ; the second, 
what subjects, all things considered, are best to constitute the course of 
study adapted to these ends ; and the third, what are the true purposes 
for which instruction and training are to be given in any single branch. 
With these purposes definitely and thoroly worked out, the next step is to 
make them clear, not only in the minds of the city superintendents and 
supervising principals, but in the mind of every grade teacher as well. 
These purposes must be formulated, not as glittering generalities, but in 
form and substance which can be justified on rational grounds. When 
such a formulation of the purposes of instruction in any given branch of 
the course of study has been made, there yet remains to be made such 
analysis of these general purposes as the teacher needs to put the instruc- # 
tion during any given recitation and the requirements for the next recita- 
tion on such a basis as to purpose as shall make that work a co-ordinated 
part of the entire work in such subject necessary to the complete realization 
of the general purpose. In other words, there must be a purpose on the 
part of every teacher, in every day's work, in every subject. This purpose 
must be so clear in- the mind of the teacher that she can state it with 
definiteness and exactness, and show that it has a necessary place, and 
where that place is, in the working out of the general purpose. The suc- 
cess of the individual teacher's work depends primarily upon this definite 
idea and definite end for each day's work in the subject. It may very 
well happen that the teacher may have in mind a definite purpose in 
today's lesson, and may work skillfully and secure good work on the part 
of pupils for the accomplishment of that purpose, and yet the work be an 
utter waste of time, because the aim of the recitation has no place in the 
general purpose for which the subject is being taught. Instead of going 
in a straight line from the starting-point to the terminal point, the line 
of progress is a broken one, touching the straight line only at intervals — 
zigzaging across it and lugging in nonessentials, leaving out essentials, 
and making the entire work in the subject a thing of shreds and patches, 
with a resulting failure to realize the true purpose for which instruction 
in the subjects should be given. 

If there be any reason for giving instruction in any subject in the 
course of study, it must be because that instruction is a necessary or desir- 
able element in the education of the child. It cannot be justified, how- 
ever, on the ground that it is desirable, if not necessary, until the other 
question is answered — whether or not some other instruction more 
desirable could not be substituted for it. To say that any work in the 
school has a place there because it is valuable is not sufficient. It must 
be more valuable than any other instruction which could properly be 
given at the same time, under existing conditions, This will indicate the 



Superintendence] ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 27 

care that is necessary in formulating the purposes, and the necessity for 
detail in working out the specific aim, within these general purposes, for 
each day's work. 

Am I wrong in assuming that there is not clearness of thought, and 
power to formulate definitely that thought, as to general and specific pur- 
poses in the teaching of any given subject in the graded schools ? Assuming 
that every superintendent present is able to formulate to his own satisfac- 
tion, and on grounds which he can justify, the purposes to be realized in the 
teaching of any of the subjects in the course of study, does he find that 
his subordinate teachers are equally clear, not only as to these general pur- 
poses, but also as to the specific purpose or aim in each day's work ? If 
so, it will be interesting at the first opportunity to test, first, himself and, 
second, the subordinate teacher. Let him undertake the task of formulat- 
ing the general purposes which he can justify, on the ground that they 
are of more value in the teaching of that subject than any others which might 
be stated. When he has done this, then let him try the experiment of 
observing the grade teacher's work on that subject, and from his observa- 
tion determine the specific aim which the teacher had in mind in the day's 
recitation, as appeared from the character of the work, and see whether he 
can find a place for that as a necessary part of what must be done in the 
working out of the general purpose. Let him see further if the aim of 
the day's work is properly related to what has gone before and what is to 
come after. When he has settled this in his own mind, from his observa- 
tion of the teacher's work, and without questioning the teacher, then let 
him ask the teacher to state definitely what the aim in the recitation was, 
and ask her to justify it as having a necessary place at the time in the 
working out of the general purpose. When he has completed this experi- 
ment, let him try it with another, and another, in this subject, until he 
has passed thru all the grades in that subject. Let him then go over the 
results of his observation, to determine whether or not the work in each 
grade is the necessary work for those pupils at that time, in view of the 
pupils' present mental condition, for the proper working out of the gen- 
eral purpose before determined. If I mistake not, he will find much work 
which it will be difficult to justify as a necessary part of the general 
scheme. Let him then enter upon another line of investigation, more 
limited in its scope, but not less important. Let him ask his teachers to 
formulate for him, day after day, in the same subject, the specific aim in 
each recitation. He must not be satisfied with general statements, but 
must insist that the details as to what is to be taught, and what drill work 
is to be conducted, shall be given, and that these details shall appear in 
the work of the recitation. When this work has been continued suffi- 
ciently long for the teacher to be able to formulate easily and definitely 
her aims in each day's recitation, then ask her to show what part and place 
these daily aims have in the general purpose of the work. If the 



28 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

superintendent begins these investigations with a thoro knowledge of what 
is required here himself, he will discover that a large number of his teachers 
have been working from day to day without any thought as to the part 
each day's work is to play in the final result, without considering whether 
it is necessary, or more valuable than any other work which might take 
its place, but simply going on, either from force of habit, by inertia, or 
following the text-book. The result of the investigation will be that, 
under close analysis, much of the work which the teacher is doing must 
be eliminated as not necessary for the true purpose for which the work is 
undertaken. This will not only eliminate much work which the teacher 
does outside the text-book, but it will eliminate much of the material from 
the text-book itself. Too many text-books have been made, not that they 
may serve wise ends in realizing the true purpose for which instruction in 
the subject is to be given, but rather to make a complete and logical pres- 
entation of the subject. The text-book has not been written for the 
pupil, but for the subject ; and a text-book of this kind, followed closely 
by the teacher, results in a kind of teaching not best for the interests of 
the pupil. 

The line of work thus far indicated will demand the most careful 
study and thought on the part of both superintendent and teacher, and 
in many cases it will prove a new line of study. Let it be granted that 
this work has been carried on in such a manner and for such a time as to 
secure ready and accurate formulation of general purposes in the study of 
any subject in the course, and also of the specific aims in each day's reci- 
tation. The net result will be to eliminate those portions of the work 
which have formerly been done, and which the formulation of purposes 
now shows to be unnecessary. A new line of investigation should now 
be taken up by the superintendent or supervising principal, viz., that of 
determining whether the work done day by day by the grade teacher is 
the work essential for the realization of the purposes determined upon, 
or whether some portion of the necessary work is being omitted, or work 
unnecessary is being done. 

In order to solve these questions two things must be determined : 
First, what must be known or done in order that the purpose of the 
day's recitation may be realized ? This must be determined independ- 
ently of the pupil, and solely by a consideration of the nature and scope 
of the purpose. What knowledge does it demand ? What training or 
drill is required ? When this has been determined accurately, it is evident 
that everything which is unnecessary for the accomplishment of the definite 
purpose in mind has been eliminated as a nonessential, and as a matter 
of observation it will be developed that much has been eliminated from 
the work of the teacher which, without such an examination, would be 
done as a matter of course. In the formulation to be made here that 
necessary knowledge or activity which is most closely and intimately 



{ 

Superintendence! ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 29 

<  

related to the immediate end in view should be stated in detail, while 
that knowledge or activity more remotely related may be stated in more 
general terms. A little experience will convince the superintendent that 
the teacher needs to do considerable work along this line before clear- 
ness of thought and accuracy in determination, combined with facility 
in expression, can be attained by her. Persistent work, however, will 
show valuable results, which will encourage to still further effort. When 
skill has been developed here, the second line of observation on the part 
of the superintendent is to determine whether in each recitation the 
teacher, having her aim for the next recitation definitely formulated, and 
the knowledge and activity necessary for the realization of that aim also 
stated, proceeds, before the assignment of work for preparation by the 
pupils, to determine what of the knowledge already decided to be neces- 
sary the pupils now have, and what of the activities determined as 
essential they have sufficiently mastered ; thus bringing out clearly what 
necessary knowledge and activity the pupil is to master for the next day's 
recitation. 

Careful scrutiny by the superintendent will disclose that in the majority 
of cases this work is not adequately done by the teacher ; that the teacher 
does not take a sufficient portion of the recitation period for this purpose, 
assigning the lesson hurriedly at the close, but with a vagueness which 
is only equaled by the vagueness in the pupil's mind as to what he is 
required to do, and as to what he already does know, or does not know. 
Too often the pupil assumes a knowledge of the work which he is 
expected to prepare, and so makes inadequate preparation. 

If the work above indicated were thoughtfully done by the teacher, 
it would clarify her ideas and statements as to what the pupil is to master 
for the next recitation, and would also give the pupil definite knowledge 
as to what he did not know, or could not do, and what he would be 
expected to know and do on the morrow. The investigation will also 
disclose, the further fact that an immense amount of time is wasted by 
the necessity of teaching over again what has been half taught, or learned, 
and by failure on the pupil's part to master required work because of 
lack of the related knowledge necessary to its mastery. He will find 
that the most serious objection on the part' of the teacher to this prepa- 
ration for the proper assignment of the lesson is that it takes too much 
time, and that not enough time can be given to the recitation proper. 
Further observation will disclose the fact that, were the lessons thoroly 
mastered, one-half of the time spent in the recitation could be saved 
for this work, were so much necessary, and that the recitation during 
the remaining half of the period would be far better and more com- 
plete than under the ordinary plan is secured thru the use of the entire 
period for that purpose. A few weeks' experimenting on this line of 
work, taking so much of a recitation period as may be necessary for the 



30 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

purpose, or even taking all of it in order to prepare for the next day's 
recitation, will satisfy the progressive teacher and superintendent both 
as to quality of results and as to the amount of work mastered. The n§t 
result here will be the elimination of unnecessary work, greater clearness 
and definiteness of thought and statement on the part of the pupil, and 
such mental activity as will compel the bringing together in the pupil's 
mind of the new and the related old — an essential condition for the 
acquisition of knowledge. 

These three lines of work put into operation will awaken the average 
teacher to a consideration of questions vital in any good teaching, but 
too often almost wholly ignored, and will result in the elimination of a 
large amount of work now being done, and which is entirely unnecessary, 
serving only to confuse the pupil, and render the little knowledge he 
does acquire fragmentary and unrelated. It will save time for work not 
now attempted, both as to scope and thoroness. These conclusions are 
based, not simply on theory, but on experiment and observation. 

The second opportunity for reform which I have to suggest is a very 
simple one, and yet one that is more far-reaching in its results than 
would at first thought appear. It is in relation to the mode of using the 
examination as a means of determining the pupil's fitness for promotion 
or graduation. I shall not consider the questions here, so often dis- 
cussed, as to whether promotion should be made upon class standing, the 
teacher's judgment, the records of examinations, or a combination of all 
three. The particular point which I wish to consider arises whenever the 
examination is made an element in determining the pupil's fitness for pro- 
motion. Ordinarily some definite standing is fixed which the student is 
required to reach in his examination in order that his work may not be 
ranked as a failure. I think it is the experience of every superintendent 
that in many cases — in fact, most cases — when the teacher of a class 
makes the examination questions, she does it with the required standing 
vividly before her, and that, if her mental processes could be shown 
during the process* of making the examination questions, it would appear 
that each question is determined by the probability of the members of 
the class being able to answer it so as to reach the required standing. It 
is also doubtless the experience of most superintendents, if they have 
, carefully considered the matter, that, even when they make the questions 
themselves, the necessity of making them to fit the standing is kept before 
their consciousness. It is doubtless also the experience of superintend- 
ents that both they and teachers sometimes make sets of questions more 
difficult for pupils than they had imagined them to be, and with disastrous 
results, frequently leading to a supplementary examination after a little 
coaching, in order to make the records straight. It has probably fallen 
to the lot of some superintendents to observe that frequently, under the 
pressure of necessity for the promotion of a grade, the grading of the 



Superintendence] ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 3 1 

papers is so toned up as to enable the teacher to give the requisite stand- 
ings. In other words, to sum it all up, the teacher or superintendent is 
not free, by reason of existing conditions, to make a set of questions 
which shall not only test memory, but power and skill as well, thus 
having a value, not only for the purpose of testing, but, what is even 
more important, a high value in training. Many a teacher would like to 
ask a question in examination which would test the power of the pupil, 
putting him upon his mettle, and would do it but for the fact that she 
knows a rigid marking of the answer would likely place the standing 
below what is required. 

The reform lies in the elimination of what seems to be this necessity 
for shaping the examination so that pupils may pass, rather than so it 
may be a valuable educational factor, and at the same time serve all the 
purposes of the test. 

A very simple modification of the existing plan will accomplish this 
purpose. Instead of fixing a standing of 75, 80, or 85, which the student 
must reach in order to entitle him to promotion, make the class average 
in each examination the basic standing, and count as failure the work of 
any student whose standing in that examination falls, say, 20 per cent, 
below the class average. Where examinations are given as often as once 
a month, failure for two consecutive months should operate to place the. 
pupil in a lower grade or section, for work in that subject. Even where 
the examinations are given with less frequency, but sufficiently often to 
prevent pupils being retained in classes when they are unable to do the 
work, the same plan may be adopted. Where the records of class work 
are kept, and are combined with the examinations in determining the 
pupil's readiness for promotion, they may be kept upon the same basis, and 
the pupil's relative standing in his class may be determined at the end of 
every month. The fact that a student has failed during a month's work, 
and that he sees before him the probability of being placed iii a lower 
•grade or section at the end of the next month, unless his work is improved 
in that subject, is a most powerful stimulus for better work; especially if 
parents are notified of the first failure and the consequences of a second 
failure in the same subject. 

In connection with this plan, facility should also be offered for pro- 
motion of a student at any time from his present position to the next 
higher grade or section, in a single subject, if the quality of his work and 
his physical capabilities and mental capacity seem to warrant making the 
trial. In this way no apparent necessity rests upon the teacher for fram- 
ing her questions solely with the purpose of enabling pupils to pass and 
making a record for herself. No necessity exists for improper marking 
of the papers in order to secure the same end. A powerful stimulus is 
presented to the pupil whose work is below the average for improvement, 
as well as opportunity for the stronger students to pass freely from one 



3 2 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

section to another in any subject where the character of the work will 
warrant it. This keeps the school graded thruout the year, and at the 
end of the year no tremendous strain is necessary in order to determine 
the readiness of the class for promotion. Practically every pupil in the 
school will then be promoted, his work during the year having been so 
carefully graded that at the end of the year he is ready to go on with the 
class in which he then finds himself. The difficulties arising from chang- 
ing from one class to another in a single subject are not so serious as 
might at first be supposed, as the first failure warns the student of the 
necessity for renewed effort to avoid the results of a second failure. The 
plan exalts the examination into the very highest order of mental effort, 
instead of making it a mere grind, a promotion machine. It encourages 
the teacher to present, thru the examination, opportunities for exercise of 
power and skill as well as memory, without making it necessary to add 
another examination, purely as a matter of form. The work of the super- 
intendent will prevent any falling below the general standard of the work 
in any given grade. The fixed standing is artificial; the average stand- 
ing is the natural one. 



DISCUSSION 



Alfred Bayliss, state superintendent of public instruction of Illinois. — The former 
" czar " of the House of Representatives, discussing an economical question the other 
day, closed by suggesting that " one of the best ways to meet any evil, and especially the 
wild discussion of it, is to sit down and reduce to details what we propose to remedy, 
and how in detail we propose to enact the remedy. This," he said, " will reduce the evil 
to its just terms, and reduce also the proposed remedy to actual practical life." 

The paper just read is an illustration of the application of that very excellent rule to 
the discussion of a widespread and quite too real educational grievance. 

Comparatively little of the adverse criticism of public education is based upon knowl- 
edge of evils known to exist, and reduced to detail, and accompanied by a proposed 
remedy, and " how in detail it is proposed to apply it." The paper, however, deals with 
two faults of the graded school system in precisely that way. The complaints are : 

1. The courses of study are overcrowded, making the amount of work required of the 
children excessive, and out of proportion to the results attained. 

2. The required standing (the pass mark) in school examinations is so artificial that 
the examinations do not examine. The examiner is not free to set questions that are 
calculated to test power and skill as well as verbal memory, or, in fact, to test anything. 

To consider the second complaint first : The specifications are : 

1. When a teacher frames a set of questions, she ordinarily does it with the required 
standing so definitely in her mind that the probability of her pupils being able to answer 
a given question determines the availability of that question for use at that time. 

2. Honest introspection compels most superintendents to admit that they themselves 
are governed by the same limitations. 

3. That this process of converting what ought to be an investigation of the contents 
of a child's mind into a preconceived estimate of, or even a guess at, them often results 
in a disaster which takes the form of a general " flunk." 



Superintendence] ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 33 

4. The disaster is then repaired in one of two ways : (a) a supplemental examina- 
tion, based upon a modified standard* or (b) a " toning " up of the ratings. 

There we have a statement of an evil known to exist, and reduced to detail. It is a 
mistake based upon the erroneous point of view that mere power of reproduction is, in 
itself, a test of actual knowledge ; and leaves out of the consideration the fact that one 
does not know a thing until he can reproduce it in the form of an application to some 
new use. It reduces the examination to a test of what the teacher has taught, or, rather, 
an inquiry as to how exactly a child remembers the mere form of what he has been 
taught, which is at most but part of the real question, which includes how, as well as 
what, has the child learned. 

" Not what the master teaches, but how the pupil learns," is the true test of teaching. 

The remedy proposed is a variable, in lieu of a fixed, arbitrary standard. 

Considered merely with reference to the use of the examination as a means of ascer- 
taining fitness for promotion (the limitation proposed by the paper), the standard sug- 
gested, viz., the average of the group, or class, easily appears more natural than the 
conventional standard, and we are led at once to coincide with the conclusion of the 
paper. It has the distinct advantage of liberating the teacher and leaving her free to take 
a " proof " of the whole work actually done. And, inasmuch as a regular promotion 
means remaining with the group or grade, this is the rational test ; for the theory of the 
graded school is that children of approximately the same degree of mental power and 
skill should be taught and trained together. 

The incidental advantage referred to — that this plan would facilitate the promotion 
of strong pupils in single subjects, and the reverse — seems of quite equal importance. 
No two minds are ever, at any stage of growth, quite alike. The rate of growth is not, 
and cannot be made, uniform. Our method of- administration must necessarily recognize 
this obvious and obtrusive fact. The economy of class instruction depends upon finding 
as many of the common points of contact as possible, but the variations cannot be lost 
sight of or neglected. It is not enough — admitting the possibility — to "grade" a school 
once a year, nor even every half-year, or every " term." It should be kept graded by a 
continuous process, as gentle and as natural in its operations as growth itself ; a process 
which shall keep in mind, not only the " average " boy, but the bright Boy and the " dull " 
boy as well; a process which includes equal rights for all. To this end the examination, 
rationally used, may certainly be made to contribute. 

If Superintendent Harvey can bring the principals and superintendents of Wisconsin 
to his point of view, the question whether promotions shall depend upon the record of 
class work, or the teacher's judgment, or the final examination, need be no longer mooted 
in that state. For the examination will be remanded to its true place, as an inquiry — 
useful as a guide to the teacher when occasion requires — as a test of the accuracy of 
acquired knowledge, as a means of training in correct form, and as an antidote to the 
slipshod carelessness which makes so many of the graduates of our high schools thorns 
in the flesh of the longsuffering college professors, and discounts their immediate value 
for practical purposes when they fall into the hands of the business-man. 

But as an agency of educational life and interest and growth the examination must 
yield to the oral recitation. 

And the charge brought against the method of the recitation is the more serious of 
the allegations contained in the paper under discussion. 

Charge : The course of study is overcrowded. The results are not commensurate 
with the work and worry involved and required. 

Specification: This overcrowding is caused by the incorporation of nonessential 
things, and the process seems to be cumulative. 

There is a well-known attorney-at-law in southern Illinois, who once described 
himself as the ablest lawyer in his section of the state. " How do you prove that ?" said 
a bystander. "Don't have to prove it," he answered; "I confess it." 



34 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

I take it that, in this company, the charge and specification need only to be stated 
to be admitted. Indeed, this body has been pleading guilty to both for several years. 
What are we going to do about it ? has been the question recurring over and over again. 

The remedy proposed by the paper is : 

1. Eliminate the nonessentials. 

2. Correlate the essentials (a) in order of time, and (b) in relation to the capacity of 
the pupils. 

We are concerned only with this proposed remedy. In the elimination of nonessen- 
tials a certain blind movement was discernible prior to the advent of the'Committee of 
Fifteen. An up-to-date high-school girl who should chance to meet a simple, a com- 
pound, a perfect, and a complementary repetend, coming four abreast down the road on 
a 1900 wheel, wouldn't know one from the other, and, if told the family name, would 
probably say that they were people she had never Jieard of before. The art of decom- 
posing fractions is as dead as the Connecticut rule for partial payments. Single and 
double position are on the same dusty shelf as barleycorns and ells Flemish. Alligation, 
continued fractions, and duodecimals are all defunct, and there is talk of transferring 
longitude and time to the geographies. The maker of a most excellent modern arithmetic 
stood before a body of teachers the other day, in the capitol building of Illinois, and 
persuaded them that the old-fashioned complex fraction is a relic of barbarism, by simply 

_7 

asking whether they ever had occasion to ascertain the cost of a ton of coal @ — of a 

53 

dollar per cwt. The distinguished county superintendent of this cosmopolitan county 
is said to have canvassed the business-men of Chicago in vain to find one who had any 
demand whatever for greatest common divisors in his business, and so he is more than 
half inclined to put them, too, in the left-hand column, among the nonessentials to be 
canceled pretty soon. 

Hesse Homburg, Hesse Darmstadt, Hesse Cassel, and all the other Hesses and 
Hessians are as completely eliminated from the geographies ; and the time which used to 
be spent in learning them, and the names of hundreds of black spots on the maps, and 
the like, is now given to real or imaginary excursions into distant localities. 

So with other subjects. In reading, time has somehow been found, so that publishers 
seem to think it profitable to offer whole pieces of literature — many as good as The Lady 
of the Lake, Ivanhoe, The House of the Seven Gables, or even The Essay on Burns, in lieu 
of the scraps of the conventional "reader." The language teacher has replaced 
"Spring," "Happiness," "Perseverance," "Friendship," and the other old familiar 
themes by the more natural topics suggested by the geography, the history, and the 
nature study. 

While this is both true and commendable, it can hardly be said that the essentials of 
a school course of study, and the order of procedure, have been found and authoritatively 
stated — what subjects are best, and the true purpose of each. Moreover, education is a 
progressive science, and the true statement today might be incomplete tomorrow. The 
Committee of Fifteen should have been a continuous body. 

But with such a statement authoritatively worked out and accepted, with the non- 
essentials ruthlessly eliminated, we have still before us the main problem of the paper. 

The nonessentials being eliminated, and the essentials formulated, and the true 
purpose of each, it is demanded that they shall be known, not only by supervisors of all 
grades, but by the working teachers as well. The teacher must not only know her pur- 
pose in each day's work, but she must know it in its relation to the whole course of study, 
and know it so well that the purpose of each lesson shall be clearly in her consciousness 
as she does it — so well that, if occasion required, she could state it in terms, and justify 
it as the right thing for her to be doing at that particular time, to the exclusion of all other 
things. And the supervisor must not only know it as well as this, but he must be able, by 



Superintendence] ADMINISTRATION OF GRADED SCHOOLS 35 

mere inspection, to recognize a given piece of work while it is in progress, as a necessary 
and co-ordinated part of the general purpose. 

That "every superintendent is able to formulate to his own satisfaction, and on 
grounds that he can justify, the purposes to be realized in the teaching of any of the 
subjects in the course of study," is, when confined (as it is by the paper) to those here 
present, a very genial assumption, but, if made too general, it would become a violent 
one. As an ideal, however, it may not- be too much to require of the supervisor that he, 
at least, should be a skilled workman. ' 

But how about the grade teacher ? Under all the circumstances as they are, and are 
quite likely to remain far into the future, is not the demand so high as to be out of pro- 
portion ? 

Aristotle and Lincoln — the wisest of the ancients and the most " practical " of the 
moderns — both estimated education as the most difficult of all problems. Lord Bacon 
admitted that " the art of well delivering the knowledge we possess is among the secrets 
left to be discovered by future generations." We have not yet found it. Such progress 
as has been made we owe to the continuous efforts of a long line of philosophical thinkers. 
The problem is not yet so far solved that we can even agree upon a statement of the 
things to be taught, and the general method. The paper itself opens with a confession 
that the separation of essentials from nonessentials, urgently demanded, is a 'problem too 
large for any one man. 

Does it not, then, ask too much of the working teacher ? Can we hope, very long 
before the distant pre-millennial days at least, to realize on such a demand ? 

The average life of a teacher is probably about five years. Twenty to 25 per cent, 
are recruits every year. Probably less than 10 per cent, begin their service with such 
training as the normal schools — themselves, the best of them, confessedly in a nascent 
condition, while some are but little better than the average high school — can supply. 
That the average term of service will be greatly lengthened is not a reasonable expecta- 
tion, as long as nearly all of the working teachers in the graded schools are women. It 
ought not to be. Even supposing the ratio of normal-school-trained teachers to increase, 
until, in time, none shall be allowed to begin service without such training — some study 
of the things to be taught from the point of view of the teaching process, and some prac- 
tice under skilled direction and oversight — even then the degree of insight into the 
problem of education demanded by the paper seems more than a reasonable expecta- 
tion. 

Let any superintendent, over forty-five years of age, who thinks he has it in this 
degree, test himself in the matter of time.' How long did it take ? How much sooner 
could it have been acquired, had the problem of the paper been distinctly stated to him 
that Friday night, at the end of his first week, when he went home, limp and discouraged, 
half tempted to turn back, even after he had put his hand to the plow ? 

Is not the degree and breadth of insight demanded by the paper more than a reason- 
able expectation of the average teacher ? If, continuing in the service, after many years 
of experience, she attain it, and, at the same time, retain a modicum of the hopeful 
enthusiasm which she brought from the high school, or the training school, is not that a 
great deal ? During these growing years she is at least living, in obedience to the Froe- 
belian injunction, with the children — growing with them, as she finds, under the guidance 
of the broader vision of her supervisor, their powers and interests, and ministers day by 
day to the need of the hour. 

From the teachers' point of view, then, the difficulty is a doudle-headed one. One 
head is a condition, inherent in the fact that the great majority of the working teachers 
must be at all times, under our system, immature, and that they will not remain in the 
work long enough to reach the point of efficiency demanded by the paper. The other 
head is a theory — the theory of pedagogical freedom. We must eliminate the nonessen- 
tials, and we must agree upon the essentials, says the paper — after declaring that the 



36 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

problem is too large for any one man, and not forgetting, doubtless, that fifteen good 
men and true tried it once with but measurable success. 

Chicago, it has been alleged, is considering the advisability of putting analysis and 
parsing in the limbo of the nonessentials of grammar, but permitting those teachers who 
demur to the classification, and consider those exercises to b$, not only good, but " more 
valuable than any other instruction which could properly be given at the same time, 
under existing conditions," to continue to use them. But Chicago is sui generis. Most 
superintendents, it is to be feared, would say : " Let us conform to the course of study 
agreed upon." 

A superintendent says to a primary teacher : " These children seem to like noise, 
bright colors, and striking costumes. The military instinct seems to be exerting itself. 
Let us drop Hiawatha now, and utilize the story of Darius. Let them study Persian 
civilization. Temper their self-assertion thru and by the lesson that the power to obey 
precedes fitness to command. Teach them that truthfulness is the soldier's virtue, and 
that the soldierly quality of courage can be brought to bear upon their daily tasks — and 
all that sort of thing." But the teacher says : " I think the next step should be Kablu, 
or Cleon, or Horatius;" and gives — not being " on compulsion" — some of the reasons 
which are as plenty as blackberries in August. Who shall decide around which center 
best to group the instruction which must be " more valuable than any other instruction 
which could properly be given at that time, under existing conditions " — the teacher who 
is " next to " the children, or the supervisor of primary grades ; the one who knows the 
whole plan and purpose better, or the other who knows better the existing conditions ? 

In brief, the difficulty of this phase of the problem is but an aspect of the old clergy- 
man's difficulty — it lies entirely in " the application of it." 

The paper, then, as I read it, presents an ideal none too high for the supervisor ; but 
which, as a working hypothesis for the grade teacher, is subject to some limitations. 

I submit, as a corollary : No man (or woman) should be permitted to undertake the 
supervision of education who has not nad considerable practice in the art, been liberally 
instructed in its theory, and obtained some insight into its philosophy. 



THE TRAIL OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT 

BY AARON GOVE, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DISTRICT NO. ONE, 

DENVER, COLO. 

To follow the trail of the city superintendent of schools tramping 
backward is not difficult, but the traces are faint when one reaches the 
beginning, sixty years ago. A little path has its origin about 1839 at 
Providence, R. I., upon which traveled Nathan Bishop. Another path 
that helped to mark the road more plainly started with Professor S. S. 
Greene, at Springfield, Mass., in 1840. Later, in 1847, tne main trail is 
joined by one from Columbus, O., where Dr. A. D. Lord was made the 
first city superintendent of schools in that state. The same year Rickoff, 
at Portsmouth, and Leggett, at Akron, joined the party. 

As the school committee — the name of the body elected to take the 
direct oversight of common schools in New England — was changed in 
character, because the people seemed to demand business-men as well as 



Superintendence] TRAIL OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT 37 

     I  ■»  »■■■-■■   M .  -   — ^^^^^^-^^— ^— ^^— — 

ministers for counsel and direction, the duties of the committee became 
quite too heavy for active business-men to perform ; besides, the fact 
that amateurs, chronic reformers, and men of leisure lacked efficiency 
was apparent then as now. Out of this came the demand for expert 
supervisors. 

The duties of the office were evidently dimly defined in the minds of 
the people of the time, but the main thought obtained, viz., that able 
men, willing to give counsel and exercise veto power upon proposed 
measures, would accept such responsibility and serve on directory boards 
only when the execution could be placed in an office created for that 
purpose. Once established, the office of the city superintendent became 
helpful, and very soon necessary. 

The trail of the superintendent, formed by the little paths in New 
England and Ohio flowing into one, as the brooks join to make the main 
stream, has become broad and solid, but not straight. Windings, curves, 
crooked places, right-angles, and numerous turnings back upon itself 
are seen in looking over the road traveled. The embryo germ -thought 
planted in the heads and hearts of Greene, Philbrick, Wells, Mann, Rickoff, 
Stephenson, Jones, Hager, and Newell has led these men thru devious 
ways, against tremendous obstacles, and over the trail, by the sacrifice of 
almost infinite trial with vigorous opposition, in contest and in conflict to 
the end. One and another languished, fell, died, and are buried by the 
side of the road. Each traveled his own gait, with rations and blanket 
only, never knowing, altho caring much, where each year's tramping 
would end. 

The deaths of great men in national and political history are com- 
memorated by song, story, and memorial days. Only in secluded family 
circles, and midst the personal friends, are the works and lives of heroic 
schoolmasters recorded and remembered. 

The trail of the city superintendent has been followed persistently 
during the sixty years by very few pilgrims ; of the hundreds that have 
struck it most have left it for another prospect. The roll of names is 
short. Various callings have contributed to the gang on the trail ; com- 
mercial, mercantile, professional, and industrial vocations each has sent 
representatives to join the tramping throng. 

The causes for striking the trail and the reasons for leaving it are well 
in sight. Inadequate preparation has been potent in forcing desertion. 
Neither scholarship nor executive ability alone has been found ample for 
permanent occupation. The requisite power and wisdom of the city 
superintendent is identical with that of the competent man in industrial, 
commercial, or diplomatic life, with that common necessary attribute in 
each and all — adequate special preparation. A college senior is poor 
material for an executive of schools as well as for industrial or mercantile 
establishments. 



3$ NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Men in middle age, of ability to measure themselves, enter with 
hesitation and lack of confidence upon an undertaking with which they 
have not in early manhood been familiar. Superintendents of schools 
are not born, but made, made exactly as are men in other lines of life, 
by training, discipline, and experience. 

Schools of philosophy and pedagogy cannot be seen along the earlier 
trail. Their establishment and conduct is one of the later improvements 
upon which we congratulate ourselves. The chairs of pedagogy which 
the colleges have hastened to endow are occupied by such talent as has 
never before entered the work of training teachers. The value of the prod- 
uct can scarcely be overrated, and yet we are compelled to recognize that 
some material is sent to that factory out of which supervisors can never be 
made. More than experimentation in a pedagogical college is required. 
One of our eminent philosophers, Professor James, has written : " A 
knowledge of such psychology as this can no more make a good teacher 
than a knowledge of the laws of perspective can make a landscape painter 
of effective skill." It is an added truth to that other one so hesitatingly 
learned, that graduation from a normal school is no earnest of a teacher. 

Among the 625 city superintendents today on the trail, from cities of 
eight thousand or more people, are men and women of all ages and 
colors, and of such varied antecedents as to preclude a reference to them 
as a profession. The practices, expenditures, customs, and environments 
of the respective cities that they represent compel as varied and various 
administrations. . 

But the trail has become broad, even if crooked. Its sidelines are 
becoming more and more evident. The bureau of education, embarrassed 
by its limited appropriation and its humble official position as an adjunct 
of the Department of the Interior, has been, thru its reports, one great 
factor in unifying the differences in the work of city superintendents. The 
hindrances imposed upon the bureau have been overcome to almost a 
superhuman extent by the one and, as I believe, the only man competent 
for this great work. When the work of Commissioner Harris shall be 
comprehended in all its fullness, we shall wonder that we lived during his 
time without a complete realization of the power of this great man. 

A second factor, great in another way, has been and is the Depart- 
ment of Superintendence of the National Educational Association. The 
annual three-days* meeting, if, according to its traditions, it can be held 
to business, not picnicking, will accomplish the unifying of the methods 
and procedure of city superintendents. The trail is to become less and 
less crooked, the pilgrims are to tramp more regularly, and the forward 
movement is to be more even. Looking backward, the halts and wind- 
ings have been many, and while the intense, over-ardent reformers have 
for a day threatened an upset, this department has contributed largely to 
prevent serious overthrows. 



Superintendence] TRAIL OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT 39 

From the writing school in the forenoon and the reading school of 
the afternoon in old Boston, with its imported Lancastrian system, has 
come what we have in this the sixtieth year. 

We have fought, bled, and died with the no-recess plan ; the formal 
teaching of moral science in all grades ; grammatical diagramming ; the 
monitorial system ; departmental instruction (which has lately been lifted 
from the grave and its ghost rehabilitated); teaching patriotism perfunc- 
torily ; self-government (also recently resurrected) ; concert recitation, 
and teaching geography by singing (how the latter raged like a roaring 
whirlwind, while from hundreds of schoolrooms came the doggerel song !); 
counting in penmanship; individual instruction (which has ever been 
the chief work of the competent teacher); counting one for a comma, two 
for a semicolon, three for a colon, four for a period, etc. 

In teaching reading, the battle has been on with the Pollard system, 
the phonetic system, and large editions of books printed for a great city 
with Leigh's phonetic type; script before print; the word, sentence, 
leaflet, and analytic method (the latter taking about six weeks for each 
page of the reading book). 

In arithmetic we have passed thru the Griibe method ; the ratio 
method by charts (introduced and discarded by Pestalozzi in the last 
century); the ratio method by scales of weight and yard-sticks; a later 
ratio method by blocks ; the lightning method by Webb, and others. 

In music we have had the tonic-sol-fa method, involving a changed 
system of writing music; and we have lately introduced the "primary 
trot," being a mechanical running by primary pupils about the school- 
room ; and also object -teaching. 

May I indulge in a digression here to call attention to that incomparable 
report to the National Educational Association read at Harrisburg in 1865 ? 
We are fond of our modern committees of five, of ten, of fifteen, because 
the character of the membership makes their reports so valuable. Let 
me read the names of that committee of seven, whose report, drawn up 
by S. S. Greene, together with the remarks of Principal E. A. Sheldon (he 
who was the apostle of object-teaching), puts into the shadow much of 
the nature-study and field-work instruction of today. They were : Barnas 
Sears, S. S. Greene, Josiah L. Pickard, J. D. Philbrick, David N. Camp, 
Richard Edwards, Calvin S. Pennell. 

We have had Mr. Charles F. Adams with his Quincy discovery. Some 
of us were active in those days. And when that old hero, Daniel Hager, 
wrote to me that he would go from Salem to Quincy and write me all 
about it, I waited for the report of his visit. Like all of our correspond- 
ence, this was helpful and comforting to an ambitious superintendent. 
He said : " I found nothing new, but I found new combinations, and a 
genius for work and enthusiasm in the superintendent that was helpful 
and inspiring." He urged me to go and see, even if I was two thousand 



40 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chica£o 

miles away. This conclusion, given at that time by Mr. Hager, has been 
verified in the years that have followed. 

From these innovations and out of these proposals we have to some 
extent accepted the amendments ; in some cases we have taken nearly the 
whole, finding it good; in others, but a little, ever trying and sifting, 
holding to that which has been practically demonstrated as of value. A 
large part, as you and I know, has been discarded as the vagaries of over- 
zealous but misguided and imprudent but persistent innovators. These 
people are good to have about us, and may be encouraged to spend their 
energies like the inventor in material things who seeks for perpetual 
motion. Another class, however, outside of school circles are to be con- 
demned and cast out — the iconoclasts, who never plan a proposal for 
aught new, or for a substitute, but who thru the press, platform, and pul- 
pit are everlastingly tearing down and demolishing and condemning. 

The activity of the present is unprecedented. Experiments are pro- 
posed, and that superintendent who hesitates in entering upon them 
is temporarily lost. One of the most pronounced of these experi- 
mental movements is the attempt to construct laws that relieve people and 
boards of education of not only execution of school laws, but of framing 
them. In haste to eliminate evils attending school supervision con- 
sequent upon interference from incompetent councils, measures are urged 
placing much power in the office of the superintendent, with few limita- 
tions. 

In reaching for the desirable, as is the custom of Americans, we are 
overreaching. It is not likely that any American community will for a 
long time submit to the administration of any public office with limita- 
tions such as are repugnant to their antecedents and training. The per- 
sonal-liberty idea and the government-by-the-people idea are a part of the 
unwritten as well as the written constitution of Americans. Even tho 
government by the whole people has never been found expedient and has 
never been the practice, fortunately for our country the minority of the 
people have ever, and for safety must ever, govern. A minority of the 
75,000,000 make and enforce the laws for the majority. 

It is unnecessary to decide whether or not the schools of a city can be 
most successfully conducted by one man or by a group of men; the 
former method is impossible, and must continue to be until the senti- 
ments of the people become less democratic. Were an elected board of 
experts within reach, the outcome would have good promise. But aboard 
of educational experts in America at present, if called together, would sit 
in discussion seventy-seven years and then adjourn disagreeing. 

There is no authority for us. Each man is bound to trek upon his 
own domain. The reports of the bureau do not assume to be authorita- 
tive, but to give information only. Hall, Parker, Butler, Soldan, Max- 
well, Sabiri, and the rest, however much they may deserve it, wear no 



Superintendence] TRAIL OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT 4 1 

judicial ermine. We listen to the theories of the doctors, and are com- 
pelled to discard very many of them as impracticable or extravagant. 
The superintendent who accepts too soon the results of an experiment 
trifles with the children's greatest interests and wrongs the people whom 
he serves. 

The appearance and active participation of scores of young men — 
some of them brilliant, some scholars, some callow, but all honest — 
add to the educational ranks such vigor and forcefulness as were never 
before known. The list of names now in the pedagogical field comprises 
a kind of men of power and thought that never before looked toward the 
school and the training of children. This promises an outcome for the 
product of the elementary schools far better than the country has hitherto 
known. Because professors of pedagogy are made in a year, out of all 
sorts of material, by some institutions, and turned loose to prey upon us 
and preach inchoate doctrines, is no cause for anxiety. If some of them 
do become earnest over adolescence and the bacteria found under pupils' 
finger-nails, and the curves of the lines of fatigue, and danger from com- 
mon drinking-cups, and common property in pencils and books, they are 
sure either to learn as they follow the trail, or, what sometimes is better, 
fall out. Such conditions are a part of all advance movements. 

•^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ff ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 

Without question the greatest problem today is how best to administer 
the public-school interests of a city. The same problem in a field but 
little different confronts the student of municipal government. The 
method of the constitution and the selection of a school-governing author- 
ity appear as the initial proposition. Shall the people elect, and how; 
at large or by wards ? Shall the directory, as in municipal governments, 
be changed all at one time ? Shall the board be appointed by the execu- 
tive of the city as in New York and Chicago, or by the courts as in Phila- 
delphia, or elected by the people as in Boston and St. Louis ? Shall the 
board be subservient in financial conduct to the municipal government as 
in Boston, or independent of the city officials as in St. Louis and many 
smaller western cities ? 

The history of the last two years or more leaves no doubt of the 
interest and even anxiety of the American community as to the direction 
of public schools. From our great metropolis down thru the secondary 
cities is found an ' agitation, an unrest, as to the conduct of this quasi - 
public corporation. Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis had their 
"innings" before their respective legislatures last year, with different 
results. New York had set the pace the preceding winter, with a result 
that is believed to be an advance in efficiency. The legislatures at Lan- 
sing and at Springfield looked with disfavor upon carefully prepared bills 
for the schools of their chief cities. The press tells us that divided 
counsel among the promoters was the chief cause of defeat ; and yet we 



42 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

can scarcely say that defeat was not for the ultimate good. A prominent 
and, as before mentioned, objectionable feature of this proposed legisla- 
tion was the increased and quite unlimited power for the superintendent. 
This latter was too radical a measure to be readily accepted. 

The Indianapolis law deserves more than passing notice; first, because 
it was conceived and prepared by eminent and experienced schoolmen ; 
^econd, because, led in a way not to arouse opposition by a united body 
of schoolmaster and superintendent promoters, the legislature passed and 
the governor signed the most remarkable school bill yet recorded. So 
quietly has this been done, and so promptly and quietly has the new 
regime been initiated* that little public notice outside Indiana seems to 
have been given to it. At present it promises far better school adminis- 
tration than has yet obtained in the country, and yet, as "the proof of the 
pudding is in the eating," we must wait and see. It is certain that 
Indianapolis has improved on Cleveland, the pioneer in special school 
laws for cities. After some study and review of the three bills for Detroit, 
for Chicago, and for Indianapolis, one is compelled to believe that the 
bill for Indianapolis is the best, and the outcome, so far, is a verification 
of that belief. 

The whole matter is an evidence of great activity thruout the country 
in the determination of the people to place the control and government 
of schools as far as possible beyond the reach of the baneful practices of 
the municipal governments of America. Earnest men, enthusiastic to 
right a wrong, usually go too far and ask too much. One feature usually 
presented — absolute government by one man — must be a mistake when 
carried to its ultimate extent. It is unlikely that any one man is compe- 
tent to direct, control, and be the complete manager of a city school system. 
However great his ability, accurate his judgment, quick his apprehension, 
long his experience, and extensive his general scholarship, he is still one, 
and only one ; the wisdom of the one needs to be supplemented by the 
counsel of others. 

On the other hand, it must be conceded that a material difference lies 
between the practical administration of the affairs of a public and of a 
private corporation. In the case of the latter, often immense financial 
considerations, the manipulation of vast machinery, the necessity of 
effective and prompt action — sometimes approaching the heroic, as in 
great labors trikes — demand eminent organizing and executive power; 
while the accountability of the superintendent, as well as his responsi- 
bility, is always to a small, intelligent, and interested directory; one 
constituted only for the single object of financial gain, totally free from 
political or social issues. Interference by individual stockholders is 
not tolerated. The efficiency of the administration depends upon the 
superintendent himself, under such limitations as his board prescribes. 
Prompt action is always, not only possible, but obligatory. His forces are 



Superintendence] TRAIL OF THE CITY SUPERINTENDENT 43 

all concentrated upon the matter in hand ; episodes, side issues, the press, 
the public, and the owners are impotent to dissipate his powers or hamper 
his plans. 

But the school superintendent who, with competent counsel added to 
his own expert ability, constructs a course of study, condemns the work 
of a poor teacher, objects to the engagement of inferior talent, frowns 
upon the purchase of unnecessary apparatus, or, what is even more threat- 
ening, recommends the substitution of a better text-book for a poor one, 
understands full .well that, however unanimous may be the support of his 
board, many taxpayers, as* well as mercantile and commercial interests, 
are sure to take a hand either to forward or prevent the execution of 
whatever plans he may devise. The inevitable letter to the press, over the 
anonymous signature of "Taxpayer," is a reminder that the people pro- 
pose to allow their representatives on the school board to act their will 
only when it coincides with that of the individual opinion — a condition, 
of course, over which the superintendent of private corporations has never 
to worry. 

And so one has a right to assume that, in addition to the power and 
skill of the superintendent of great industries, the superintendent of 
schools needs another qualification — that of mollifying and educating a 
great and not always prudent or well-informed constituency. 

The title of the office, " superintendent of schools," is no misnomer, 
but it is submitted that the term "assistant superintendent of schools" 
does not sufficiently indicate the duties of that office, and is an unfortunate 
designation. Our Canadian neighbors have a better name, "inspector." 
An assistant superintendent of schools is not needed in any administra- 
tion ; one superintendent is enough, and all that can perform the proper 
duties of the place. The office needs assistants who inspect ; in fact, that 
is what assistant superintendents now do, or ought to do. 

I know there is not much in a name, but I would establish a superin- 
tendent with a corps of inspectors whose reports would be the basis for 
changes, appointments, and conduct of the entire system — men appointed 
for expert ability along different lines, who would do their work along 
that line, whose office would be in dignity second to none, and whose 
counsel would be the controlling counsel, while the superintendent would 
do the directing and executing. 

The trail of the city superintendent of schools has been narrow and 
crooked. Today it is wide, and is to be fairly straight, so that the 
recruits need have little doubt by day or by night as to where the trail 
lies. 

The throng on the trail will stay there, and wild-eyed reformers with 
their, to them original, discoveries, altho resurrected from the last century, 
will fail to decoy the prudent superintendent. Sticking to what one 
knows, avoiding experiment and the chasing of brightly colored will-o'wisps, 



44 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

will make those who stick to the trail carry themselves well to the 
end, and the monument shall be erected in sight of all who pass there- 
after. 



THE SUPERINTENDENT IN SMALL CITIES 

BY CHARLES E. GORTON, SUPERINTENDENT OF CITY SCHOOLS, 

YONKERS, N. Y. 

This topic has been discussed frequently in the meetings of the 
department and in other educational gatherings. It has been the subject 
of many articles in magazines and educational reviews. So much has 
been said and written on it that I dare not hope to present anything 
original in this paper. Perhaps, however, the importance of the subject 
may pardon the reiteration of permanently valuable, principles, and a 
review of the requirements, powers, and duties of an office whose dignity 
and responsibility are growing daily. 

The superintendent of schools was practically unknown fifty years ago, 
and sixty years ago was non-existent. His office has been logically 
evolved with the quite original system of American public-school educa- 
tion. Now almost every city and a large proportion of the villages have 
such an officer. The earlier superintendents were often chosen without 
reference to educational qualification or fitness, being selected for personal 
or political reasons, and being agents or executive officers of their 
respective boards or committees. Many of those who eventually became 
efficient officers succeeded at the expense of the pupils who formed sub- 
jects of experiment. The term of office was usually short, and the 
records of many cities show a list of early superintendents of schools who 
held office one or two years each. ^ 

The mode of election has become settled, so that a superintendent is 
now chosen by a board of education and very rarely by general election. 
The term of office has been lengthened. Many of the city and village 
superintendents now in office, have occupied their positions a long term 
of years. The duties of the office were very indefinite, but have become 
fairly established by practice, and fixed by formulated rules or by legisla- 
tion. It appears, furthermore, that most of the present incumbents were 
professional teachers of large experience before they were elected to the 
higher position. 

This certainly indicates a movement in the right direction, for a super- 
intendent of schools ought to be a teacher primarily, and to have had the 
experience and knowledge which can only come from actual work in the 
class-room. I do not know that the statutes of any state prescribe the 
qualifications which a superintendent of schools must possess. But such 



Superintendence] SUPERINTENDENT IN SMALL CITIES 45 

m 

legislation has been proposed and not unlikely will prevail eventually in 
many states. 

If the state demands a minimum of qualifications for its teachers, how 
can it ask less of those who rank above the teachers, directing and super- 
vising their efforts ? The superintendent of any system of schools ought 
to be broadly educated and to know something of the many branches of 
instruction. He will have special teachers teaching and supervising, who 
will know the details of their topics better than it is possible for him to 
know them ; but he should have such a comprehensive view of the whole 
field that he may give valuable suggestions even to them. 

He should know psychology, which in recent years has played an 
important part with all students of education, and should be conversant 
with the various methods of instruction in all subjects. He should be 
conversant, not only with the history of education, but with general his- 
tory as well. Only the students of, history can appreciate the accumu- 
lated riches which have become the heritage of the race, and thru 
what struggles the evolution and freedom of mankind have been 
accomplished. 

The history of education enables us to understand the intellectual 
growth of ages, and how, often spasmodically, but nevertheless with a 
certain degree of continuity, the youth has been fitted for an ever-widen- 
ing field of intellectual and physical activity. He who knows the condi- 
tions under which they wrought comprehends the results attained by the 
great teachers and educational reformers, who from the time of Socrates 
have contributed to the uplifting of humanity, and can properly estimate 
the bearing of their work on the subsequent ages, and that ultimate prod- 
uct which we call our present civilization. 

He should know the history of school organization, how it has 
developed to its present form, and the changes which are still proceeding. 
He should have an insight into school administration as relating to the 
relation of the board of education to the teachers, of the teachers to the 
pupils, and of the whole system to the community. A knowledge of the 
principles of school law is a necessary part of his equipment. 

All this means that a broad, general education is not enough, and 
that the superintendent ought to have special preparation for his work. 
All of us want the occupation of the teacher classed with the learned 
professions, and recognized as one of them in dignity and respect. All 
the other professions demand elaborate special preparation for whoever 
is to become a member of their ranks. 

The state of New York prescribes a minimum of requirements for 
students of law or medicine, and subsequently four years of special train- 
ing before entering practice. It seems to me that no less should be asked 
of the chief officer of a school system ; that his theoretical education 
should be obtained prior to his taking office, and not as the result of 



46 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

k 

years of experiment with teachers and pupils. The latter course may be 
cheap for him, but it is sadly expensive and unjust to many innocent 
people. 

I believe we shall have the highest quality of supervision and school 
administration only when the superintendent shall have been educated as 
a professional expert and is recognized as such. In the largest cities 
the duties of administration, organization, and supervision have been 
differentiated so far that all the attainments necessary for a smaller town 
need not be united in one person. This specialization undoubtedly gives 
the highest type of service. t But, as has been pointed out by Superin- 
tendent Gove in the Educational Review, the number of large cities with 
elaborate, classified organization is small compared with those where all 
departments of the educational system are united under the control of one 
man, whose duties are necessarily exceedingly diverse. 

A somewhat exhaustive inquiry from the cities of many states, made a 
few years ago, seems to prove conclusively that boards of education are 
composed, as a rule, of the best men in their respective communities, 
devoted to the interests of the schools under their control, and free from 
mercenary motives. If this be accepted as a statement of fact, the con- 
clusion readily follows that a fit and worthy superintendent, elected at 
the pleasure of the board, will hold his office for a long term. 

I do not care to discuss the question of tenure of office here much 
beyond expressing the purely personal opinion that the superintendent 
should be elected to serve during the pleasure of the board. I am 
convinced that teachers who have served a term of trial, and whose 
services have been approved^ should hold office for life, or until removed 
for physical or mental disability. They ought not to be subject to the 
worry and distress incident to a periodical election. But the superin- 
tendent is the executive officer of the board, and if the board shall be 
dissatisfied with his administration, it appears reasonable that it shall be 
within its power to effect an immediate change. This view of continuous 
employment in one case and not in the other is entirely consistent with 
the most advanced ideas and practice of civil service in the nation, state, 
or city. 

It is somewhat difficult to define exactly the powers and duties of the 
superintendent in a small city. Many questions will come to him for 
decision, and many things must be done outside of what anybody would 
conceive to be stated obligations. In many places he will be called upon 
to perform duties that should not be incumbent on him and which might 
be done better by somebody else. He should not be expected to serve 
as the secretary or bookkeeper of the board, nor serve as a distributing 
agent for books and supplies. His work should take a higher range than 
that of clerk or accountant for a small corporation. He should not be 
the financial agent of the board, because he would bear a responsibility 



Superintendence] SUPERINTENDENT IN SMALL CITIES 47 

 

that should be borne by the board itself, whose judgment on questions of 
finance is as a rule better than his own. 

The public schools receive more popular criticism on the score of 
expense than for all other reasons. Many people think of the schools 
only as the cause of endless taxation, and attack the school appropriations 
first, tho there may be boundless waste in other departments. Whether 
their criticisms be right or wrong, let the board, and not the superintend- 
ent, bear this burden. He should not be required to examine and license 
teachers, for reasons which I shall presently endeavor to state. 

In the ultimate analysis there remains only one object for which the 
schools exist ; that is the pupil. Everything else has disappeared. 
Buildings, equipment, boards of education, teachers, are all means 
directed to raising the pupil to his proper position as a factor of our 
complex civilization. The teacher is not only the most important of 
these means, but easily outweighs all the rest. Garfield's oft quoted 
aphorism in which he defined the American university gives homely 
expression to the comparative value of instruction, and the subordination 
of everything else to the teacher's influence. Fine buildings, elaborate 
equipment, refined courses of study, are all subsidiary to the teacher. 
Then what discriminating care should be exercised in determining who 
the teacher shall be ! Who shall decide ? Who should possess the judg- 
ment, fidelity, and independence to discharge this high trust? The 
superintendent. He should either have the absolute power of appoint- 
ment of teachers or should nominate them subject to confirmation by the , 
board. In any event the board should not have the power to appoint 
without his approval. If he has been selected for his professional attain- 
ments and experience, he knows the quality and kind of people he wants, 
and should be the judge of their special fitness. 

A board composed of men engaged in other professions or general 
business has not the slightest competency to select teachers, and ought 
not to claim such a prerogative, but should delegate the matter wholly to 
the superintendent. It is not consistent with any theory of exalted civil 
service to combine the examining and appointing power in the same indi- 
vidual. This is clearly recognized, and a separation has been marked in 
the appointment of civil-service examining boards removed as far as pos- 
sible from all exterior influences and having no power except to pass on 
qualifications. A few of the larger cities have special examining boards 
that perhaps meet the case. In most places it would be better if exami- 
nations for teachers' certificates were held only by a department of educa- 
tion, and normal -school diplomas and state licenses only were accepted. 
This should be a minimum which any locality might supplement by 
special examinations. I take this opportunity to say that it seems to me 
unfortunate that the certificates and normal -school diplomas of one state 
are not valid in another state. The state license of Pennsylvania may be 



48 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

worthless in New York or Ohio, and vice versa. The states do not thus 
discriminate against each other in the other learned professions. 

An attorney-at-law practicing in Ohio moves to New York, and is 
admitted to practice in the courts of the latter state on motion, as a 
matter of course. The same rule generally prevails in both law and 
medicine. Why should not the same professional courtesy prevail with 
teachers ? Their studies have often been as arduous and protracted as 
those of the lawyer and the doctor, and they usually continue to be quite 
as diligent students thru life. 

By common consent the superintendent prepares the course of study, 
and too often, I fear, he tries to make it original and to incorporate in it 
some of his own personality. Or he pursues the plan of modern authors 
in Irving's Art of Book- Making, selecting a little here and a little there 
from various courses of study, and has a whole as incongruous as Horace 
pictures in Ars Poetica. The courses of study of different cities show 
amusing variety and frequently contradictions. Here again, I believe, 
the state authority might properly be exercised and a uniform course of 
study prepared, subject to such additions as localities might demand. I 
believe that many of the courses of study in cities are too detailed and 
insist too strenuously on special methods and on what a class must 
accomplish in a given time. Any teacher works better when allowed 
reasonable freedom, and secures better results by a method with which he 
is in full accord and which he is carrying out somewhat in his own way. 
Too much insistence in a course of study sacrifices the spirit to the 
letter. 

The choice of text-books should be wholly with the superintendent 
and his teachers. A great number of schoolbooks on almost every sub- 
ject have been published in recent years. , Many of them are excellent, 
and many of them have no excuse for being except that the publishing 
house feels that it must come into the market with something novel to 
compete with some other house. But the number of good books is so 
large that the difficulty is to determine the best. There is perhaps no 
other subject with which boards of education are so likely to meddle as 
this, and there is none in which their interference is more likely to be 
mischievous. Tho the board be free from mercenary motives, and not 
too severely pressed by our genial friends, the agents,: it has not the 
slightest competency to determine the best schoolbooks. Even the 
superintendent cannot wisely select the best books for his schools without 
calling to his aid the teachers of special subjects, and especially the 
teachers of primary grades who probably comprehend the powers, limita- 
tions, and tastes of the little child much better than he is able to do. 

In order of his highest duties, next to the selection of teachers, comes 
his influence over them. Many of them will be inexperienced, fresh from 
the training school. Their knowledge is theoretical. They find in the 



Superintendence] SUPERINTENDENT IN SMALL CITIES 49 

» 

class-rooms problems of discipline and instruction of which they had never 
dreamed. Many of their preconceived ideas must be wholly readjusted 
when confronted By a class of forty or fifty children. They will need 
his help and instruction in many ways. The smaller the city, the greater 
and more direct this assistance may be. He may not only reach his 
principals, but his teachers, and know pretty accurately the strength and 
weakness of every one. In meetings of principals he may cover all 
general administrative features, such as organization, supervision, grading, 
and promotions. In meetings of the whole corps, principals and teachers 
together, he may give instruction and suggestions as to methods of dis- 
cipline and teaching ; but this work in general meetings must be of a 
broad character, and cannot go into the details of different grades 
without incurring danger of becoming wearisome and irksome to many 
of his auditors. 

I conceive that in a meeting where only teachers of a single grade 
are present his best work is dpne, and this meeting ought to take the 
character of a conference, where the utmost freedom of discussion pre- 
vails. The superintendent will there bear the character of one who 
unites with all in the endeavor to arrive at the truth by comparison of 
views and suggestions from one another. He will seek to secure sub- 
stantial, not absolute, uniformity, by bringing out the best from each indi- 
vidual, and molding all diverse opinions into a harmonious whole. In 
these meetings he will come to know his teachers intimately, will secure 
their confidence, and will impress himself upon them, not as a dictator, 
but as a counselor and guide. They ought to learn from his intercourse 
with them that he is their sincere friend and working in full accord with 
them for a common end. He may promote habits of study and research, 
and induce them to carry on a regular course of reading and investiga- 
tion, either in the line of general scholarship or bearing on subjects and 
methods for their particular work. In meetings, of whatever character, 
he will make clear his ideals, views, and aspirations, and impart his own 
enthusiasm to his teachers. Any system of schools cannot rise much 
above the level of the superintendent, and its progress may be fairly 
measured by his character, attainments, energy, and skill, and the zeal 
with which his teachers co-operate with his efforts. 

He will devote a large proportion of his time to active inspection and 
supervision of classes. There he will learn directly what strength and 
weakness each teacher possesses. His visits will relieve the monotony of 
the teacher's work, and, if he come in the proper spirit, he will always be 
welcomed by teachers and pupils alike. His suggestions will almost 
invariably be well received and helpful. His criticisms ought not to be 
constantly destructive. They should be constructive and creative as well. 
He has no right to complain of a method of instruction or of anything 
else in a class-room without having something better to offer. He ought 



5° NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

—  '-  - —i -  — ■■■■—■- — — » ■—   . , M  ..-■■—, . . 

not simply to condemn and suggest, but frequently, very frequently, to 
commend. His teachers care more for his praise than for that of every- 
body else, and his hearty approval of what he has seen and heard in the 
class arouses all the cordiality and gratitude of a teacher to whom such 
words may seldom come except from him, and who is always liable to be 
under the fire of adverse criticism from patrons of the school. Intellectual 
effort is dwarfed by the shadow of disfavor, and flourishes in the warm 
sunshine of genial approval. I venture to hope that the superintendent 
in a small city will know what is going on in the classes from observation 
rather than from reports; that he will, therefore, have no occasion to 
burden his teachers with a marking system, or to occupy their time 
making out reports when they ought to be teaching or resting, and that 
he will know the progress of his classes from personal inspection rather 
than by the results of stated examinations. 

He will know many of the children more or less intimately, and may 
guide the career of many pupils of the high school who will come to him 
for advice. His suggestions may induce many girls and boys to con- 
tinue study and to pursue a college course who would otherwise never 
do so. In the same connection he may influence the conduct of parents, 
and lead them to make exertions to give their children the benefits of 
higher education. The smaller the place, the more intimate may be his 
relations to parents and children, and the more powerful the direct influ- 
ences which he may exert. He must necessarily be the arbiter af mis- 
understandings and disputes. Controversies between principals and 
teachers, teachers and children, the school and the home, will all come 
to him for settlement. They will often demand all his diplomatic skill, 
partly because he is not called in until all the premises have been laid, 
and a very pretty quarrel prepared before he hears anything about it, and 
therefore he must correct the mistakes of others before he can restore 
peace and harmonious relations. He can never go far wrong in these 
cases if he bases his final decisions on his ideas of absolute justice. There 
is no reversal of a judgment rendered because it is right, and which makes 
no concession to a temporizing policy. 

In a small system of schools the superintendent must of necessity be, 
to some extent, a man of affairs. He must know intimately all the ques- 
tions coming before the committee, or board of education, and be pre- 
pared to advise concerning them. The theory that he should engage 
only in duties pertaining to the selection of teachers, instruction, and 
supervision of schools is very fine as an academic proposition, but it fails 
in practice. However well-meaning the board may be, it is composed 
of men whose thoughts are given to other subjects, and who occasionally 
turn from their regular vocations to discharge their duties as trustees. It 
is impossible, under the circumstances, for them to carry the school work 
continuously, without guidance in almost every particular, and the 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 51 

superintendent is the only man in a position and with the knowledge to 
direct their councils. 

One of his most weighty duties in connection with the board will be 
properly to direct the construction of new buildings or the repair of old 
ones. The great advance in schoolhouse architecture and construction 
in recent years has been due largely to the efforts of the superintendent. 
The local architect usually knows nothing of the special features of 
schoolhouse construction. The questions of floor space, air supply, venti- 
lation, lighting, seating, are either not known at all, or are illy understood 
by him. Hygienic questions of schoolhouse architecture are vital, and 
the superintendent ought to know them. It is precisely the same with 
many other subjects. The board is willing and anxious to do these things 
right when they are plainly indicated. It should be cordially confident 
of the competency of the superintendent, if it is to rely on his advice 
and sustain his leadership. 

If the superintendent is not known outside of the schoolhouse, much 
of the influence he should exert in the community is lost. He ought to 
be a leader, or at least one of the leaders, of thought in his community 
and a maker of public opinion. His character and attainments should 
dignify his office and justify confidence in himself. His integrity should 
be unquestionable. Judicious in his relations with others, he should be 
fearlessly independent of political, social, and religious influence in all 
things demanding his decision. His career should entitle him to the 
respect of all men, and every movement directed toward better conditions 
for mankind, whether physical, moral, or intellectual, should enlist his 
sympathy and receive his ardent support. 

Humani nihil a me alienum puto. 



ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 

BY PROFESSOR W. O. ATWATER, WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 

In discussing the topic assigned me on your program, I understand 
it to be your wish that I consider especially what should be taught in our 
schools about alcohol in its physiological relations. Allow me a word at 
the outset regarding the more general scope of instruction in physiology. 
In planning a course of study in this as in any other subject careful con- 
sideration must be given to the several parts in order that the whole 
may be well considered and well balanced. 

One thing I wish to urge is that we should tell our pupils more 
about the economy of food and nutrition, and since physiology already 
takes all the space there is for it in the curriculum, I would suggest that 



52 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

some things now found in a good many of the text-books be omitted to 
make room for what might be taught about the demands of our bodies 
for nourishment, and how to supply them to the best advantage of health 
and purse. This would make a more substantial foundation for the 
special instruction about alcohol in itself. To make room for this in the 
already crowded curriculum I would suggest that some minor and more 
technical parts now taught might be omitted. 

In illustration of what might be taught about the laws of nutrition 
let me call your attention to the leaflets which you will find on the seats 
you are occupying. These have been furnished by the United States 
Department of Agriculture, thru the kindness of Hon. James Wilson, 
secretary of agriculture, and Dr. A. C. True, director of the Office of 
Experiment Stations. They will give you a hint of the purpose, plans, 
and some of the actual results of a series of investigations which are 
being carried on in different parts of the United States under the 
authority of Congress for the purpose of learning more about the 
economy of food. Let me also call your attention to these specimens, 
which are duplicates of those in the food collection of the United States 
National Museum. They illustrate the chemical composition of the 
human body and of the foods which nourish it. From the leaflets you 
may infer that already a large amount of information has been obtained 
regarding the chemical composition, digestibility, and nutritive values of 
our food materials, the ways in which they nourish the body, the dietary 
habits of people of different classes and regions, the more common errors 
in our food economy, and the ways in which we may select, prepare, and 
use our foods so as to make our diet less costly, more palatable, and more 
healthful. The museum specimens suggest one of the ways in which 
some of these facts may be explained and thus made most useful. The 
leaflets and specimens indicate some of the many ways in which our 
government, in response to a public demand, a demand which comes 
especially from teachers, economists, and philanthropists, is gathering and 
disseminating knowledge of those things which require the most exact 
research for their discovery, and which, clearly discerned and rightly 
taught, take hold on life, form the most useful part of education, and can 
become sources of the truest inspiration. 

When we consider that "half the struggle for life is a struggle for 
food;" that "half or more than half the earnings of the wage-earner is 
spent for the nourishment of himself and family ; " that not only a man's 
power to work, but also his health, are largely affected by his food ; that 
some of our most skilled hygienists are telling us that a large part of the 
disease which embitters life and hastens death is due to avoidable errors 
in diet ; that more harm comes to the health of the community from 
erroneous habits of eating than from the habitual use of alcoholic drink ; 
that economists, philanthropists, and divines are urging more and more 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 53 

earnestly the need of attention to such subjects, are we not justified in 
asking if a little more room cannot be found for it in the school curri- 
culum ? 

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF ALCOHOL 

* 

I now come to the main division of my subject — the physiological 
action of alcohol, and what is and should be taught regarding it. 

The laws of nearly all our states, I believe, require that the curricula 
of our public schools shall include physiology, with special reference to 
the action of alcoholic beverages. Such legislation would be impossible 
without a public sentiment back of it. Whether or not this legislation 
has assumed the most rational form, or whether the people at large 
understand exactly its purpose and to what degree the hopes of its pro- 
moters are being fulfilled, it is not my desire to discuss. The facts I 
desire to urge are two : First, it is the law, and, as such, our duty as 
teachers is to obey it as long as it stays on the statute books ; second, there 
is a wide difference between the teaching of this subject in many schools 
and in many text-books on the one hand, and the teaching in the col- 
leges, universities, and medical schools, and by the leading physiologists 
of the world, on the other. It is this most unfortunate disparity which I 
ask especially to consider. If the one body of doctrine is correct, and the 
other to a greater or less extent incorrect, as I personally believe it is, 
you, as teachers, as school superintendents, as the leaders in our educa- 
tion, are interested to know it. Here, as I understand it, is the reason 
for the title which your secretary has given to my subject, "Alcohol 
Physiology and Superintendence." 

If the alcohol physiology now being taught in our public schools as a 
branch of science is scientifically correct, then it cannot be pedagogically 
or ethically wrong, and there is little reason for my discussing the subject 
today. But if it does not tally with the most reliable conclusions from 
scientific observation and experiment ; if what is taught as truth is half- 
truth or partial untruth ; if doubtful theories are set forth as settled facts ; 
if a rule of conduct is based upon, an unsound theory ; if the attempt is 
made to improve the morals of the men of the future by a wrong teaching 
of the boys of today — that educational policy is pedagogically and ethi- 
cally wrong and ought to be altered. 

OPINIONS OF LEADING AUTHORITIES 

The physiological action of alcohol is very complex, and the views of 
physiologists generally regarding the different details are naturally 
divergent. Let us take, for instance, the much discussed question as to 
whether alcohol is food or poison. 

First of all we must have a clear understanding of what we are talking 
about. A given substance taken into the body may act in a variety of 



54 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

ways. Meat, beefsteak for instance, which is universally called a food, 
supplies the body with material to build up its tissues, repair its wastes, 
and furnish it with energy in the form of heat to keep it warm, and 
muscular power for work. It also has an action upon the nervous system 
which is not yet fully explained, but may perhaps be called stimulative. 
Taken in excess it may be injurious; its action is then pathological. 
Being thus injurious, it might under these circumstances be called poi- 
sonous. Arsenic is sometimes taken as a medicine, and as such is 
believed to be useful, tho we do not know exactly how or why it is so. 
But arsenic has no value whatever as nutriment, and therefore cannot be 
called in any sense a food. In more than minute doses it is deleterious 
or fatal. It is a true poison. There are certain vegetable products which, 
fed to animals, supply nourishment, but at the same time are injurious, 
so that they cannot be used for food. Chemists have analyzed some such 
substances, and found ingredients which are nutritious and others which 
are injurious. That is to say, some substances are clearly foods, some are 
clearly poisons, some act in both ways. How, then, shall we class alcohol ? 
What I shall attempt to show you is that the results of the most valuable 
scientific research and the opinions of the leading physiologists of the 
world unite in saying that it may be either food or poison, or both, 
according to circumstances. 

Alcohol is not like the meat or the seed, a complex material made up 
of different ingredients. It is a simple chemical substance. Nevertheless 
it has very different actions. A chemist can analyze the seed and sepa- 
rate the parts which are nutritious from those which are poisonous. But 
he cannot do this with alcohol. When the physiologist experiments upon 
its action he has to take it as a whole. This complicates the experiment- 
ing and makes the interpretation of the results difficult. 

When we come to consider the dietetic use of alcohol, however, we 
must take into account, not only its direct value for nutriment, but also 
its indirect action, as, for instance, its effect upon digestion. So likewise, 
when we consider its pathological effect, we must take into account its 
indirect action upon the nervous system. Indeed, if we are going to study 
the subject at all thoroly, we must recognize many subdivisions. Since 
we cannot go into the details here, let me briefly summarize what appear 
to be the views of leading physiologists of the world. 

What do the authorities say in answer to the question : Is alcohol 
food ? Of course, the answer depends first of all upon the definition of 
"food." But people may properly differ as to the definition, and it is 
not worth while to quibble about what may be left to the dictionaries. 
Let us then go back of this and ask : What do the specialists say as to its 
nutritive effect ? 

If we study the views held by the physiologists and pharmacologists 
in this country and in Europe who are regarded by their fellow-specialists 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 55 

as best qualified to speak with authority, we may perhaps divide them in 
three groups. At one extreme would be a small group who take grounds, 
more or less strongly, against any dietetic use or value of alcohol; but 
even this group would generally admit, I think, the absence of proof that 
alcohol does not supply the body with nutriment. There is a second 
group who are inclined to favor the moderate dietetic use of alcohol, tend- 
ing to class it with non-proteid food materials, like sugar, starch, and fat, 
but still maintaining that its classification as a food is not clearly estab- 
lished. And where they are inclined to question its value for directly 
supplying the body with nourishment, they maintain that it may be valu- 
able as an aid to digestion and otherwise, and find in this another reason 
for using it as part of the diet. A third group, whether they advocate or 
oppose its use, regard the evidence as sufficient to pronounce alcohol, in 
moderate quantities, a food in the sense that it may serve for nutriment, 
and many urge that there are circumstances in which its nutritive value is 
very important. Whether alcohol is or is not a poison is likewise a ques- 
tion of definition. Here again wise men may disagree ; but back of this 
lies the important question : Is it injurious ? That alcohol may be 
injurious, that in large enough doses it is unquestionably a poison, and 
that in smaller quantities, taken habitually, it may be extremely harmful, 
there is no shadow of doubt. On this point there is no disagreement of 
authorities. But whether, or under what circumstances, it is injurious 
when taken in moderate quantities is a very different matter; and here 
opinions disagree. « 

The opinion of Professor Fick, that alcohol in small amounts should 
be called poison, has been often quoted, and is, I believe, made the prin- 
cipal basis of the statement in many of our school text-books that alcohol 
is called a poison by the highest scientific authorities. But Professor 
Fick defines " poison " in a way which, be it right or wrong, gives to 
the word a meaning quite different from that in which it is popularly 
used. He is one of the group of physiologists, who practically deny any 
food value to alcohol. So far as I am aware, however, their number is 
small. 

I have looked into many of the standard treatises upon the subject, 
and have conversed with many eminent physiologists, pharmacologists, 
and chemists about it. In so doing I have constantly seen and heard 
alcohol referred to in small quantities as food and in very large quantities 
as poison. But I have rarely seen or heard alcohol in small quantities 
called a poison, in the ordinary sense of the word, by any specialist who 
is generally regarded as an authority. Indeed, as I write this, I do not 
recall a single instance, but I should not feel warranted in saying that 
there are no such instances, because there are things which one might 
forget, and, furthermore, there may be many which I have not happened 
to see. I have no doubt but that, if I had been looking especially for 



5 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

evidence on this side of the question, I might have found a good deal 
more than what I have just said implies. 

If, then, we leave out of account the question of scientific definition 
of the terms "food" and " poison, " and take the words in the meanings 
in which they are commonly used, I think we may properly say that 
alcohol is both food and poison. Only, if we speak of it as food, we 
must be careful to bear in mind that it is »not and cannot be a food in 
the same sense in which bread and meat are foods. Food performs two 
great functions. One is to build body tissue and keep it in repair ; the 
other is to yield energy in the form of heat to keep the body warm and 
muscular or other energy for its work. 

To bring this out more clearly, let me remind you that our foods con- 
tain different classes of nutritive materials or nutrients. One of these 
classes includes the nitrogenous substances, protein compounds or pro- 
teids, as chemists call them. The myosin which is the basis of lean meaty 
the albumen or white of egg, the casein which makes the curd of milk, 
the gluten of wheat, are familiar examples of proteid compounds. They 
are transformed into blood, muscle, bone, and brain. They are the true 
tissue formers of the body, the materials which serve for building the 
bodily machine and keeping it in repair. They also serve the body for 
fuel, but their use in this respect is limited. The fats, like fat of meat, the 
butter fat of milk, and the oil of cotton or of olive, make a second, and 
the carbohydrates, which include the starches and the sugars, a third class 
of nutrients of food. The fats and carbohydrates lack the chemical ele- 
ment nitrogen which is characteristic of the protein compounds, but they 
contain large proportions of carbon and are sometimes called the carbon- 
aceous nutrients. By their oxidation, i. e., burning, in the bbdy they 
yield its principal supply of energy. 

Bread, meat, milk, and the like contain both the nitrogenous and the 
carbonaceous materials. Meat lacks the carbohydrates ; to make a well- 
rounded diet we use bread, potatoes, and other vegetable materials with 
the meat. Bread and milk may be called complete foods, as they contain 
all three of these classes, and with them the other ingredients necessary 
for nutrition. Such complete foods not only build the bodily machine 
and keep it in repair, but also supply it with fuel. 

While proteids serve for building tissue and have a limited value for 
fuel, we could not well live on proteids alone. They are not complete 
foods. Fats, starches, and sugars are not complete foods. They cannot 
build tissue ; nevertheless, they make the larger part of our food, for 
the reason that our bodies need more material for fuel than they do for 
building and repair. 

Alcohol cannot build tissue ; it has no nitrogen. It cannot be stored 
in the body for future use, as is the case with fats, nor can it be trans- 
formed into fat and thus stored in the body, as is the case with the sugars 



4 

Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 57 

and starches. But it is oxidized in the body and does yield energy. In 
this respect it is analogous to the fats, sugars, and starches. Just how it 
compares in fuel value with the fats, sugars, and starches, or just how 
these latter compare with one another in fuel value, are questions as yet 
unanswered. 

Alcohol is, then, at best a partial food. To call it food, in the popu- 
lar sense of the word, and without qualification, may produce a wrong 
impression. Furthermore, its action upon the nerves and otherwise in 
the body is such that only very small quantities can be taken without seri- 
ous derangement. When taken habitually in excess, it is not only injuri- 
ous to health, but ruinous to character. And while its nutritive action 
may be very important in some cases, especially with aged people or in 
certain forms of disease, people generally do not take it for the sake of its 
nutritive value at all. 

Taking the word " poison " in the sense in which it is commonly 
understood, namely, as applying to substances which are deadly in their 
effect, alcohol in small quantities cannot in my judgment properly be 
called a poison. It may be injurious in one case and not in another. 
Just where to draw the line between the* quantity which may serve only as 
food and that which acts as poison is impossible. The amount that can 
be taken without injurious effect differs with different people. And even 
tho there are conditions in which it is not injurious and is even useful, yet 
there is the danger that it may lead to excess, a danger which, as teachers 
of youth, we must not, we dare not, forget. This fact, coupled with the 
demoralization that comes with its habitual and excessive use, constitutes, 
in my judgment, the chief argument against its use. 

But I have started to give you the opinions of leading physiologists, 
and have indiscreetly gone out of the way to give you my own, and that, 
too, when I am only a physiological chemist. Let us go back to the 
authorities. 

At the meeting of the International Physiological Congress, held in 
Cambridge, England, in September, 1898, an effort was made to obtain 
an expression of opinion which might be taken as a consensus of leading 
physiologists regarding this especial subject. The occasion had brought 
together some of the best-known authorities from the different countries 
of Europe, America, and even Africa and Asia. The congress did not 
include a great many men, but it did include a number of great men. 
The following statement was drawn up by Professor Michael Foster, of 
the University of Cambridge, who was the president of the congress, and 
was printed and offered for signature : 

The physiological effects of alcohol, taken in a diluted form, in small doses, as indi- 
cated by the popular phrase " moderate use of alcohol," in spite of the continued study of 
past years, have not as yet been clearly and completely made out. Very much remains to 
be done, but, thus far, the results of careful experiments show that alcohol, so taken, is 



58 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

oxidized within the body, and so supplies energy like common articles of food, and that 
it is physiologically incorrect to designate it as a poison, that is, a substance which can 
only do harm and never good to the body. Briefly, none of the exact results hitherto 
gained can be appealed to as contradicting, from a purely physiological point of view, 
the conclusions which some persons have drawn from their daily common experience that 
alcohol so used may be beneficial to their health. 

I was present at the meeting and conversed with a number of the 
gentlemen present regarding the statement. Only a very few, so far as I 
heard, had any hesitation with regard to it. I learned of two or three 
who were unwilling to sign it without slight change in the phraseology. 
I was told of one who said he believed it, but did not like to sign it, 
because it might be employed by liquor sellers as an encouragement to 
their trade. There may have been a considerable number who disagreed 
with the statement in one way or another, but if the number had been at 
all large, I think I should have known it. Certain it is that a very con- 
siderable number of the most celebrated men present expressed their 
decided approval in personal conversation. I have here a list of sixty- 
two men who expressed their approval by their signatures. Nearly all are 
well-known investigators. Among them are professors, teachers, and 
heads of laboratories of a large number of the most noted universities and 
medical schools of the world. The list includes many of the most cele- 
brated physiologists of our time. 

The following, also by Professor Foster, is interesting, not only as a 
concise summary of what is definitely known about the physiological 
action of alcohol, but also as showing how much space should, in the 
judgment of one of the most reputable of modern physiologists, be 
devoted to the subject in an elementary text-book. It fills two of the 247 
pages of the Elementary Physiology of Foster and Shore. 

Alcoholic beverages. — Ordinary alcohol is an organic compound of the composition 
CjHgO. It occurs in the following proportions in the following beverages: 
Beer .__-.. about 5 per cent. 

Light wines (claret, hock) - - about 10 to 15 per cent. 

Strong wines (sherry, port) - - about 20 per cent. 

Spirits ------- about 30 to 70 per cent. 

When alcohol is taken into the body, most of it is oxidized and gives rise to energy. 
The amount of energy thus supplied, compared with that of the other parts of the food, is 
insignificant, and the effect of alcohol depends, not on the energy which it supplies, but 
on the influence it exerts on the changes going on in the several tissues. The value of 
the various articles of diet does not depend by any means solely on their ability to supply 
energy ; we have seen, for instance, that salts which supply no energy are nevertheless of 
use in directing the changes going on in the body. In a somewhat similar way alcohol 
and other substances may influence and direct these changes. Whether that influence is 
beneficial or no will depend upon many circumstances, and certainly upon the quantity 
taken. We have many illustrations that a substance taken into the body in a certain 
quantity will produce one effect, and in another quantity it may be quite an opposite 
effect. There is no doubt that a certain quantity of alcohol is injurious and interferes 
with all the functions, and ultimately brings about various diseases, but it does not follow 
from this that in a smaller quantity it may not be harmless or even beneficial. 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 59 

Alcohol produces its most marked effects on the vascular and nervous systems. It 
leads to a dilatation of the small blood vessels of the skin, and so to a larger flow of blood 
to the surface of the body ; this, while it produces a sensation of warmth, leads to an 
increased loss of heat by radiation and perspiration. If the amount of alcohol taken is 
excessive, the loss of heat will lead to a definite fall of temperature. Alcohol is then of 
no service as a preventive against cold. 

Alcohol makes the heart beat more quickly and makes it do more work in a given 
time. In some cases this may be beneficial, but generally it is a wasteful and useless 
expenditure of energy. Alcohol diminishes the power of doing prolonged muscular work, 
and large quantities lead to a great diminution in the force of muscular contractions. 

The effect of alcohol on digestion is very complex. When taken with food it leads 
to a diminution in the rate and completeness of digestion, if it is present in any but very 
small quantities. If some proteid (white of egg or fibrin) is put in a flask with some 
gastric juice, it is found that, if a very little alcohol (i part to 500 of the mixture) be 
added, the digestion will go on a trifle more rapidly, but if the alcohol added much 
exceeds this amount, a well-marked retardation is produced. It does not follow that 
such a small amount of alcohol is useful in ordinary digestion, because when it is taken 
into the stomach we have to consider the influence it has on the secretion of gastric juice, 
on the movements of the stomach, and on absorption. A small quantity of alcohol 
appears, however, to encourage the secretion of gastric juice, but large quantities act 
injuriously on all the processes of digestion. 

A small amount of alcohol may promote the action of the central nervous system, 
and often appears to quicken the rapidity of thought and to excite the imagination, but 
more usually, and always when taken in any but small quantities, it diminishes the power 
of connected thought and judgment. It also diminishes the power of receiving sensory 
impressions, and, at the same time, blunts all the special senses. Since it reduces the 
sensibility to cold and fatigue, and allays mental pain and worry, it is often resorted to, 
and then with great danger. 

The limit up to which any beneficial effects are produced by alcohol is soon reached, 
and beyond that it only does harm. This limit is not the same for all individuals ; a 
quantity good for one may be injurious for another, and a large number of people find 
that strictly moderate quantities of alcoholic beverages do them no harm, while others 
find that similar amounts impede them in their daily work. 

The effect of alcoholic beverages does not depend solely on the ordinary alcohol in 
them, for other substances which they contain often have powerful actions in the body. 
The habitual use of such beverages to excess greatly shortens life by inducing diseases of 
many organs. In some cases of disease alcohol may be of great service, but in health it 
cannot be considered a necessity, and is far more potent for evil than for good. 

From the evidence at hand regarding the use of alcohol, the follow- 
ing, by Dr. E. A. Parkes, the eminent English hygienist, seems to me a 
fair and judicious statement of the facts, altho I should be inclined to 
lay a little more stress upon the principle that, in health at any rate, it is 
superfluous or worse, and to insist more strongly upon the importance, in 
this country especially, of general abstinence from its use : 

The facts now stated make it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the dietetic value 
of alcohol has been much overrated. It does not appear to me possible at present to 
condemn alcohol altogether as an article of diet in health ; or to prove that it is invariably 
hurtful, as some have attempted to do. It produces effects which are often useful in 
disease, and sometimes desirable in health ; but in health it is certainly not a necessity, 
and many persons are much better without it. As now used by mankind, it is infinitely 
more powerful for evil than for good ; and though it can hardly be imagined that its dietetic 



60 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

use will cease in our time, yet a clearer view of its effects must surely lead to a lessening 
of the excessive use which now prevails. 

Reference has lately been made in the public prints to some experi- 
ments at Wesleyan University which have had for their object the study 
of the nutritive action of alcohol. One does not like to say a great deal 
about his own work, and I should rather stop with the references to what 
other investigators have done and said ; but, in view of the misstatements 
and misunderstandings which have received currency regarding these 
inquiries and the conclusions we have derived from them, it is perhaps 
fitting that I should refer to them now, as I have been especially requested 
to do. • 

The experiments in question have been undertaken on behalf of the 
Committee of Fifty for the Investigation of the Liquor Problem. They 
are, however, carried out in connection with researches upon nutrition 
which are made under the auspices of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, and constitute part of the larger inquiry into the economy 
of food, of which I have already spoken. 

The experiments are made by the use of the respiration calorimeter, 
by means of which it is possible to measure the income and outgo of the 
body of a man, as expressed in terms of both matter and energy. The 
apparatus includes a chamber about seven feet long, four feet wide, and 
six and a half feet high, in which the man stays for a number of days 
and nights. It is furnished with folding-bed, table, and chair. For 
some of the experiments — those in which muscular work is to be done — 
there is provided a stationary bicycle, on which the man may ride the 
equivalent of a desired number of miles per day. Arrangements are 
provided for ventilation by a current of carefully purified air. The tem- 
perature is kept constantly at a degree which is agreeable to the occupant. 
In this chamber he reads, writes, works, eats, drinks, and sleeps. So far 
from being uncomfortable, each of the four gentlemen who have been 
subjects of the experiments thus far has found himself very little discom- 
moded in any way save for the monotony of confinement in so small a 
space. The period of each experiment generally varies from four to nine 
days, tho in one case it reached twelve days. Even after this experi- 
ence not one of the gentlemen has been in the least unwilling to repeat 
the trial. So far from finding difficulty in securing subjects, we have 
numerous volunteers, and are able to select men of special fitness for the 
purpose, as regards both bodily characteristics and, when desired, scientific 
training. 

The general plan of the experiments consists in giving the man a diet 
adapted to the purposes of the experiment, and measuring, weighing, and 
analyzing, not only the food and drink, but also the products, solid, 
liquid, and gaseous, given off from the body. This involves, with the 
rest, the measurement of the air the man breathes and its analysis, both 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 6 1 

I 

before it enters and after it leaves the chamber, in order to determine the 
products of respiration. Not only the chemical elements and compounds, 
but also the energy of the income and outgo, are measured. The body 
receives energy in the food, in which it is latent, or so-called potential 
energy. A small part of the energy leaves the body in the unoxidized 
excretions, in which it is still latent, but the larger quantity is given off 
in the heat emitted from the body, and in the external muscular work 
performed. Especial arrangements are provided for measuring this 
energy, and since that given off from the body is mostly in the form of 
heat, the apparatus is practically a calorimeter. It is because the appara- 
tus enables us to determine both the respiration products and the heat 
that we call it a respiration calorimeter. 

One of the most interesting results of the experiments of this kind con- 
ducted at Wesleyan University is the close agreement of the income and 
outgo of energy. They thus indicate, what in fact has been generally 
believed, tho tne belief has lacked definite experimental proof, that the 
human body, like any other machine — a steam engine or an electrical 
dynamo, for instance — obeys the law of the conservation of energy. 

By giving men under experiment different kinds and amounts of 
food, and varying their activity from actual rest to light or severe mus- 
cular or mental work, it is possible to learn how the body uses its food, 
what materials are needed for its support, and how different food 
materials compare in nutritive value. 

The special object of the experiments with alcohol was to study its 
nutritive effect as compared with that of the fuel ingredients, fat, sugar, 
and starch — carbonaceous compounds, let us call them — of ordinary 
food. In most of the experiments pure (ethyl) alcohol was used, tho 
in some the alcohol was given in the form of whisky or brandy. It was 
administered with water or coffee, and taken with an ordinary diet of 
meat, bread, butter, milk, sugar, and the like. The amount of alcohol 
per day has been equal to about two and one-half ounces of absolute 
alcohol-*— about as much as would be contained in three average glasses 
of whisky, or in a bottle of claret or Rhine wine. This is generally 
divided in six doses, three with meals and three between meals, the object 
being to avoid any marked influence of the alcohol upon the nerves, and 
thus to test its action as food under normal bodily conditions. Compara- 
tive tests were made by use of rations with and without alcohol. The 
ration without alcohol consisted in each case of ordinary food materials 
supplying the nutritive ingredients in amounts more or less nearly suffi- 
cient to meet the wants of the body. In the corresponding ration with 
alcohol, part of the sugar, starch, and fat of the food, the carbonaceous 
ingredients which supply the body with fuel for warmth and work, was 
taken out, enough to be equivalent in potential energy to the two and 
one-half ounces of alcohol, and the latter was used in their place. In the 



62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

experiments in which the man did not work this alcohol made about one- 
fifth of the total fuel material in the diet. In the experiments with hard 
muscular work, in which more food was used, the alcohol furnished about 
one-seventh of the fuel supply. Ten experiments in which alcohol was 
used are now completed and ready for publication. These are compared 
with a somewhat larger number of experiments similar in the main, except 
that they were without alcohol. The results may be briefly stated as follows : 
First, extremely little of the alcohol was given off from the body 
unconsumed ; indeed, it was oxidized, i. e., burned as completely as 
bread, meat, or any other food. Second, in the oxidation all of the 
potential energy of the alcohol was transformed into heat or muscular 
power. In other words, the body transformed the energy of the alcohol 
as it did that of sugar, starch, and other ordinary food materials. Third, 
taking the experiments together, the body held its own just as well with 
the rations consisting partly of alcohol as it did with the others. This 
was the case whether the men were at rest or at work, and whether the 
rations were or were not adequate to the needs of their bodies for nour- 
ishment. In other words, so far as the figures for income and outgo of 
chemical elements and compounds in these experiments show, the alcohol 
protected the nitrogen and carbon, the proteids and fats, of the body 
from consumption as effectively as the carbonaceous nutrients which it 
replaced. There were, indeed, variations in the figures from day to day 
and from experiment to experiment, as must be expected in this kind of 
physiological inquiry. In some cases, judging by the figures as they 
stand, the alcohol appeared to be less, in others it appeared to be more, 
efficient than the sugar, starch, and fat, in protecting either the nitrogen 
or the carbon of the body from consumption. In certain ingredients 
there were large losses, in others there were gains of either nitrogen or 
carbon, or both. But these gains were in general about as large and fre- 
quent with the rations without alcohol as with the corresponding rations 
with alcohol. Taking the experiments altogether we should not, in my 
judgment, be warranted in saying that the results establish any difference 
between the two kinds of rations in this respect. 

I am very far, however, from regarding the results of these experi- 
ments as final. Take, for instance, the question of the relative fuel values 
of the carbonaceous nutrients, fat, sugar, and starch, on the one hand, 
and alcohol on the other. These experiments, which are more detailed 
than any others of the sort of which I have been able to find descrip- 
tions, imply, as far as they go, that corresponding, or, to use a chemical 
term, isodynamic, amounts have equal values as fuel. To put it in 
another way, one ounce of alcohol, when burned with oxygen in an appa- 
ratus for the purpose, such as we use in the chemical laboratory, will 
yield about the same amount of heat as, say, three-fourths of an ounce of 
fat or an ounce and three-quarters of either sugar or starch. But whether 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 63 

the body gets the same benefit from the ounce of alcohol as from the 
three-quarters of an ounce of fat, or the ounce and three-quarters of 
starch or sugar, is another matter. The body uses the sugar, starch, and 
fat for a variety of purposes. It may be that the isodynamic amounts of 
these carbonaceous nutrients have equal values for some of these pur- 
poses and unequal values for others, the value depending upon the kind 
of service. So, likewise, it may be that the value of alcohol as fuel 
depends upon the kind of work it is to do. For aught we know today 
there may be forms of service as fuel which it cannot render, or can ren- 
der only under special conditions. Exact answers to these questions will 
require a large amount of patient and costly research. 

As may be seen, these experiments had to do simply with the nutri- 
tive action of alcohol. They have very little bearing upon its indirect 
action, nor do they indicate what are its effects when taken habitually for 
months or years. 

In certain deliberative bodies — in Congress, for instance — personal 
explanations are sometimes in order. I hope it may not seem unfitting 
if I venture to say here that some of the statements which purport to 
have gone out from Middletown regarding these experiments are entirely 
wrong. Thus it has been said that we are studying the effects of alcohol 
as brain- food, and for that purpose have been feeding men upon a diet 
consisting chiefly of alcohol. These reports are entirely without founda- 
tion. No such experiments have ever been made or even planned in our 
laboratory or under my direction. For that matter, I cannot see how 
any physiological chemist could think of alcohol as a material especially 
fitted to supply nourishment for brain work. I can see how it might some- 
times stimulate the action of the brain in certain ways. Indeed, workers 
in that field, I believe, have tried to explain its action in this as in the 
opposite direction, but that is a subject for the physiological psycholo- 
gist, and not the chemist, to investigate and pronounce upon. 

An account of these experiments was given at the International Physio- 
logical Congress in the summer of 1898 referred to, and also at the meet- 
ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 
Boston the same year. Last June a similar account was given at the 
meeting of a scientific club in Middletown, Conn., where the experi- 
ments were made. Some days in advance of the meeting newspapers in 
different parts of the country contained announcements purporting to 
represent what I was going to say. Neither my associates nor myself 
authorized them or have any knowledge as to how they originated. They 
contained statements to the effect that the experiments showed that alco- 
hol is a useful food, and that two ounces per day made a desirable part of 
the diet. Some of these totally unauthorized and unwarranted state- 
ments, I regret to say, have been utilized by venders of alcoholic bever- 
ages as recommendations of their products. 



64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

How far the views of leading physiologists and the results of scientific 
research, as I have thus tried to epitomize them, differ from the teaching 
of the so-called "authorized" text-books used in our schools you, who are 
so familiar with the books and schools, are well able to judge. I will, 
however, later on give you some illustrations of the teaching to which I 
object. 

WHAT SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT BE TAUGHT ABOUT THIS SUBJECT IN 

THE SCHOOLS 

Meanwhile, permit me to state some of the things which, as it seems 
to me, ought and ought not to be taught in the public schools. In so 
doing I do not attempt to cover the whole ground or enter into the 
physiological details, but simply indicate what, in my personal view, 
should be said or not said about some* of the more important phases of 
the subject. 

WHAT WE SHOULD NOT TEACH ABOUT ALCOHOL 

i. We should not teach that it is a food, in the sense in which that 
word is ordinarily used. If we are going to discuss its physiological 
action at all, we cannot well ignore its nutritive value, but we should at 
the same time emphasize its limitations. When we speak of it as food or 
nutriment, we should explain to what extent and in what ways it can and 
cannot nourish the body. So, likewise, if we speak of its effect upon 
digestion, we should not say simply that it is an aid or that it is a hin- 
drance, but that it may be one or the other, or both, according to circum- 
stances. 

2. We should not teach that it is a poison, in the sense in which that 
word is ordinarily used. We may say, and with truth, that alcohol in 
large quantities is poisonous, that in large enough doses it is fatal, and 
that smaller quantities taken day after day will ruin body and mind. But 
it is wrong to teach our boys that alcohol in small quantities, or in dilute 
forms in which it occurs in such beverages as wine and beer, is- a poison 
in the ordinary sense of the word. In all that we say on this point we 
must bear in mind that the intelligent boy knows well, and as a man he 
will know better, that people have always been accustomed to moderate 
drinking, as it is commonly called, and yet live in excellent health to 
good old age. If we tell him that alcohol in small quantities is poison- 
ous in the sense in which he understands the word, he will see that we 
are exaggerating, that we are teaching for effect, and he will instinctively 
rebel against the teaching. 

We may say, and say truthfully, that the moderate use of alcohol is 
fraught with danger. But the cases where the occasional glass leads to 
marked excess are the exceptions. If we present them to the thoughtful 
boy as the rule, he will detect the fallacy and distrust the whole doctrine. 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 65 

We may be right in saying that alcohol often does harm to health 
when people do not realize it, that it prepares the system for inroads of 
disease, that there is a gradation of injury from forms scarcely percept- 
ible to the utter ruin of body and soul. But to present the " horrible 
examples" as a common result of drinking is illogical in itself, contrary 
to right temperance doctrine, and hence injurious to the children whom 
we teach. For that matter I believe that the picturing of the frightful 
results of vice to young and innocent children is more harmful than 
useful. 

3. We ought not to teach that alcohol in small quantities is harmless. 
Still more should we avoid saying that it is commonly beneficial. Some 
of us as individuals may believe that its use in small quantities is gen- 
erally desirable, but there is nothing in either the facts of common expe- 
rience or in the results of scientific inquiry to justify the inference as a 
general principle. Doubtless many people, especially those in advanced 
age, or suffering under certain forms of disease, are benefited by alcoholic 
beverages in moderate amounts. Here it may have a decided medicinal 
value, and my own belief coincides with that of a great body of physi- 
ologists in ascribing to it under some such circumstances an extremely 
important food value, altho the exact ways in which it is useful are not 
yet demonstrated. But I can see no justification for the claim that 
moderate drinking is generally useful, and there is no denying the terrible 
fact that it is often harmful, not only in itself, but because of the excess 
to which it so often leads. 

4. We ought not to teach that alcohol in small quantities is always or 
necessarily harmful. Some of us as individuals may believe this. Hon- 
nestly believing that theory we may be justified in arguing for it. But we 
are not justified in teaching it dogmatically, and in my judgment it is posi- 
tively wrong to make such a dogma a part of the instruction which is 
presented to our youth as authoritative, be it in the school, the Sunday 
school, or the pulpit. It is wrong for two reasons ; first, because it pre- 
sents an unproven theory as an attested fact; and second, because it 
leads the trusting child to believe what the thoughtful, and at times 
skeptical, boy or girl, and the intelligent man or woman, may afterward 
learn to be wrong. 

5. Still worse is it to take the theory that the use of alcohol in small 
quantities is always or necessarily injurious, and set it up as demonstrated 
by scientific observation and experiment. This is positive untruth. If 
we tell it to children, they will believe it until they learn better. They 
may possibly remain in ignorance of the error until they are grown, or 
indeed all their lives. But sooner or later many of them will find that 
they were deceived ; it may be in the high school, it may be in the college 
or medical school, it may be from general reading or conversation ; but 
when the deception is found out a reaction comes. The good we tried to 



66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

do is undone. The certain injury is far greater than the hoped-for 
good, 

6. To take the theory that alcohol is in no sense a food, but always a 
poison, that it is never useful, but always harmful, and allege that it is sup- 
ported by the great bulk of scientific authority, is falsehood. We may 
look over the literature of the subject and cull out statements which can 
be used to support it. We may even find writers of more or less repute 
who attempt to defend it in the light of scientific experiment. In this 
way we may accumulate statements which the unsuspecting reader may be 
led to regard as proving that the scientific authority is on this side of the 
discussion. We may unconsciously go farther and persuade ourselves 
that there is scientific ground for adopting such theories ; so often and 
so truly is "the wish the father to the thought." In our great anxiety to 
find every means to work against the evil wrought by alcohol we may 
gradually come to feel ourselves justified in presenting all the arguments 
we can against it and in ignoring all we can on the other side. But this 
does not turn theory into fact or falsehood or misrepresentation into truth. 

The following quotations are from so-called "approved" text-books 
of physiology commonly used in our schools : 

Nature apparently makes no effort to appropriate it [alcohol]. It courses everywhere 
through the circulation, and into the great organs, with all its properties unmodified. 
Alcohol, then, is not, like bread or beef, taken hold of, broken up by the mysterious 
urocebb of digestion, and used by the body. " It cannot, therefore, be regarded as an 
aliment.'" 

Alcohol U universally ranked among poisons by physiologists, chemists, physicians, 
loxiuologists, and all who have experimented, studied, and written upon the subject, and 
who, therefore, best understand it. 3 

Alcohol is not a food or drink. Medical writers, without exception, class alcohol as 
* poibon.) 

It uuiat be remembered that in whatever quantity, or wherever alcohol is found, its 
uuture ii the name. It is not only a poison, but a narcotic poison. 4 

These statements are misrepresentations. They belong to a kind of 
doctrine which pervades many of the "approved" text-books and much 
of the common temperance instruction. They are none the less false or 
wrong, either scientifically or morally, because the object is to educate our 
youth away from evil ; the misstatements are none the less reprehensible 
because they occur in schoolbooks which have the official indorsement of 
a great temperance organization, whose membership includes thousands 
and other thousands of the noblest, the most conscientious, the worthiest 
of the women of the world. Nor does it help the matter that such state- 
ments are repeated and such theories are promulgated with the sanction, 
and are enforced by the authority, of the church, in the teachings of the 
Sunday school, and from the sacred desk. 

1 Stcvlc, Hv&itnic Physiology* pp. 178, 179, 3 Eclectic, No. 3, p. 57. 

■> V)uutcri hum YouiiMiut in BlaisdelTs, No. a, p. 039. 4 Authorized Series, No. 3, p. 58. 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 67 

Do not misunderstand me. I am not imputing wrong motives, I bring 
no railing accusation, I charge no one with intended wrong. I only ask 
that the men and women who do these- things — many of them are my 
acquaintances, some are my warm personal friends, their standing in the 
community is so high that no arrow of aspersion can reach them, their 
characters are so pure that no stain can tarnish them, their names are in 
my memory and their faces in my vision, as I write this — I ask that they 
consider the facts as I am sure they have not considered them, that they 
look into the evidence as I am sure they have not looked into it, and that 
they remember in their attitude toward these questions the principle I 
have read in their own writings and heard from their own lips — the 
foundation of morality is the truth. 

WHAT WE SHOULD TEACH ABOUT ALCOHOL 

i. It is, under some circumstances, a valuable nutriment in the sense 
that it can yield energy to the body, but not in the sense that it can build 
tissue. It is, under other circumstances, a poison in the sense that it is 
injurious to health. When taken in large enough quantities and for long 
enough time it is destructive to life. It is sometimes very useful and 
sometimes very harmful, but the harm that comes from drinking, in many 
communities, vastly exceeds the good. 

While we cannot deny to alcohol a nutritive value, that value is very 
limited. In yielding energy to the body it resembles sugar, starch, and 
fat, tho just how and to what extent it resembles them experimental 
inquiry has not yet told us. It differs from them in that it does not 
require digestion, and is hence believed to be more easily and immedi- 
ately available to the body. It is not stored in the body for future use 
like the nutrients of ordinary food materials. The quantity that may be 
advantageously used is small. If large amounts are taken, its influence 
upon the nerves and brain are such as to counteract its nutritive effect, 
and it becomes injurious in various ways. And, finally, there are many 
people who begin by moderate use and are led to disastrous excess. 

Alcohol may be useful to one man and harmful to another. One may 
take considerable without apparent harm, while another may be injured 
by very little. One may use it habitually without injury, while another 
may not. In sickness it may be a priceless boon. But it may likewise 
be the cause of physical, mental, and moral ruin. 

2. The boy or the man, as long as he is in good health and does not 
need alcohol for medicine, is in general better off without it. 

3. While some can drink a little without danger of drinking to great 
excess, others cannot. The safest way is to keep out of danger. 

4. There are business considerations also as well as those of health 
that strongly favor temperance. The boy who wants to make his way on 
a railroad or in a large business establishment has a better chance to get 



68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

employment and to work up into a profitable position if he is an abstainer 
than if he is a drinker. Already many such establishments refuse to 
employ men who drink, and there is reason to expect that more will 
do so. 

5. Temperance is always advisable. This we may emphasize most 
strongly. But whether or not we shall teach the necessity or even the 
advisability of abstinence is another matter. About this the best men differ. 
Two who disagree may be equally honest. Each has the right to express his 
own convictions and may often feel it his duty to do so. But it is neither 
just nor wise to teach our youth that the doctrine of total abstinence 
rests upon undisputed principles of either physiology or morals. It 
seems to me that the question whether a man should be a total abstainer 
depends on two considerations. The first is one of policy. Will drink- 
ing injure him ? If so, he had better abstain ; if not, he may drink. 
But he must be sure of his ground before he begins, and he had better 
wait until he reaches maturity and understands himself and the subject 
well, before he takes the risk. The other consideration is an ethical one. 
Remembering that he does not live for himself alone, what will be the 
effect of his example and what is his duty ? The rule of conduct in this 
respect is a matter for him to decide. You and I may have the right to 
advise him, but the decision is between himself and his own conscience. 

6. An ambitious and right-minded boy wants to be an influential and 
useful man. I think he should be taught that it would be better for the 
community at large if there were less drinking ; that the community is 
influenced by the examples of strong and good men ; and that his own 
personal influence will be better if it is on the side of temperance. 

7. Great as is the danger of alcohol to purse and health, the moral 
injury is incomparably worse. Its most terrible effect is its demoraliza- 
tion of character. However much good men may do in helping others 
to save their, money and promote their health, a still greater service to 
their fellow-men is that which helps them to a higher plane of moral 
living. And here is the strongest argument of all in favor of that self- 
abnegation which leads us to do those things, and those things only, 
which will best enable us to render that service to our day and genera- 
tion. In that way we do our noblest duty to our fellow-men and to our 
God. All this we may, and I believe we should, teach in the schools. 

ERRORS IN THE CURRENT TEMPERANCE TEACHING. ETHICAL 

CONSIDERATIONS 

The misstatements in the text-books of the type referred to above are 
of various kinds. Sometimes the error consists in stating doubtful the- 
ories as attested facts ; in other cases, the principles laid down are partly 
true and partly false ; in still others, the statements are squarely opposed 
to all of the results of the latest and most accurate scientific research. 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 69 

The statements are enforced by quotations, of which some are by real 
authorities, but are too often put in such ways as to misrepresent their 
actual teachings ; while others are from men who do not stand for the 
best research and the highest scholarship, but are quoted as the most 
reliable authorities. 

I do not mean that the approved text- books are all wrong. A great 
deal of what they say is entirely true. In the parts not bearing upon the 
action of alcohol there is often little to criticise and much to commend. 
The trouble is this admixture of error. 

In one respect they are all alike. The impression which they give 
the pupil is that science teaches that alcohol, even in moderate quanti- 
ties, is always harmful' and never useful. This is untrue. 

The object is to oppose an enormous evil, to teach our youth to resist 
that evil. The purpose is most worthy ; the trouble is in the method. 
The evil being clearly defined, a doctrine is formed to meet it, and evi- 
dence is sought to sustain the doctrine. Whatever can be found in its 
favor is exaggerated. Whatever opposes it is ignored or denied. It 
gradually ceases to be the propagandism of the few and becomes the 
creed of the many. It is the old story of human dogma, repeated over 
and over again in politics, in theology, and in morals. And here, as in 
many other cases, the worthiness of the cause and the earnestness of the 
advocates are such as often to "deceive the very elect." Indeed, the very 
best people often become the most sincere and devoted advocates of the 
doctrine. In this case the scientific expert is not deceived. But the 
statements are put in such persuasive ways and sustained by such seeming 
force of scientific authority that the unsuspecting pupil, and, indeed, the 
teacher who implicitly trusts the text-books, is led to believe that they 
represent the real teaching of the best physiological science. 

I was once talking about this subject with a teacher, and reminded her 
of Lincoln's saying : " You can fool all the people some of the time, and 
some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the 
time." She replied : " But can't we fool the boys until their characters 
are formed ? " Now, I think that lady was perfectly sincere ; I am 
equally sure that she was wrong. You cannot build character on false- 
hood. 

A well-known philanthropist in New York city tells this story : " I 
happened to be in a school down on the east side when a class of boys 
from tenement families were reciting in physiology. The teacher asked : 
' What is beer ? ' The answer came in chorus: 'Beer is poison.' Now, 
those little chaps knew that that was a lie. Their fathers and mothers drank 
beer every day." Such children were not fooled by any such teaching. 

But even if they are deceived for a time, it will not last, nor can you 
get around the difficulty by falling back on definitions. Tell a boy a 
thing is poison, and he will suppose that you mean by poison what he 



70 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

means by it, and what people generally mean by it. He has not access to 
the particular dictionary or scientific treatise which has a definition that 
may be stretched to fit your meaning. You may persuade him for a time 
that it is a poison in the popular sense of the word, but when he grows 
up he will learn that he was mistaught ; indeed, he may do so before he 
is grown up. The scholar in the higher classes shares the present tendency 
to skepticism ; when he finds that he was deceived, he does not mince 
matters; he reasons with himself: "That teacher and the text-book lied. 
If they would lie in one case, they would in another, and I am not going 
to believe anything they told me." . Even if he does not go so far as this, 
even if his faith is not lost, but is only shaken, the harm is done ; the 
effect is to undo much of the good that the teaching is intended to do. 
Furthermore, and what is still worse, the result must be to impress upon 
the pupil, and by the most effective agency, that of example — the example 
of the school, the Sunday school, and even the pulpit — the idea that 
deception is allowable in a good cause, that the end justifies the means. 
This is undermining the very foundations of morality. 

One of the most honored members of your association remarked to 
me yesterday in speaking of this subject : " Teach a boy of ten that a lie 
is the truth, and at twenty he is in danger of believing the truth is a lie." 

This evil, so intrenched behind the earnest aspirations of our commu- 
nity, and so fortified by legislation, is the one against which I protest and 
which I urge you, as leaders in education, to unite in your endeavors to 
oppose. 

Perhaps I ought to speak more considerately of things so dear to 
thousands of the best, the most earnest, the most devoted people, those 
to whom temperance means so much, who would shrink with horror from 
intentional deceit, and in the fiber of whose noblest thought this doctrine 
is so interwoven. 

We meet here a very peculiar difficulty. The Object of this teaching is a 
noble one. When we criticise the method we are in danger of seeming 
to oppose the purpose, and yet the improvement in method is necessary 
for the attainment of that purpose. It seems to me that one of the great 
obstacles in the way of the true temperance reform is found in this very 
exaggeration which makes so large a part of the means used to promote 
that reform. It is building on the sand. The place to build is on the 
rock of attested truth. 

You see, then, that I am not trying to set up a dogma in opposition 
to " scientific temperance instruction. " I earnestly approve of the purpose, 
but object to part of the method. I protest against the dogmatic teach- 
ing of scientific theories which still lack demonstrative proof. More than 
that, I protest against the teaching of what science shows to be positively 
erroneous. And I also ask that the teaching of science in our schools 
shall keep pace with the progress of research. 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 7 1 

But what are we to do about it ? I hesitate to make positive sugges- 
tions to those who have much more experience than I, and on whom rests 
so much of grave responsibility for deciding what instruction our youth 
shall receive. I venture, however, these considerations : 

The success of such instruction depends very largely upon its spirit. 
If it is based upon the real desire for truth, if disputed principles are 
referred to as questions rather than demonstrated facts, if no more is 
claimed than is proven, and if under these restrictions the evils of alco- 
hol are clearly set forth, and especially if the teacher speaks with the 
power of accurate knowledge and profound conviction, the instruction 
cannot fail to be incalculably useful. 

Still more effective will it be, in my judgment, if less stress it laid 
upon the material, i. e., the physiological and economic side of the ques- 
tion, and more upon its moral aspects. Our people are keenly alive to 
ethical ideas. And youth is a time when thought is fresh, the aspiration 
is for the ideal, and mind and heart are open to the truest ethical impulses. 

Let me emphasize most strongly the moral aspects of this question. 
Temperance reform is moral reform. I cannot see how a thoughtful 
man, earnestly desirous of rendering his best service to the community, 
can fail to be interested in that reform. 

The harm which alcohol does to health, the economic injury it brings 
to the individual and to the community, are terrible enough, but it seems 
to me that the supreme evil which comes from its misuse is its effect 
upon character, its power of demoralization, the moral ruin which it 
brings. No exaggeration is needed to paint this picture in the most ter- 
rible colors. 

As one who has been interested in temperance reform from child- 
hood, I have come to believe that we have been depending too much 
upon the economic and physiological argument. Statistics of the nation's 
liquor bill do not appeal very strongly to the ordinary man; still less does 
the average boy care for them. The men who know most about the 
physiological effects of alcohol are specialists in physiology and hygiene. 
I know scores of these men. Total abstainers among them are excep- 
tions ; I was about to say, rare exceptions. If they are not persuaded by 
the facts they know so well in theory and in practice, what can we expect 
from teaching the average boy or girl a little of the theory ? 

The supreme object of education is the formation of character. Char- 
acter is shaped by education, but its basis is morality. Again I say, tem- 
perance reform is moral reform. The mind and heart of youth are most 
strongly influenced by moral thoughts, by ethical ideals. There you can 
keep within the truth and there make the strongest appeals. 

One essential for the success of true temperance reform is that what 
is taught as science shall be placed upon the basis of demonstrated 
fact. This means a change of base on the part of a great body of 



72 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

our most earnest temperance reformers; but that change is neces- 
sary. 

We wish to help the drunkard to reform ; but is it necessary to tell 
him that no man can touch alcohol without danger ? To build up the 
public sentiment upon which the reform of the future must depend, we 
wish our children to understand about alcohol and its terrible effects; 
but when we teach them in the name of science, shall we not teach them 
the simple facts which science attests, and which they can hereafter believe, 
rather than exaggerated theories, whose errors, when they learn them, will 
tend to undo the good we strive to do ? In short, is not temperance 
advisable even in the teaching of temperance doctrine ? 

In the great effort to make men better, there is one thing that we must 
always seek, one thing we need never fear — the truth. 



DISCUSSION 



Samuel T. Dutton, superintendent of schools, Brookline, Mass. — You have listened 
this afternoon to a gentleman who, in the interest of science and truthfulness, and at very 
large expense of time and labor, has conducted certain experiments. You have observed 
how guardedly he has spoken in regard to results of those experiments, and you are able 
to form your own conclusions as to his honesty, his ability, his candor, and the position 
which he holds as a temperance man. Should you read shortly in some journal published 
by the ardent champions of the so-called " scientific temperance instruction " that Profes- 
sor A twater has declared that alcohol is a food in the sense that bread and potatoes are 
food, or that he is working on the side of the rum interest, you will be able to judge of 
the fairness of the statement. 

What he has said about foods and the relation which diet sustains to health, good 
morals, and successful living will, 1 am sure, commend itself to all. The careful, pains- 
taking work that he has done in this department entitles him to the everlasting gratitude 
of the American people. Let us not be too hasty in questioning his statement that "more 
harm comes to health from erroneous habits of eating than from the habitual use of alcohol." 
lie is supported by the opinion of many unbiased people. If any of his statements are 
opposed to the teaching of certain text-books touching the nature and effects of alcohol, 
it must be apparent that, while, as a scientific man, he is seeking truth for its own sake, 
he is prompted by high ethical motives and has at heart the welfare of the children of 
the country. 

Without discussing further his address, I wish to call attention to recent attempts to 
secure more rigid laws touching temperance instruction. What occurred in Massachusetts 
last year is significant in many ways. It shows what people who have had their way for 
a long time will venture to undertake, and it points in a suggestive, not to say prophetic, 
manner at a possible change of sentiment on the part of temperance people toward 
so-called temperance instruction. The great victory which the "central committee" won 
in New York in 1895 gave them confidence to believe that the same kind of law might 
be passed in Massachusetts. The present statute, passed in 1885, which requires tem- 
perance teaching to all children in all schools, had been, according to the testimony of 
school committees and superintendents, well observed, but the proposed law was to be 
very much more stringent. It provided that all pupils below the second year of the high 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 73 

school and above the third year of primary school should study this subject from graded 
text-books in the hands of each pupil, not less than three lessons per week for fourteen 
or more weeks each year. The amount of space to be devoted to the subject in the 
text-books was specified ; school committees were required to see that the subject was 
provided for in the course of study ; heavy penalties were to be inflicted in case of non- 
compliance ; the state board was required to enter into an elaborate investigation each 
year, to see if all the provisions of the law, were carried out, and to make an annual 
report to the legislature concerning the same. This proposed law was so contrary to all 
the traditions and practice of Massachusetts that, at once, there was developed an amount 
of opposition which surprised the promoters of the bill. 

They claimed to have petitions bearing the names of forty thousand persons, but it 
was soon shown that this claim was spurious. Churches, prayer-meetings, Sunday schools, 
and Christian Endeavor Societies had been asked to vote in favor of a more stringent 
temperance law, and, as all good people are quite ready to do anything that promotes 
that object, there was no difficulty in getting the names ; but even at the conference of 
ministers, where the subject was first broached, and where several persons succeeded in 
getting themselves appointed as a committee to urge this legislation, the proposed bill 
was not read, very few knew anything about what its provisions were to be, and very 
many of the clergymen present came out afterward as opponents of the measure. The 
Massachusetts Medical Society, under the leadership of Dr. H. P. Bowditch, of Harvard 
University, and the State Board of Education, were prominent in opposition. The Massa- 
chusetts Association of School Superintendents fortunately had a meeting just before the 
hearings began, and voted unanimously to oppose the measure. Matters were brought 
before two or three of the ministerial associations of Boston, and, while no action was 
taken, it was apparent that a large majority of the clergymen of those associations were 
not in favor of the bill. The legislative committee on education, fortunately, was a most* 
intelligent one. 

It is not necessary for me to review at length the pernicious features of that bill. It 
was a reflection upon the honesty and capability of school committees, a blow at the 
freedom of the teacher, and was directly contrary to sound pedagogy, especially in respect 
to the use of text-books. It not only tended to force upon the minds of little children 
subjects for which they were unprepared, but was a travesty on modern education by 
assuming that text-book instruction on physiology as to the effects of alcohol can be 
scientific. Perhaps the coercive features of the bill were more obnoxious to the educa- 
tional people of Massachusetts than would have been the case in some other states. 
Whatever success has been attained in the commonwealth, educationally, has been by 
co-operation and moral suasion, and while it has long seemed that the state board should 
have more authority in certain directions, no one would wish to crush the spirit of inde- 
pendence and local option which was manifested in this particular issue. The teachers 
of Massachusetts felt keenly that their intelligence and sincerity had been questioned. 
They were unwilling to have a law passed compelling them to do what their temperance 
principles and their regard for the best interests of children would lead them to do cheer- 
fully without compulsion. They believed that wise, discreet, discriminating instruction 
upon the subject of temperance, given to children at an age when they can understand 
and appreciate its importance, was better than such devitalized and machine methods as 
the proposed law contemplated. 

It was most gratifying to see the nearly unanimous opposition of the press. Religious- 
papers, which have always stood for temperance, were ready to oppose this extreme 
measure. Only one clergyman besides the authors of the bill appeared in its favor. 
The arguments against it were overwhelming both on the side of temperance, sound 
pedagogy, and good citizenship. The committee on education, in a report of remarkably 
good sense and clearness, recognized all the objections which were brought forward and 
gave the petitioners leave to withdraw, 



74 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

m   — «^^»» ■*■■■■        i ■■■■— ^   — ■_  

The inference given during the early part of the case was that in many states equally 
rigid laws have been passed, but it turned out that in only a few had there been legisla- 
tion similar to that demanded in Massachusetts. One of these states, as many of you 
know, is New York, where four years ago, in spite of the opposition of teachers, state 
officers of education, college officials, and prominent clergymen, the legislature passed a 
law which was denounced at the time in the most unsparing terms by Bishop Potter, 
President Low of Columbia, the president of Vassar College, and many other men of high 
standing. 

Taking New York as a typical instance, it is apparent to us all that one of two 
things must happen. If the law is obeyed, there is given an amount of unscientific and 
unsound instruction which can only work harm to the rising generation. On the other 
hand, wherever the law is ignored there is before the children and youth an example of 
law-breaking which can only be injurious. Equally unwholesome is the spectacle of con- 
scientious teachers attempting to do under coercion and by a false method what they 
could accomplish in a much better way working spontaneously and using rational means. 
The fact that the legislature of New York showed such a cheerful disposition in passing 
the law suggests that many of its members thought it would do no harm to the liquor 
traffic. One senator, being pressed to tell why it was that they yielded to the seductive 
influence of the " central committee," replied, smilingly : " We did it to please the ladies." 
I cannot believe that New York will long rest under the incubus of this unrighteous law, 
and I am sure that those present here today are ready to extend a helping hand to her or 
to any other state that is suffering under this kind of legislation. 

I infer that in most states it has been found possible, as in Massachusetts, to inter- 
pret the existing laws in such a way that the instruction can be given to such grades and 
in such a manner as school committees and superintendents approve. I believe the time 
has come when an attempt to enact more stringent laws will meet with prompt and signal 
defeat. 

As touching the main question of the validity of so-called scientific temperance 
instruction, we have to consider the character of the text-books, the nature of the subject- 
matter which they contain, the manner in which tbey have been revised and corrected, 
sometimes to the discomfort of the authors themselves, the methods employed in securing* 
their adoption, and the general influence upon the schools and upon good morals of such 
teaching. 

Time will not permit me to enlarge upon this matter, but we can well appreciate the 
remark which one of these authors made to Dr. Bowditch. When asked how he could 
justify such unscientific statements, he responded with warmth : "I have studied physiol- 
ogy, and I do not wish you to suppose that I have fallen so low as to believe all the things 
I have to put into those books." 

From the point of view of temperance, sound education, and good morals, I am sure 
that this condition of affairs calls for our strong disapproval. We do not teach hygiene 
by the study of disease, cleanliness by the observation of filth, purity by the contemplation 
of vice ; and to force upon every child one hundred lessons or five hundred lessons on the 
effects of alcohol is likely to take away his sensitiveness and to make him morbid or 
indifferent, if it does not bring about a reaction which leads him to say : "lam going to 
try it." Children who are taught that wine and tobacco are absolute poisons, and who see 
their fathers, brothers, and friends constantly indulging in these stimulants, can only look 
with ridicule and contempt upon this effort to deceive and frighten them. It is certain 
that the teachers who have tried conscientiously to give this instruction have often 
seriously questioned whether they are not justified in evading the requirements of the law 
in order to avoid the greater evils which were likely to follow the teaching. 

Now, it goes without saying that a great many good people thruout the country have 
been committed to scientific temperance instruction. The "central committee," in the 
exercise of a superior generalship in which it is proficient, has not found it difficult to 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 75 

keep its forces thgroly organized in nearly every state in the union. A few postal cards 
and a few hours of time at any juncture have been sufficient to set the machinery in 
motion. I have no desire to impugn the motives of any of these people. 

Who, on the other hand, are those who are opposed to these stringent laws and who 
seriously question the wisdom of treating this subject by statute differently from other sub- 
jects of instruction ? I can only say, as far as Massachusetts is concerned, that those who 
were in opposition last year are avowedly temperance people. Some of them are mem- 
bers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and other temperance organizations. 
They believe in bringing a strong temperance influence to bear, not only in the school, but 
thru the pulpit, the press, in the home, and in the community. They are willing to unite 
and work for any wholesome measure that will facilitate the temperance movement. 
They are unwilling to be numbered in the rum party. Without doubt the same thing can 
be said of the educational people in New York who opposed the obnoxious law. It is 
true everywhere. 

As I fyave before intimated, is it not possible that the time has come for the crystalliza- 
tion of a sentiment thruout the country which will at least hold in check those who have 
so constantly defied the professional judgment of the educational world ? Should there 
not go out from this meeting, so representative in its character, a sentiment and a purpose 
which shall give direction and guidance to all those who, disapproving of present methods, 
are still ready to support the highest ethical standards in our schools, and who are among 
the sincerest and, as I believe, the truest friends of temperance ? 

Richard G. Boone, superintendent of schools, Cincinnati, O. — I take it that we are 
all under great obligation to Professor Atwater for his courageous words upon an impor- 
tant question, most courteously spoken. Schoolmen and -women generally are interested 
in and are in sympathy with the purposes of all serious temperance instruction and the 
great temperance organizations, and not least with the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union. The evils of intemperance are many and difficult to escape. It behooves every 
one of philanthropic mind and unselfish interest to make his influence touching this 
question felt in the direction of sound teaching of temperance, moderation, and self- 
control. 

But my acquaintance with schoolmen and -women, both in and out of schools, during 
the last twenty years, has convinced me that the thoughtful ones among them have, in 
increasing numbers and with growing conviction, come to feel that the prevailing attempt 
to teach the nature and conditions and dangers of intemperance is pedagogically wrong 
and vicious. The method which has taken form in legislation, and has been put into the 
schoolrooms of almost a score of states, and is embodied in books that are both authorized 

and pushed, fixes the attention of children upon the thing that all agree should be 

> 

avoided. When youths are made good users of English thru attention to inaccurate 
and distorted speech, when they are taught to spell correctly by insisting upon the correc- 
tion of misspellings, when men are made polite and refined by living in the presence of 
boorishness, then, possibly, the youths may be taught temperance by a study of intemper- 
ance, disease, and the filth of drunkenness. 

Thoughtful teachers do not object to the purposes of the temperance movement, but 
they should see, as many of them do, the evils of the methods of instruction and indoc- 
trination. In no other subject of the school course does the law attempt to prescribe just 
what shall be taught. Specific interpretations of history are not insisted upon, nor any 
particular school of literary criticism, nor any exclusive hypothesis in science, nor any 
special doctrine of morals. But it has too often happened that text-books and advocates 
of scientific temperance instruction insist upon the indoctrination of children with an 
adopted temperance creed, and resent any critical inquiry into the scientific soundness of 
that creed. The validity of the knowledge-assumptions underlying this creed Professor 
Atwater has sought to test, Whatever the truth is, we who love our children and are 



76 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

solicitous for their welfare can rest assured that, when found, this same truth will be our 
ally. 

C. F. Carroll, superintendent of schools, Worcester, Mass. — It has been intimated 
by a former speaker that by this date we ought to have some common views with refer- 
ence to the subject of temperance. What we have seen today suggests that, for the most 
part, the members of this body stand upon common ground. I believe that we may say 
the same with reference to the great majority of the best people in the land. Certainly 
the. people of Massachusetts have generally reached an agreement with regard to 
the fundamental principles involved in temperance education. This has been made 
apparent in the unprecedented interest shown in this subject in the legislative hearings 
at Boston last winter. 

Mr. Dutton has touched lightly, and, let me say, very considerately, upon this fact. 
Many of the men of Massachusetts who are present here could give testimony upon this 
point. They know, as Mr. Dutton knows, and as I know, that we have been saved from 
humiliation and loss of self-respect by -the stand taken by the superintendents and teach- 
ers of Massachusetts. This proposed legislation was offensive and awakened the most 
dignified and positive protest heard in our legislature for years. 

I believe that it would be in order for me to speak a little more positively than Mr. 
Dutton has done, tho I hope that I shall say nothing that is uncharitable or unkind. We 
honor and respect the members of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Members of 
my family have worked faithfully for many years in the interests of the cause of temperance. 
I wish to put myself right at this point and to claim that, with other members of my pro- 
fession, I am in favor of such temperance instruction as the best teachers can recommend. 
This little company of leaders has covered the land with a network of legislation. They 
have done this without consulting the teachers, and practically stated at the hearing at 
Boston that it did not seem to them advisable to seek the counsel and the co-operation of 
the teachers in framing such legislation. We protest earnestly against this theory and 
insist that the intelligent body of men and women engaged in the profession of teaching 
are the only persons competent to decide either what this legislation should be or how it 
should be carried into effect. 

These reformers have insisted, first, that books should be used in temperance instruc- 
tion, and, second, that these books should be only such as they themselves have approved. 
In the first place, we object that there is no reason why they should approve such text- 
books, and, second, we claim that to force text-books upon children in connection with 
this subject is equivalent to taking us back in the history of education fifty years. Such 
text-book instruction as they provide and recommend is strictly against the judgment and 
practice of every normal school in the country. I have for eleven years been connected 
with normal-school work, and know whereof I speak when I say that it is the aim and 
pride of normal schools to do away with instruction from the text-book. Much more is it 
contrary to all experience and to the settled principles of pedagogy that anyone should 
prescribe arbitrarily how much instruction should be given in any subject. Except in 
this connection, no state statute has ever attempted to interfere with such details. There 
is not a superintendent present who would willingly employ a teacher who, of her own 
accord, would follow the text-book or such principles prescribed from without. 

If it is proper, I should like to say something about the book-makers. There are 
many of them present here today. They are our friends and the friends of education, and 
intend to furnish us books that are up to date and that would be approved from a scien- 
tific standpoint. It is a little singular that they send us samples of all other kinds of 
books, but seldom send us any book on temperance. I have not received such a book for 
years. I am convinced that they are ashamed of these so-called temperance books. If I 
am not mistaken, let them speak or be forever silent. What one of them would dare to 
urge such temperance books because they bear on the title-page the inscription, 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 77 

"Approved by the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union"? If they are 
invited to engage in conversation upon this subject, they smile, look above or below, and 
as soon as possible pass to some other subject and leave you to draw your own conclusions. 

The next clause of the proposed legislation required that all children in our schools 
should study these text -books. All of our primary teachers would be compelled to violate 
their consciences under a statute thus imposed. They would be called upon to teach 
temperance in such amounts and for such a time. If they failed, they were, according to 
the proposed statute, to pay a fine for their failure to comply with the law. Members of 
boards of education were liable to be fined if teachers failed to comply with the law. 
These men are elected to serve without pay. What a spectacle ! In Massachusetts we 
have escaped from the extreme proposed* in this law. 

I wish to add, Mr. Chairman, that, so far as I am informed, the state board of Massa- 
chusetts stands in solid opposition to such unseemly legislation. The clergy are practi- 
cally unanimous in their denunciation of these measures, not only in Massachusetts, but 
elsewhere. The Outlook, of New York, and the Congregationalism of Boston, are illustra- 
tions of papers that speak ,in no doubtful tone. The legislative committee and the 
legislature are practically unanimous. Nothing has so stirred many of the people of Massa- 
chusetts since the days of the Rebellion as this movement, and I believe I shall be sup- 
ported in my view by those present from Massachusetts when I say that these people who 
are apparently well-meaning are absolutely isolated and alone in the extreme position 
which they have assumed. This is strong language, but the situation appears to me to 
demand such a statement, and I am perfectly willing to take the consequences. 

The only object in bringing this question into this convention is, first, that the truth 
which has been disguised and concealed should be known abroad, and, second, that, as a 
consequence, any such measures as were proposed in Massachusetts may be met in advance 
and defeated whenever they may be attempted in other states. The influence of this 
body certainly ought to be exerted to regulate this question. 

I wish to repeat what I stated above, namely, that the superintendents of New Eng- 
land are a body of earnest men, faithful in the discharge of their duty, anxious to improve 
the schools morally and otherwise, and that they stand for temperance and are ready to 
work together for the enforcement of any law which, in their judgment, will meet the con- 
ditions and not do violence to their judgment and conscience. 

* t 

Francis W, Parker, president of Chicago Institute. — I wish to say a word for the 
great-hearted and good-hearted women who have brought about this state of things. 
They have done and are doing an immense deal of good, devoting themselves as they do 
to the elevation of mankind. Whatever the defects of the text-book plan of teaching 
physiology may be, they are by no means to blame for them. This plan is bred in our 
blood and bones, it has been taught us by the schoolmasters thruout the centuries, it has 
been handed down to us from the universities, it has penetrated and holds the vast 
majority to reverence the words of the text-book. Learn the page by heart, and there will 
enter your soul knowledge and goodness. Learn the catechism, and you are religious. 
Learn the pages of the book, and you are a scholar. The good women of the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union are not to blame, I say, for carrying into action that which 
they have learned from all of us, namely, that knowledge is the end and aim of education. 
The supposition is that the words will in some mysterious way benefit the learner. We 
have everywhere examinations for quantity of knowledge. I remember that when I was 
in the army our good friends in the North sent us desiccated potatoes to prevent scurvy. 
The boys used to call that kind of potato the " desecrated " potato. Just so the text-book is 
often " desecrated " knowledge. It is dried and condensed so that it may be learned by 
heart. Now our good friends and the friends of all humanity, the leading women of 
America, have adopted the same plan in the teaching of physiology to prevent intemper- 
ance. And why should they not believe it is right when it has such a powerful 



78 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

indorsement ? These good women, under the teaching of the past, naturally conclude, 
that, if children learn page by page of the evil effects of alcohol, they will be temperate ; if 
they learn the catechism and chapters in the Bible, they will be religious. This is the 
awful delusion. Some day we shall come to the belief that the school is the place for 
character-building, for the development of citizenship ; a place where temperance is lived, 
and not merely taught in words. The school is the place where all habits of righteousness 
should be inculcated. If we bear this in mind, we can decide what books to use, what 
mind-nutrition to present. We have not yet learned in a full measure the words of Christ : 
" He that doeth the will shall know of the doctrine." We have repeated them over and 
over again, but they have not sunk into our souls, they have not been carried into our lives. 
Let us bear our burdens as best we may. We schoolmasters taught these noble women, 
and they are now teaching us by the same method. 

Dr. D. L. Kiehle, professor of pedagogy, University of Minnesota. — It is with a 
peculiar satisfaction that I listen to the discussion of this hour. It seems that judgment 
is getting back to Boston. 

It is but twelve years ago that, in the state of Minnesota, we heard our chains clank- 
ing from Boston, and we had the most terrific battle on this temperance question that has 
ever been witnessed in this country. Many of our own friends took to cover, and we hardly 
heard a lisp thruout the nation in sympathy or support. The temperance law adopted in 
Minnesota required temperance instruction in every grade in school. The committee, of 
which I was a member as superintendent of public instruction, with the presidents of the 
normal schools, was required to select appropriate text-books to carry out the provisions 
of the law. 

As supporters of the temperance movement and of temperance instruction, we thought 
we ought to give first consideration to the recommendations of the representative temper- 
ance and Christian body of America. The only condition we insisted upon was that the 
book for scientific matter should be indorsed by responsible scientific authority. We soon 
learned that that qualification would not answer; that there was but one book " approved " 
and to be considered. It was demanded that we adopt a book that was " indorsed and 
approved " without reference to scientific authority, and w^ were informed that the state 
officer who did not obey the will of these representatives of the Temperance Union could 
not retain his position. Let me say, then, that we fought the fight out, and we put in 
books that were both good and scientifically correct, where we put in any. We issued a 
circular requiring temperance instruction all the way up, in every grade, after a plan 
reasonably regardful of the elementary principles of pedagogy. We stood for a principle, 
and that was that, while it is within the province of the public to require results, prescribe 
subjects to be taught, and see to it that the work is done, it is an unwarrantable intrusion 
upon the province of the teacher for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union or its 
national superintendent to dictate details of methods, times, books, and pages. We 
fought the fight victoriously, making public exposure of the crooked methods practiced in 
the effort to secure the adoption of the "approved series." We were threatened with a 
libel suit which has not been brought to date. You can understand why I am glad to see 
you sharing the responsibility of settling a principle that is of as great importance to the 
profession as that of temperance. 

Dr. George W. Webster, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. — I. 
do not wish to discuss this except from the side of the physician. The question is one of 
definition and of classification as well as one of truth. In the classification of alcohol, 
or morphine, or arsenic, or strychnine, or anything else, what is the basis of classification ? 
It is its dominating characteristics. We have had a poison defined here, but a food 
has not been defined. We have been told that a poison is anything that always 
does harm. Now, that definition of a poison, as understood by those of us who know 
something about poison, is perfectly absurd. The poisons that are the strongest are 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 79 

oftentimes those that in therapeutics are the most valuable, and they are not always 
poisonous. When classifying alcohol as a food or as a poison, we must consider its domi- 
nating characteristics. It has been demonstrated that 10 per cent, of the mortality in 
large cities is caused by alcoholism. This should be sufficient to classify alcohol as a 
poison. These men who claim that it has some food value claim nothing new. That 
has been known a long time. But we also know that the heat liberated by the dilatation 
of the blood vessels by alcohol is greater than that which the alcohol supplies. The sum 
total is minus instead of plus ; therefore its food value is negative. 

Hon. Henry Sabin, of Iowa. — There is not very much that I want to say, but I am 
deeply moved. I am astonished that in all this great audience there is not a man of 
strength and power who dares stand up here and face you in spite of your applause, and 
defend that great organization — the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. I have 
known these women for more than a score of years ; I have been in their confidence ; I 
have counseled with them ; and for sincerity of purpose, for purity of heart, for keen appre- 
ciation of moral questions, they are peerless. I tell you that the young men coming onto 
the stage of action today owe these dauntless workers in a great cause a debt of gratitude 
which they cannot pay in the next century. Now I want to ask you a question. Here is 
one young man who comes to the age of twenty-one years. He has been brought up in the 
idea that alcohol is a poison, and he finds that he has been mistaken. You say that a 
terrible thing has happened, and that he is going to distrust the truth ever after. He has 
lost his faith in everything. Here is another young man who has been brought up in the 
idea that alcohol is a food ; that he may use it occasionally ; that it is not so very danger- 
ous after all ; and when he comes to the age of twenty-five he finds that a most terrible appe- 
tite has fastened its fangs upon him, and what is he going to say about the instruction of his 
youth ? Which of the two young men has the more cause to complain of the instruction 
of his teacher ? I leave the question with you to decide. 

"Character," the speaker says, "is everything." I say amen to that. Let the truth be 
told. We do not fear the truth, only let it be established as such beyond all controversy. 
Teach the child temperance in the light of experience as well as in the light of science. 
Teach the children in school that alcohol has filled our poorhouses with paupers ; that it 
has filled our insane asylums with the insane ; that it has filled our graveyards with the 
dead. Teach them another thing : that there are fathers and mothers in this land today, 
gray-haired men, going down to their graves in sorrow for their boys, because of this alco- 
holic food. There are more parents who are moaning and weeping over their living 
children than there are who weep and mourn for their dead. Teach the children in the 
light of experience what alcohol is doing for the race. I know many of you to be good 
temperance men and women. I beg of you to stand by your guns ; do not waver, no 
matter from whence the attack comes — whether from one man or from a thousand. We 
will win a victory yet — a victory greater by far than Grant won at Richmond, greater 
than Sherman won at Atlanta, greater than Dewey won at Manila. 

Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111. — I want to indorse, as I believe 
this audience does, the presentation at this meeting of these wonderfully careful experi- 
ments by Dr. Atwater. No one doubts the correctness of his statements, nor does anyone 
question, at this time, his conclusions. We all believe in truth and are not afraid of it, 
wherever it may come from. But all the truth has not been told in this discussion. No 
one has told of the woeful ravages of alcohol ; and that to check these ravages the tem- 
perance books, which Dr. Atwater pronounces incorrect, are used in our schools. It may 
be that there are statements in these books which are not true in the light of recent 
experiments. If that is the case, let the books be corrected. Some of you who are so 
swift to find fault with these books should make a correct one ; and when you have made it 
you will find publishers ready to print it, and we who direct schools will be ready to adopt 
and use it ; for, gentlemen, I do know that if your book tells the whole truth about alcohol, 
it must still be a temperance manual. 



80 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

But now, regarding this temperance teaching -r- 1 live in a town where we follow the 
law. Our Illinois law is somewhat in our way. For instance, the ten weeks of physiology 
teaching the first year of the high school, just after eight years in the grades, and before 
the pupils have studied chemistry and biology, is a bad arrangement. But in spite of 
this, and in spite of these books which you pronounce defective, I do believe, and I believe 
it is the judgment of many superintendents of schools in Illinois, that under this law we 
are doing a good work, that we are lessening the evils of intemperance, that we are 
lessening the number of saloons in this state, and that we are teaching the boys of Illinois 
that alcohol is dangerous — even if it is not a poison — and training them to shun its 
abiding place, the saloon. It may be that these temperance laws, as they have been 
written by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, are not quite in accord with 
some of your ideas of pedagogy, but they certainly are an effort in the right direction, 
and their effects are beneficial. 

I do not know how it is in Massachusetts, but out here in the Mississippi valley we 
have no fear of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. They are not oppressors, 
nor opponents of the best interests of our schools, but, on the contrary, they are first and 
foremost in every good word and work that will help our schools in training citizens for 
this free republic. 

Dr. Winfield S. Hall, professor of physiology in Northwestern University Medi- 
cal School, Chicago. — I believe I voice the sentiment of an overwhelming majority of this 
convention when I say that as teachers — I have been a teacher for about twenty years — 
we are strongly against intemperance, and that without an exception we are strongly in 
favor of teaching children temperance principles, founded upon all the truth that we can 
get. Now, I believe I am on uncontrovertible ground when I say that it is certainly the 
purpose of all friends of temperance instruction in schools to get at the truth as soon as 
possible, and to have nothing in the books that does not represent the consensus of the 
best scientific opinion. It has been made very clear this afternoon, in the splendid 
address that has appealed to everyone, that these questions regarding food are contro- 
versial questions ; they are questions upon which there is a great difference of opinion. 
Now, those who have written these books have tried to mirror in them the consensus of 
the best scientific opinion. I could quote page after page from men of international 
reputation on this question of alcohol as a food, showing that many of them say that 
under particular conditions alcohol may have, or seem to have, food value. Still, in the 
enumeration of foods not one of these men includes alcohol. I have looked over many 
of these common-school text-books, and I can say, in the light of many years' experience 
teaching in all the grades, that there are many changes which ought to be made on peda- 
gogical grounds ; the changes which ought to be made on scientific grounds are only 
technicalities. I testify, as a specialist in physiology, that the physiological teachings of 
these books are correct in the main. 

C. G. Pearse, superintendent of schools, Omaha, Neb. — Perhaps I ought to put off 
what little I have to say until tomorrow morning, when this discussion is to be resumed, 
but I would rather say it tonight, if the chairman will permit me, because in the morning 
we may not be in the spirit, and something of the connection may be lost. 

As I have listened to this discussion and have seen the earnestness put into it by 
those who have spoken upon the one side or the other, it has seemed to me that the impor- 
tant thing, as we go away from this meeting, is the question of our attitude, and It seems 
to me most important that we should not misunderstand each other. All of us here who 
are schoolmasters and have this afternoon discussed this question have the greatest 
respect for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as a body. We respect the 
motives which actuate its members. We feel profound admiration for the great work 
which this organization has done. We admire, not only the organization, but its mem- 
bers, many of whom thru ties of blood and marriage we have a right to love and do 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 8 1 

love. Therefore, when we schoolmasters discuss some phases of this great movement 
with which they have been identified, even if some criticisms of method are made, it is 
not to be taken that we do not reverence and respect them and theix work. If, in the 
campaigns that have been carried on, some things have been done that do not square 
with our ideas of fairness or good public policy ; if in some cases unworthy means have 
been resorted to in the effort to accomplish what seemed to be good ends ; if, in man- 
ipulations looking toward the preparation or adoption or approval of certain text-books, 
things have been done which will not well bear investigation, neither this organization 
nor the noble women forming the great mass of its membership should be held respon- 
sible, for none of us for a moment believes that the great, earnest army of women enlisted 
in this organization sanctions or would countenance any questionable measures or 
tactics. 

On the other hand, neither should our good friends of the union feel, because we 
sometimes have criticised methods employed by certain persons, or statements made, or 
personal attacks which have been directed toward some of us who did not agree with all 
the methods attempted or followed, that we are unfriendly to them, or that we do not 
indorse that which is good and beautiful, or that we do not sympathize with them in their 
high aims. 

We schoolmasters who here today have discussed this problem are sincere. We are 
temperate men. Few, if any, of us are wine bibbers. We believe in temperance, both 
theoretically and practically — temperance in all things, even in teaching about temper- 
ance. We believe in the teaching of scientific temperance. We believe in the teaching 
of truth. We will hold up your hands in all ways that we can to bring about a knowl- 
edge of right living, and to promote temperance in eating and in drinking and in 
indulgence of all kinds. And because some of us, in some cases, have objected to some 
methods pursued ; because in some cases some of us have refused to indorse methods 
which certain organized agencies just then believed were the only correct methods ; 
because we have retained the right of independent judgment, we do not feel that we 
should be personally assailed or crucified upon the cross of public scorn. 

Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, national superintendent of scientific temperance instruc- 
tion of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. — The study of hygiene, with physi- 
ology enough to make the hygiene intelligible, has been introduced into the public schools 
of this country. It is difficult to understand why anyone should oppose it. True, this 
study has been made compulsory for all pupils in all schools, and it includes the nature of 
alcoholic drinks and other narcotics, but our boys and girls must live in their bodies as 
long as they stay in this world, and they need to be taught how to take such care of 
them that these bodies will be strong, beautiful servants of the mind, instead of the mind 
becoming the servant of weak bodies and debasing appetites. There are no dangers in 
the ambushed paths of life which the children of this land need more to be warned against 
than those attending the use of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics. The representatives 
of seventy-three millions of the American people, in Congress and state legislatures 
assembled, realizing this, have enacted these temperance physiology laws because they 
believe that individual and public good demand it, and we should be able to count upon 
the co-operation of all good men and women as executors of these laws. 

We are asked to discuss this morning the paper of Professor Atwater. He would 
have us teach that alcohol has a food value and is not a poison. If that be true, then 
we should so teach. At this point let me say that there is no aspersion cast upon those 
who have been instrumental in securing the study in our schools that is more absolutely 
unjust than the accusation that for effect we want untruth about alcohol taught. We are 
not so idiotic. The man who makes this accusation, if he is candid, thereby shows that 
he does not understand his times. The educated women of today are keeping step with 
their brothers in knowledge. They have been to college. As students and investigators 



82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

they know almost as much as you gentlemen. Almost, I say, lest you should deem it dis- 
respectful if full equality in attainment should be claimed. Professor Atwater quoted a 
woman as asking : " Wouldn't it be right in teaching a boy against alcohol to deceive 
him until his character is formed ? " 

That woman and her question must have emanated from the brain fog of some 
opposer to scientific temperance education who was trying to find out for himself whether 
three glasses of whisky or a bottle of Rhine wine is isodynamic with certain amounts of 
sugar, fat, and starch. She does not belong in our ranks. 

The advocates of scientific temperance education in our public schools know that 
their cause has nothing to fear from the truth. They also know that 

' Truth alone is strong 
And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng 
Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong.' 

" The truth shall make you free," is no vain promise. If teaching the children of 
this country that alcohol has a food value is teaching them truth, then it will eventuate 
in good to the individual, the home, society, and citizenship. If the crime, misery, 
poverty, and madness that have heretofore resulted from the use of alcohol as a beverage 
are only myths, then let them give place to this old new story of alcohol a food. But, 
Mr. Chairman, we can accept nothing but positive proof at this point; the issue is too 
great. Assumption and assertion amount to nothing, juggling with definitions to worse 
than nothing. 

"Anything that nourishes the body without injuring it " is what the people under- 
stand by a food. It is a good, honest definition, accepted by sincere men, both in and 
out of scientific ranks. Is alcohol a food and shall we so teach the children ? is the 
question before us. 

Professor Atwater, as I understand it, bases his claim of food value in alcohol on his 
experiments made at Middletown, Conn. The story of these experiments was first given 
to the public on the thirteenth of last June. The thoughtful people of this country were 
startled to receive newspaper reports of his claim that he had proved that alcohol, when 
taken in the amount usually found in three glasses of whisky or one bottle of Rhine wine 
per day, is as much food as sugar, fat, and starch, and that therefore the pulpit, platform, 
Sunday school, and public school are in error in teaching that alcohol is a poison and not 
a food. These and similar declarations, always accompanied with attacks on scientific 
temperance teaching, appeared and reappeared with variations in the newspapers of the 
land of well-nigh five months, before a scrap of other evidence was given the public in 
proof of these remarkable statements which are at variance with some of the best and 
latest utterances of modern science. 

Not until the sixth of last November was Professor Atwater's Bulletin No. 69, con- 
taining his first official report of these much-vaunted experiments, given to the public. 
Accompanying this bulletin his Circular No. 357 was sent to the press of the country for 
publication. The last sentence of this circular says : " The bulletin is very technical and 
not for general distribution." With all due respect to the culture of Middletown, happily 
there are in the United States, outside of that city, some other people able to understand 
technicalities and therefore to study this bulletin with its tables. Its accompanying 
Circular No. 357 contains the deductions drawn from the experiments described in the 
bulletin. These deductions are exactly what I understood Professor Atwater to state 
from this platform yesterday, viz.: 

z. In the case of the man experimented upon the alcohol was almost completely oxidized in the body. 

2. The potential energy of the alcohol burned was transformed into heat or muscular energy. 

3. The alcohol) protected the material of the body from consumption just as effectively as corresponding 
amounts of sugar, starch, and fats. 

In the first place, it is a fact that other well-known and violent poisons, as muscarine, 
morphia, etc., are also oxidized in the body, liberating heat and energy, but their bad 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 83 

effects show that such oxidation proves nothing in their favor ; neither does it in the case 
of alcohol. It would be ridiculous to call morphia or muscarine foods because when 
taken they are oxidized in the body. It is equally so to make a like claim for alcohol. 
It is the sum total of the effects of a substance that must be considered in deciding 
whether it is a food or a poison. 

To state the fact that alcohol liberates in the body heat and energy, and to say in 
that connection no more of its heat- and energy-producing power, is to state half-truths. 
An increased number of heat units are evolved by alcohol, but at the same time it so 
paralyzes the jierves in the walls of the blood vessels that an unnatural amount of blood 
rushing to the surface is cooled, and more heat is radiated from the body of the drinker 
than the alcohol liberates. These easily demonstrated facts leave alcohol no place what- 
ever as a fuel food. The energy that the oxidation of alcohol in the body liberates is of 
brief duration, and is under such poor nerve control that working ability as a whole is so 
much impaired by alcohol that business today demands total abstinence of its employe's. 
Therefore both science and experience deny to alcohol any food value as a supporter of 
energy. 

On p. 73 of the bulletin is table No. 7, where are recorded the effects day by day 

as the man in the calorimeter took alcohol for six successive days. If the material of 

the body had been protected during that time, as Professor Atwater states in his third 

deduction, there should have been a plus sign before the column of nitrogen, showing 

that fiie man did not lose protein, but we find the contrary, showing that the man lost the 

most valuable of all body material each day he took the alcohol. Turn to the other 

table, No. 10, and we find there was a slight gain in protein for one day only, but a decline 

the other days. These tables were submitted to experts in four of our great medical 

colleges, quite as well qualified to do original work as our friends at Middletown. I read 

here from the report of Professor C. A. Herter, who is not simply a chemist, but a physician 

and professor of pathological chemistry in Beilevue Hospital Medical School, New 

York city : 

One fails to find any support for the view that alcohol protected the material of the body like sugar, fats, 
or starch, in the report of Professor Atwater, according to his own figures. Those in experiment No. 7, where 
4x7 grains of protein were given in four days, show that there was a loss of nitrogen equivalent to 48.2 grams 
of protein. In the other alcoholic experiment. No. zo, there is a similar, though somewhat smaller, loss of 
nitrogen. One is, therefore, compelled to admit that these experiments do not support this third conclusion of 
Professor Atwater. 

. Please remember that it is on that third conclusion that Professor Atwater's argument 
mainly rests that alcohol acts as a food. 

This view of Professor Herter is supported by Professor Seneca Egbert, M.D., 
professor of physiology in one of the great medical colleges in Philadelphia, and also by 
Professor Frank Woodbury, M.D., a well-known writer on therapeutics, who is connected 
with another medical college of Philadelphia. This pamphlet which I hold in my hand, 
entitled "An Appeal to Truth," contains like testimony from Winfield S. Hall, M.D., a 
professor of physiology in one of the medical colleges in this city, Chicago. 

1 You will recall that the ten experiments described in Bulletin 69 are Professor 
Atwater's only published data upon which rests his claim of a food value for alcohol. 
In only two of these experiments was the man given alcohol, and in both of these he lost 
most valuable body material ; therefore, Mr. Chairman and friends, inasmuch as this tes- 
timony is not contradicted by the experience of centuries, we cannot conscientiously recom- 
mend that the children of this country be taught that alcohol is a food. 

Honest opposition to temperance teaching is based on misapprehension. Critics have 
widely published the false charge that our requirements are ridiculous or unpedagogical. 
These absurdities are what you are opposed to and not our true position. For instance, 
it was said on this platform yesterday that we claim that " alcohol in the smallest quan- 
tity always does harm." I challenge anyone to find such a statement in any of the 



84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

indorsed physiologies. What we do say is that because alcohol is a narcotic a little has 
the power to create an uncontrollable and destructive appetite for more, aod, therefore, a 
little is always dangerous. No one can deny that statement. It is as undeniable as the 
law of gravitation, and nobody has ever brought a scrap of proof that controverts it. 
Two facts — first, that alcohol is a narcotic, and, second, that it has, like other narcotics, a 
cumulative attraction for itself — are the fundamental scientific reasons for total abstinence. 
I thank God and take courage for the republic as I remember the millions of children in 
our land who are being taught these reasons. 

And now with regard to that English assertion about alcohol not being a poison, 
quoted here yesterday, and said to have been signed by certain physiologists. To the best 
of my recollection it was that "when taken in quantities and ways that cause no injurious 
effect alcohol cannot be called a poison." 

There is probably not a brain-worker in this presence who has not had strychnine 
prescribed for him by the doctor. If it acted upon you as it does upon me, you took it 
" in quantities and ways that cause no injurious effects." But you would not, therefore, 
say that strychnine is not a poison. It is special pleading to attempt such a claim in the 
case of alcohol. 

Out of the thirty indorsed text-books on temperance physiology in our list there are 
three, written some sixteen years ago, that make statements which can be distorted. 
Please note I say can be distorted into meaning that alcohol is not oxidized in the system. 
Two of those books are being revised, the third is practically out of use. Of the • other 
indorsed books which Professor At water attacked it can in all truthfulness be said that 
they are as accurate in statement and pedagogical in construction as are any other school 
text-books now in use. They have been again and again submitted to the best scientific 
authorities with the request that any inaccuracies be pointed out, and every suggestion 
that truth warrants has been and ever will be incorporated in them. 

In closing, please allow me to say you have criticised our methods in securing the 
legislation that makes this study compulsory. They have been to carry the case to the 
final tribunal, the source of power under our government, the people. The people have 
instructed their lawmakers to pass these laws. You think we should have withdrawn our 
endeavors when we saw that any schoolmen objected. We would gladly have done so if 
you could have assured us that the temptations our children will meet in life will be so 
withdrawn as to leave no call for this warning education. You complain of our per- 
sistence. There is nothing more persistent than mother love when the child is in peril. 
As to the personal allusions, I will only say that I have long since ceased trying to defend 
my co-workers and myself in this cause. Whoever attempts to advocate an unwelcome 
truth that rebukes a popular evil will find he is treading the paths martyrs have trod. 
Such a one will be battle-scarred. I make no apology in this presence for having been 
somewhat instrumental in placing sixteen million of our school children under temper- 
ance education laws. No one could do that without meeting opposition of the kind 
that will turn and strike back. To this I make no reply, but a nation saved from 
the thralldom of strong drink thru its schools and school children will be abundant 
reward. 

Mrs. Jessie Willard Bolte, Winnetka, 111. — Professionally I have no claim to 
address this body. I stand here simply as a mother, but motherhood is a pretty good 
profession. As a kinswoman of Frances Willard it would ill become me to depreciate 
the admirable work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. What I say now is 
said from the standpoint of a mother and of a member of the school board. The 
village where I live has a population of about two thousand, between five and six 
hundred of whom are children of school age and younger. This clearly indicates the 
object of our dwelling in the suburbs. We live there to keep our children away from 
city sights and sounds. To my knowledge my small daughter of ten has only once or 



Superintendence] ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 85 

twice seen a drunken man, and I object to having this repulsive and unnecessary knowl- 
edge thrust upon her. 

We want our children to grow up in communion with the lake and the woods, the 
flowers and the trees ; we want them to live with nature. Educators in crowded districts 
are so alive to the value of nature study that they take small scraps of the country to the 
less favored children of the city. We are striving to fulfill Froebel's injunction, so to fill 
the child's mind with the beautiful that there shall be no room for the unbeautiful. But 
how shall we find time for nature work when outsiders force studies into our school 
curriculum under iron-clad rules? 

As a mother I object to the time devoted to this study of alcohol -physiology, and 
also to its object-lessons. As an ex-member of the school board of Winnetka I object to 
the text-books as inartistic and unscientific. At the times these books were introduced 
I was on the committee on teachers and text-books, and I conscientiously read every book 
from cover to cover. I would never do it again. I know better now. 

As mother and school trustee both, I insist that no one except an expert shall inter- 
fere with our school curriculum. Not one of us but would indignantly resent the interfer- 
ence of any body of persons who should dictate to our physicians what they should 
prescribe in all cases or any cases. 

I do not object to the action of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union any more 
than I would object to a similar action on the part of a body of ministers, doctors, lawyers, 
or taxpayers. The investigations into the psychology of the child-mind which are now 
being prosecuted by Dr. G. Stanley Hall and our own Dr. Colin Scott, besides many 
others, have already indicated that the child can best assimilate certain classes of facts at 
certain periods of mental development. What right has any person, or body of persons, 
to dictate how, when, and where the child shall study any subject without a scientific 
knowledge of the child's mental status ? So I say to all except the school expert : " The 
school curriculum is not your business; hands off ! " 

I want temperance taught in our schools from our kindergarten thru our universities. 
Not only temperance in drink, but temperance in food and temperance in conduct. I 
want my child taught to stop and enjoy a flower by the wayside and then leave it for the 
next passer-by to enjoy, rather than to pluck it and throw it aside. I want my child 
taught to pass by the penny slot machine with his penny tight clasped in his small fist 
and then drop it into the penny savings bank. 

Self-control, the building of character, these are what our schools stand for, and 
temperance — true temperance — means self-control in all ways. Let us teach temper- 
ance, then, not forgetting that where the whisky bottle has slain its thousands the frying- 
pan has slain its tens of thousands. 

Professor Atwater (answers questions and closes the discussion) : 

Question: Is the statement that alcohol is a food in a limited sense a new one, or has it been more or 
less controverted for many years? 

Answer: Not a new one, but an old one. The father of physiological chemistry, 

Liebig, in classifying food materials distinguished between what he called respiratory 

foods on the one hand and the plastic on the other, and he put alcohol among the list of 

respiratory foods. He also assigned to it a definite food value — about the value that 

the latest research gives it. 

Question: Why is it that the statement that alcohol is a partial food, that it has some nutritive value 
should be announced as a new discovery, when it is as old as physiological chemistry? 

Answer: Because the public have been miseducated on this subject and have not 
understood the facts. 

Let me call your attention once more to what I said yesterday about alcohol as food. 
If anyone understood me to urge that alcohol is a food in the sense that bread and meat 
are foods, or that it is in general a desirable food, I certainly failed to make my meaning 



S6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Clear to him. What I tried to say is that it is wrong to tell a child that alcohol is a 
poison and stop there. It is not a question of definition in scientific treatises or in 
dictionaries. It is a question of the impression that you produce on that child's mind, 
and whether that impression is one that accords with the principles of science and the 
principles of morality. 

This suggests a question which was asked by one of your honored members. I 
understood it to be something like this : " Shall we teach the boy that alcohol is a poison, 
so that he will grow up with an aversion to it, even if he does find that he was somewhat 
mistaken ; or shall we teach him that under certain circumstances it is useful, and thus 
let him come up a drunkard ? " Will the gentleman kindly tell me if I understood him 
rightly ? 

Mr. Sabin, of Iowa. — I asked simply which of the two boys is the victim of the 
greater mistake, the one who has been taught that alcohol is always poisonous, and finds 
he has been wrongly taught, but grows up with good, sound, temperance principles, or 
the other who has been taught that it is a food, and comes to the age of twenty-five with 
an appetite for drink ? Which of these two has the right to make the greater complaint ? 

Professor Atwater. — Both have the right to complain. We have no right to 
make either mistake. That is exactly what I have been trying to say to you all the while. 

Question: Should not text-books in physiology, as well as in geography and grammar, contain what 
seems to be the consensus of specialists? 

Answer: Most emphatically. The point is this, that many of the so-called " approved " 
text-books give opinions of some specialists, but extremely few ; the great body of authori- 
ties — those who are the most followed — are on the other side. 

Question: What is the influence of sugar and the influence of alcohol on bodily temperature? 

Answer: Will you excuse me from going into that in detail ? I do not know. I 
tried to tell you so yesterday. We are really at the beginning of our experimental knowl- 
edge of this subject. Alcohol sometimes reduces bodily temperature, and sometimes it 
does not. 

Here is a question which is in substance : " How does that theory (that alcohol is a 

body-warmer) agree with Nansen's, who did not take alcohol at all?" It is not a 

question of theory, it is experience that tells. Experience tells us whether we want, 

cotton or woolen clothes. Woolen are a great deal better for us in cold weather, but that 

does not show that cotton does not make clothes. 

Question: Has temperance instruction in the public schools advanced the cause of temperance in this 
country? What can be done to make it more effective? 

Answer: You are the men to answer these questions. You are the ones to know 
whether temperance instruction advances the cause of temperance or not. What is your 
opinion about it, what is your experience ? What do you find to be the result ? 

Question: Is alcohol a narcotic? 

Answer: Yes, under some circumstances. 

Question: Is alcohol a poison? 

Answer: Yes ; under certain circumstances alcohol is unquestionably a poison, a 
narcotic poison. But the difficulty with this teaching is the failure to distinguish between 
conditions, and in saying that it is always a poison, when it is only occasionally and not 
generally so. 

Mrs. Hunt has told you that what I have said regarding the food value of alcohol is 
based upon experiments made under my direction. I regret that anyone should have 
received such an impression. I tried to make it clear in the address of yesterday that 
the belief is one that has long obtained among physiologists. All that our experiments 
at Wesleyan University have done has been to help, and perhaps in only slight degree, 
to explain how it is that this food value is exerted. 



Superintendence! ALCOHOL PHYSIOLOGY AND SUPERINTENDENCE 87 

You would hardly excuse me, I fear, if I were to neglect to reply to Mrs. Hunt's 
statements, and those of the experts whom she has cited, to the effect that the figures of 
my experiments do not sustain the conclusions. The point is this : In one of the experi- 
ments, No. 7, described in the bulletin from which the quotations were made, the amount 
of nitrogen given off from the body in its excretions was greater than the amount received 
in the food. In this experiment, therefore, in which alcohol made part of the diet, 
there was a loss of protein. Mrs. Hunt quoted the figures correctly from the table on the 
page of the bulletin to which she referred. If, however, the critics had taken the pains 
to examine the other figures of the experiment, they would have seen that in this case tfye 
quantity of nitrogen in the food was smaller than usual. In similar experiments to this, 
which were not published in this bulletin, but which were made with corresponding 
quantities of nitrogen in ordinary diet Without alcohol, there is a coresponding loss of 
protein from the body. It would therefore be wrong to assume that the loss of nitrogen in 
experiment No. 7 was due to the alcohol. The conclusions derived from our experiments 
were based upon a comparison of the results of ten experiments in which alcohol was 
used with those of eleven corresponding experiments with ordinary diet. Only two of 
these alcohol experiments are given in the bulletin. That publication does not discuss 
the experiments from the standpoint of the action of alcohol at all. Its purpose was 
foreign to that question. It does not give the whole of the results of even these two 
alcohol experiments. It omits entirely the figures for preliminary periods which preceded 
those for which the results are given. When we take all of the experiments together and 
compare the experiments in which the men had an ordinary diet with those in which the 
fats, sugar, and starch were replaced by alcohol, we find more or less of variation in indi- 
vidual days and in individual experiments, as would be expected. But taking the results 
altogether, they do not show any difference in the balance of income and outgo of either 
nitrogen or carbon which could be taken as showing any difference in the effects of the 
two kinds of rations. The conclusions are simply a summary of the statistical results. 
If you take the figures of experiment No. 7 and select from them the particular ones 
which the critics have quoted, you find in them apparent indication of a loss of protein 
due to the replacement of the carbonaceous nutrients by alcohol. But if you take all of 
the figures of that experiment into account, and especially if you take all of the results of 
all of the experiments, then you will see that there is nothing in them which either favors 
or is opposed to alcohol as a protector of protein. 

There is another thing to be borne in mind in this connection. The protection of 
protein is only one of the forms of action of the fuel ingredients of the food. Even if 
either alcohol or sugar or starch should fail to protect protein in a given experiment, or 
series of experiments, this would by no means show that it has no food value. 

I have taken special pains to say that I do not regard these experiments as con- 
clusive. But I do object most seriously to the statement that my figures do not support 
my conclusions because a part of the figures do not support them. I think it is fair to 
ask that those who make such statements shall tell, not a part of the truth, but the whole 
truth, just as I ask that the temperance text-books shall tell, not a part of the truth, but 
the whole truth. 

One word more and I have done. I have been profoundly impressed by the kind 
words which so many of you have spoken to me since the address of yesterday. I have 
reason to thank you most sincerely. One of these pleasant things was something like 
this : " I have been a total abstainer all my life. I can indorse all you say. You have 
really given us a temperance lecture." That is the spirit in which I hope you will 
understand me. 

It is perhaps not fitting that a man of science should leave his laboratory and his 
books and come to talk to you as a citizen and as a father whose children are under your 
care. It is perhaps not fitting that I, a teacher, should come and urge upon you, as 
teachers, the importance of temperance teaching. And yet I have ventured to do both. 



88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION TChicago 

I respect — I revere — the workers in the temperance cause more than it would be proper 
for me to say. So far from arguing against the temperance teaching in the schools, I hope 
it may continue ; only let us be careful as to what we teach. I hope that you who teach 
my children, you who guide the instruction of youth in this our republic, will feel the 
responsibility that rests upon you for the building up of character, for the inculcating of 
morality. Not a few of you have expressed to me your deep interest in temperance 
reform. Let me once more express to you all, as 1 have to them, my deep conviction of 
the importance of right teaching of these subjects in our public schools. 



OBLIGATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF SCHOLARSHIP 

BY PRESIDENT EDWIN A. ALDERMAN, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

CHAPEL HILL, N. C. 

I believe I am speaking to you, ladies and gentlemen, at the moment 
of the broadest national feeling in the life of the later republic, and hence 
I have hesitated in the choice of my theme, "The Obligations and Oppor- 
tunities of Scholarship in the Southern States," lest I seem to modify the 
operation of so beautiful and universal a force as scholarship by any sort of 
restricted geographical label. The land where his fathers lived, idealized 
by woe and fortitude, and stern adherence to a theory and an idea, is 
forever dear to the man of the South, and no less to the boy of the South 
reaching up into manhood ; but the great republic, whose firm founda- 
tions his forefathers helped to lay so deep and strong, is very dear to him 
too. Its flag, wherever it may be carried, is the symbol to him of the 
best that he can hope or dream, and prophecies of his undivided country's 
destiny stir his blood and sing in his brain. The very tragedy of the 
career of the southern portion of our union justifies my theme and gives 
to that section a certain distinctiveness, which it cannot quickly change, 
if it would, in its tendencies and in its duties and needs. That tragedy 
is bound up in the one stupendous error of slavery for which all sections 
of the republic are equally to blame. I shall not retail in any detail this 
story so often told in assemblies of this nature, but it seems worth while 
to say this much : By slavery the South was foreordained to spend sixty 
wonderful years in a period of hurtful stillness and isolation, wherein was 
developed a rural, patriarchal society with all its virtues and all its defects. 
It doomed us to a shameful period of chaos and submersion, wherein 
every atom of our boasted racial strain was put to the test. It hung in 
the balance the mighty issue whether a section of the English branch of 
the white race should preserve its standards, its homes, its governmental 
consciousness, what was good and lovely in its past, or whether, like the 
less virile races, it should descend to an inferior type. The men of 
the South, born between 1835 and 1850, as they entered upon maturity 
and manhood, inherited a fearsome legacy of defeat in war, of political 
and social and industrial anarchy, of poverty, and of the prejudice of the 



Superintendence] OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 89 

world. The older, men of that group retained, perforce, the habit of 
mind and the hindering traditions of the patriarchal order. The younger 
ones lacked education and mental training, save such as could be obtained 
in the trenches and upon the battlefields, and they lacked, too, the 
buoyancy of unbeaten youth, and yet there rested upon them the task of 
maintaining their racial integrity, of establishing new institutions, and of 
finding such a clue to changed economic systems as would enable them 
to create wealth enough to educate their own children and the children 
of their slaves. These men were not fit, nor were the times fit, for calm, 
philosophic thought, or academic viewpoints. The times were rude and 
unquiet, and afforded small opportunity for any self-development except 
development of fitness to survive, to endure, and to perfect. It may be 
said with truth, therefore, that the last thirty years have been a period of 
crudity, of sternness, and some violence, in southern life, and of much 
misunderstanding of southern men by their fellow-countrymen. At the 
sacrifice of their own highest ideals of growth, southern white men have 
given themselves up to the doing of two vital things — the assertion of 
their right, as proud men acquainted with suffering, to control and direct 
the course of affairs in the life of their localities, and the creation of 
wealth and material resources. They have done these two things so well 
that those of us born since 1861 find ourselves living with some peace of 
mind in a new world of friendly feeling, of waning intolerance, of increas- 
ing wealth in urban life, of industrial power and educational desire. It 
may be doubted whether any generation of Americans, save the men who 
made the constitution and the pioneers who built the great West, deserve 
so well of their posterity as these bearers of war's burdens. It is a poor 
American who is not proud of them, and it is a pale, spiritless southern 
man who does not render to them the tribute of his gratitude and his love. 
It is settled, I believe, that this white man, who has shown himself so full 
of courage and force, shall rule in the South, because he is fittest to rule. 
There is a race problem, but it is largely a problem of how the white race 
shall use its power, in justice, in kindness, and constructive good-will to 
the white man and to the black man alike. It is tolerably certain, too, that 
the South shall grow in wealth. The very frenzy of work and accumula- 
tion has gotten into its blood. Its citizens have relearned the hang of 
industrial success which slavery and its consequences robbed their fathers 
of when the century was young. They have taken to heart the lesson 
that civilization can express itself in terms of dollars and cents as well as 
in terms of theories and enthusiasms. When the idea became clear to 
them that cotton from the looms was worth three times the value of cotton 
in the fields, they began the establishment of technical schools, and the 
building all along their limits, from the banks of Roanoke to southern 
Alabama, five hundred cotton mills with five million spindles and one 
million looms. And they have just begun. Sleepy little southern towns 



90 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

that once dosed under the sun and boiled over in hot talk of states' rights 
and strict construction of the constitution are now black and busy and 
happy, sending to the ends of the earth salable things made of iron and 
steel and cotton and wood. There is some loss of picturesqueness, per- 
haps, but certain gain of power. It is as if a man had swapped a hobby 
horse for a steam engine. 

But some fundamental things have not been settled. It has not been 
settled what sort of intellectual and moral civilization shall be the final 
outcome of all this revolution and new birth. It has not been settled 
how just our modes of government are to be, whether our highest selves 
are to be realized in our institutions, or our life properly adjusted to 
the larger life of the world. It has not been fully settled whether we 
shall start right or wrong in the modern world. That supreme result is 
for the men and women who have been born since the Civil War, and for 
their children, to achieve. After isolation, war, submersion, awakening, 
the South is really beginning its probation as a member of the modern 
world in the twentieth century. Its chief problem is the chief problem of 
every society passing from simpler social forms into the third and high- 
est stage of society, namely, the realization of its highest self in life and 
law, not by personal courage or raw individualism, not by patient endur- 
ance of disaster, but by intelligent activity, by civic unity, by public 
spirit and community effort. Noble and impressive beginnings have been 
made in the direction of this self-realization. A system of public schools 
for black and white has been established in all the states, and is being 
improved under stupendous difficulties, not the least of which is a peri- 
odic demand by overborne, exasperated men that each race shall sup- 
port its own schools by its own taxation. But this will never be done. 
Justice is against it. Self-interest is against it. The black, ugly fact 
that ignorance is a remedy for nothing and a peril to everything quickly 
crushes out whatever life there is in the idea; for its triumph would mean 
the existence of a permanent body of death, and improvement is slow 
and pitiful enough at the best. The principle of local taxation for 
other purposes than jails and bridges has been written in the statute 
books. An attempt is being made to co-ordinate justly the secondary, 
technical, and higher education. A movement for public roads and 
public libraries is going forward. The revision of constitutions, the 
creation of wise systems of public taxation, and the improvement and 
uplifting of rural life are engaging the attention of the thoughtful. These 
movements as yet are chaotic or atomistic, characterized by lack of 
harmony and symmetry and oneness of purpose, and needing to be cor- 
related and fused and welded into one effective agent of social ameliora- 
tion. The traditions and powers of the old life will not bring these things 
to pass. There is needed a new social spirit, a new type of man, with a new 
equipment of power to inform and influence and guide this spirit. 



Superintendence! OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 9 1 

Here, then, is a new intellectual and moral world about to be born. 
There surrounds it the dignity of a sad and historic past, and there 
stretches before it an unimagined future, thrilling with impulses of 
growth. Tho hard pressed by new ideas aloose in the world flowing 
out of its urban growth, this land is still a land of conservatism in 
religion, in culture, and in politics. If one wants to find out what the 
old stock thought and what they liked, one must still journey southward. 
Even Senator Hoar found it necessary to flee from Boston to Charleston 
of all places to get some comfort in his desire to quench our new, 
fierce thirst for islands. Yet conservatism cannot hush its cry for men to 
guide it wisely, out of sensitive social self-consciousness, into the broad 
current of the world's thought, to build its institutions, to remodel its 
constitutions, to shape its policies, to settle nobly grave questions of suf- 
frage and of race. I do not believe there has been so inspiring a call to 
youth and strength since Stein and Fichte lifted Germany from under the 
hoof-prints of Napoleon's army and led her happy and prosperous into 
the family of nations. The nation has cause to be thankful for one thing. 
The raw material of citizenship for this upbuilding exists in the South, 
whether it shall be sought for in the old family stocks, sobered and 
broadened by poverty and fortitude, or whether it shall issue from the 
ranks of the plain people, who fought our battles for us, who inherit 
the English temperament, who may not be able to read, but who are 
able to remember that their fathers earned liberty as a reward of sacri- 
fice, behind the cotton bales at New Orleans, on the fiery crest of 
King's Mountain, or in the swift and fateful marches along the valleys 
of the Dan. 

It has been my trade in life, and it still is, to work with the southern 
boy. I have some right, therefore, to judge him and to weigh him. He 
would perhaps have slight patience with any effort of mine to set him up 
as a wholly different type from the vigorous American boy elsewhere, and 
to hedge liim around with any barrier of sectionalism ; and I do not wish 
to do that. He is an American boy. Yet great historic social forces 
have been at play upon the southern boy, as they were at play upon his 
fathers, and we are to examine the result. He is frank, sunny, and cour- 
ageous still, tho hardships and struggles have added to him a certain 
toughness of temper and fineness of spirit. Life has generally widened 
out to him thru sacrifice. He has had from his youth the tutelage of self- 
denial and renunciation. He may be at college, tasting the sweet waters 
and breathing the clearer air, but he knows that far away in the humble 
home the father and mother are taking counsel in the still hours of the 
night how they may scrimp here and save there and work a little harder 
and rest a little less, and so pay out gladly their life and their strength 
for his sake ; and life looks grander to him by reason of it, and duty seems 
easier to him and opportunity sweeter and kindlier. 



92 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The ethical and the ideal appeal very strongly to the boy of the South. 
Not because he is any better than his neighbors, but because economic 
conditions have developed that side of him. He has left off certain vices 
of his grandfathers, and he is clearly their superior in intellectual curiosity 
and thoughtfulness about the common good and the needs of the aver- 
age citizen. Enthusiasms are very likely to possess him, and ideas and 
principles attract him more potently than machinery or organization. 
There is a tribal primitive individualism in his blood which is to him both 
a blessing and a curse. It has been a blessing at times, causing him to 
take things in his own hands to preserve his own liberty and the dignity 
of his person at any cost. Sometimes it has been a curse, shading off into 
lawlessness, tending to paralyze concerted effort and to leave communities 
disunited and torn by religious and party differences, and thus unable to 
achieve high public ends. At the bottom the southern young man is a 
political animal, in Aristotle's good sense of the word — impulsive, upright, 
and patriotic. No weary cynicism or passion for wealth and sports as 
yet bounds his horizon. His highest idea of great service and great 
achievement is service to the state, and molding society in social and 
political forms. 

This fine impulse for public service goes to seed sometimes, and we 
have the frantic, callow voice shouting panaceas and nostrums, and here and 
there the malign figure of the demagog creeping about causing simple 
men to lend an ear to political and economic sophisms. But the average 
southern boy, like the average American boy, has brains, and honesty and 
faith and enthusiasm. His trouble is a sort of dazed timidity. He seems 
to lack what his fathers had excess of, singleness of purpose and grim 
earnestness. I believe this will come, for it is in his blood, when his 
ideals harden into certainty, when he feels more at home in American life, 
when he learns the trick of concerted action, and when the society imme- 
diately about him becomes more critical of itself, and tolerant of all 
shades of thought and opinion. 

In the past the South has been charged with setting too much store 
by wise leaders and neglecting to provide for wise followers. A militant 
order, with its base resting on slaves, and its summit bright with master- 
ful, lovable men, like the Athenian city-state, had very little trouble 
about its leadership. Men heard the organ voice of Calhoun and heeded 
it as the men of the tribe heed the strong man, as the Florentines followed 
the Medici, or as the Irish rallied about O'Connell or Parnell. Jefferson 
Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, Alexander Stephens, Robert Toombs, Henry 
A. Wise, and W. A. Graham spoke, and their states or parties recognized 
their primacy and massed behind them like men at arms on a field of 
battle. 

But the old type of leader has gone by forever, like a lost type in 
nature, and the leader-ridden South of the past is leaderless now. I hear 



Superintendence] OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 93 

no commanding voice in the political life of the southern states. In 
the field in which for seventy-five years she was pre-eminent the South 
is now defective. Her public men are rarely scholars. There are no 
Madisons and Clays and Calhouns and Lamars. There are some notable 
names in business, and Lanier and Page and Harris and James Lane 
Allen and Woodrow Wilson are worthy names in any literature. There 
are clever men everywhere, but no commanding men. There are reasons 
for this, and perhaps it is not to be deplored. The coming leader has a 
harder task than the leader of the olden time, and there must needs be time 
for him to grow. He can no longer incarnate the dumb, dull aspirations 
of the people and be a glorified figure to them, as Clay and Jackson were. 
The age of personal loyalty has been succeeded by an age of personal 
distrust. The mass has been broken up into common, hard-headed, acute, 
power- loving men armed with the weapons of democracy. These men 
are going to rule whether they are fit for it or not, and the problem is to 
make them fit — or better, perhaps, their children fit, for the grown-up folks 
are past saving — by putting them into a school of ideals, where they shall 
get uplift of thought, and where the tastelessness and mediocrity and 
unthinking activity that beset democracies shall be rooted out. The 
most pervasive school of ideals to which most of the young men in my 
land have been going for generations is the school of politics, and it has 
been a dull and sordid school, having for its curriculum a weary trivium 
of negro, tariff, and currency, and not the highest phase of any one of 
them. It is just here that the presence of the negro has worked the 
saddest harm to us. There is a deep feeling that intelligence, charac- 
ter, and wealth must be the real majority, whatever the sum of votes may 
add up. Political self-preservation, as they see it, has forced ardent, high- 
spirited young men, able and eager to understand great questions, to 
stand at the ballot box and beat back a black tide of ignorance, and thus 
behold without a blush the sacred conception of suffrage violated, public 
service cheapened, and, too often, the mere manipulator rewarded. Any 
force that can change this is a good force. I believe that this school has 
suspended, and another and better one has been founded in which there 
is a new motive concerning itself about things near at home, and yet con- 
scious of the unity and majesty of American life, a fresher and more 
inspiring motive which will make for the end of this reign of dullness 
and danger to character. 

It is a common, pat thing to say to southern young men : "Quit talk- 
ing about the South ; keep out of politics, and go to work." Two- thirds 
of this advice is very healthy, but the other third is fretful and superficial. 
To keep out of politics in a republic is to keep out of life, and to keep 
out of politics in the South is to miss opportunities that come only in 
splendid creative epochs of national history. For educated men such 
a course is to demonstrate afresh that mincing, dainty cowardice of 



94 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

scholarship, in the presence of great, rude, human forces, which makes 
Erasmus seem small to us beside Luther and sets the towering genius of 
Goethe below the radiant young poet Korner, singing his defiant songs to 
the bright face of freedom. Politics exists in my thoughts as a form of 
applied patriotism, seeking, by pleading with the public conscience and 
by education of the public mind, to bring about good government, to 
establish schools, to build roads, to spread culture abroad and to make it 
dynamic, and to win liberty such as free men are fit to have. And let us 
define patriotism, for in my thought it needs some redefinition, having 
become a somewhat slippery and elusive term, high and holy thing tho 
it be. There is the unthinking, alcoholic patriotism that shouts : " My 
country, may she always be right! But right or wrong, my country!" 
There is the ancestral patriotism that worships the genius loci and the 
fathers. Its devotees cannot forget their grandfathers. They have the 
disease of atavism, and enwrapped in the grave-clothes of their forebears 
they sit deathly still in the busy world and fancy that virtue issues from 
their garments to the afflicted passers-by. There is the thrifty patriotism 
that shouts for party and party leaders and votes the ticket. There is the 
noble rage that inspired southern boys to climb the slopes of Gettysburg, 
and that inspired northern boys to turn their breasts into a stonewall to 
meet the onset, and that inspired the sons of both, with reunited love 
and common purpose, to charge together thru the hot grass and under the 
brazen sun about Santiago. And finally there is the patriotism of com- 
mon-sense, which is the very religion of citizenship. This patriotism is a 
compound of scholarship, of social sympathy, of right reason, trying to 
teach democracy, "that glorious optimism," how to use its rude devices so 
that it may justify its right to exist as the ultimate form of government. 
There are many very unlovely manifestations of this patriotism in the shape 
of heated, willful men in primaries and at the ballot box, but the thing 
itself is an academy, a battleground of ideas which should strive to eman- 
cipate tens of thousands of white men in the South and in the North and 
West from petty local views, from selfishness, from the tyranny of hard 
creeds, from the philosophy of carelessness and wasteful laissez-faire, 
from false individualism, and teach them largeness of view and the neces- 
sity of community effort for community good. Much has been said 
from a thousand platforms in this country about the scholar in politics, 
and he has for some decades been the stock figure for academic elo- 
quence. And perhaps not enough has been said about the power of 
culture and the passion for knowing, to regenerate the individual man by 
lighting up his mind and disciplining his willfulness, by giving him the 
fine true sense for beauty and manners and order and reason, and by 
endowing him, to use Mr. Lowell's noble phrase, " with that good taste 
which is the conscience of the mind and that conscience which is the 
good taste of the soul." But the impulse to cry out for scholars and 



Superintendence] OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 95 

seers to enter into the hurly-burly of life is a just one. The individual 
is so microscopic and self-government so begirt with the perils of unin- 
telligent strength and vulgar force that there must heeds be great move- 
ments flowing about guided by the scholars purpose to be of service to 
great masses. The theme may be trite enough, but instinct and reason 
call for the reality. And the reality is the man who sees things as they 
are, and hates violence ; who has no fear of oppression because he is 
strong; who cannot be deceived because he has been trained and knows 
truth from mania, and the fates of nations and the experiences of cities 
and men ; who cannot be terrorized because he is not afraid ; who cannot 
be starved because his hands have skill and his brains have cunning. 
This real sort of scholar is needed to aid in the transformation of 
unthinking, careless" white men, without tastes or wants or desires, into 
men with ideals ; men who can see the relation of law to society, and what 
it means to defy law even to protect innocence ; men who can see the 
beauty and interest of life; men who have some civic sympathy, love 
their towns, villages, front yards, highways, parks, schools, and libraries, 
and, thus proceeding upward, grow into a grander conception of the 
perils and privileges of the heritage left them by the Lord God, now 
grown so swiftly into an empire, vaster than the empire of Trajan or Jus- 
tinian. Men of philanthropic impulses are easily moved to helpfulness by 
the spectacle of the black race striving to fit itself for republican citizenship 
unwisely thrust upon it. They are not so easily moved by the spectacle 
of the white race striving to fit itself for the noble discharge of an 
unparalleled sociological duty. And yet that is the pivot of the whole 
question. The education of one untaught white man to the point 
where it is clear to him that knowledge and not prejudice must guide 
his conduct, and that for the honor of his name and country, and his 
posterity, he must deal with these people in justice and kindness and 
Christian forethought, is worth more to the black man himself than the 
education of ten of his own race. I believe that any southern university 
is doing more to lift up the colored race thru the broad-minded men 
it is training and sending into life than nine-tenths of the schools for 
higher education of the negro, and if these universities had the means to 
set in operation academic forces to study and investigate and digest the 
great problem, instead of threshing out old straw, their power would be 
increased tenfold. It is wise and just to help the black man, but it 
would be equally wise and just to recognize that the white man is the 
dominant force, and that he will act in the light of his knowledge and 
training. The white man has shown himself to possess courage and 
fidelity and self-respect and pride. He needs help in the right way, tho 
he is too proud generally to say so. Save among the most ignorant 
there is no truculence, no passion, but a high desire to do right. Impo- 
tency, the frightful difficulties of the situation, and the sheeplike solidarity 



9 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

of the negro himself sometimes beget exasperation. It is substantial, 
brotherly help that we need, my brethren; not the altruism of the remote, 
nor the scorn of the doctrinaire, nor the cock-sure criticism of the unaf- 
fected. I believe that it should be a high and precious privilege for all 
Americans to help their southern countryman work out his problem of 
orderly, law-abiding social life, and to help him as brothers in loyal 
affection. 

In speaking thus strongly I do not forget that a black man, Booker 
Washington, has seized the essentials of the negro question more per- 
fectly perhaps than any southern man of either race, and has pressed his 
views before the country with a mingling of diplomacy, sympathy, and 
patriotic scholarship altogether admirable. What I mean is that even 
Booker Washington, with his undoubted gifts and with the wealth that is 
coming to him, will become simply a racial phenomenon, without lasting 
effect upon the great question, if he have not the intelligent sympathy and 
co-operation of the white men about him. 

It is a singular and startling thing that no southern college attempts 
the study of social phenomena in any adequate or organized way. 
Departments of social science in the modern sense of the word do not 
exist among them. They have widened out from the traditional circle of 
the liberal arts into the study of agriculture, mechanics, textiles, but they 
have not approached the confused, unrelated human forces about them in 
a scientific fashion. Their students approach these subjects in the spirit 
of the empiric, the dilettante, or the politician. They do not bring to the 
consideration of such questions the trained habit of mind, the trained 
orderliness of thought, that is needed for their mastery. This is largely 
due to poverty of equipment. 

I have sometimes thought that the national government which once 
thought it wise to help its citizens to a better understanding of their 
industrial life thru the land-grant colleges might find it equally wise to 
help them in the same way to an understanding of social problems, whose 
righteous adjustment means so much to the peace, honor, and prosperity 
of our whole people. 

What is to be the general type of man, may I ask, who is to come out 
of southern life able to lead her new forces resolutely and to find the key 
to the broader life ? First of all he should be an educated man. We have 
done with the sneer at book-learning and the apotheosis of the self-made 
man. The old leaders were learned men and masterful men, persuasive 
in speech and swift in action. Their distinguishing traits were strength 
of will and serenity and confidence of mind and spirit, and perfect equip- 
ment for their peculiar work. Their times demanded fire and strength. 
They supplied the demand and to spare. The special demand for this era 
is knowledge and sound basis of action. We as yet have it not. We 
need to know about things before we settle them, instead of settling them 



Superintendence] OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 97 

first and learning about them afterward. There must come into the 
thought of the humblest man among us that instinctive Scottish feeling 
of loyalty and reverence for knowledge as the power alone fit to deal with 
questions of public welfare that marks off so sharply the man whose mind 
is set upon the building up of his institutions in righteousness and wis- 
dom, whose strength is upon the power of conduct, from the man who is 
desirous of working his own will and obtaining the reward of his own 
smartness. Evidences that this attitude is coming about come often to 
my knowledge. Mature men come up to college spending all their little 
store to sit with boys to get some little learning. Three- fourths of & 
whole body of five hundred students are in college as a result of money 
earned or borrowed. One-fourth are earning their way thru college 
by every form of daily labor from cutting wood to cutting hair; sensitive- 
ness, sentiment, pride, gentle breeding, everything swallowed up in the 
overmastering desire for the blessed light! The universities and colleges 
in the South which hear this cry of need and must minister to it are not 
strong in equipment or endowment. It is a struggle for them to exist. 
The sum of all their endowments does not equal the endowment of any 
one of a half-dozen northern and eastern institutions, and too often as a 
stunting inheritance from the grinding days of want the people have 
gotten used to their poverty in matters relating to higher education. 
What strength they have is internal, the strength of disinterestedness, of 
moral energy, of faith in the belief that they are the symbols of the benign 
force that shall work out the good life of their land. What strength they 
need to accomplish this end is the strength of endowment, of apparatus, 
of ample and even magnificent surroundings, that they may arise so 
sharply and clearly out of low levels that they may set new standards and 
establish new conceptions of college life. 

I once stood upon the deck of a great ship whose prow was slipping 
gently thru the waters of the Bosporus to the Black Sea. As we passed 
the spot where Robert College stands upon its rocky hill, the boys waved 
flags and sheets and handkerchiefs in salute to the starry flag floating at 
the mast-head. The brave pioneer college moved the imagination 
strongly, standing there stout and strong upon its hill, while all around it 
soared the minarets and towers of a stubborn and unyielding faith, and all 
about it heaved the tides of the yellow people of the unchanging East. 
The place seemed to my fancy at once a fortress and a dynamo, holding 
tight and fast to the things that are good, but sending out to the dim, 
toiling thousands in the shadows at its base the vital currents of light and 
life. The curving shores of Constantinople faded from my view, and I saw 
my home land, teeming, too, with tumultuous, untrained youth, but of a 
different breed and duty, and every college a Robert College charged 
with power and desire to fit them to guide their people into the larger 
circle of American life and American hope and American destiny. 



98 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The mere industrial man; masterful and creative as he is, cannot do 
this supreme service for us. He dazzles us now because he represents the 
great thought that civilization cannot reach its true development in 
poverty, but he is too much in the grasp of the theory that it is a higher 
and holier duty for the prosperous man to grow ever more prosperous 
than it is for him to pester himself about broader and purer social condi- 
tions. The mere orator will not do with his silver tongue. There was 
a time when every little village had its silver-tongued orator who wielded 
his scepter from the hustings, or the courthouse, but his voice will not carry 
far into the metallic clink and roar of the times. The breezy, aggressive, 
accumulative imitator will not stand the test. There may be something 
parochial, but there is also something fine and impressive in the almost 
Hebraic feeling of the people of the southern states that their section has 
something high and precious and distinctive in manhood and leadership 
to contribute to American civilization. It cannot be mere boasting, so 
runs their dream, that it is the logical right of their land to bring forth 
out of her travail and agony something fair and good of her own likeness 
and pattern, the old refined gold which disaster and defeat could not 
tarnish, beaten by fiercer, freer, civic forces into finer and subtler form. 
The spirit of his fathers, brave and steadfast men who held firm and did 
not compromise, ought to be in him, and shall be in him. Sordidness 
and commercialism will not wholly submerge him, and wear away his 
fineness. He will love honor more than life and loyalty more than gold. 
A worldly, modern, clear-eyed man breathing the breath of freedom, he 
will reach men's hearts and he will control men's wills, not by machinery, 
but by the strength of integrity and sincerity and thru faith in his words. 
And so when the age of moral warfare shall succeed to the age of passion- 
ate gain-getting ; when blind social forces have wrought some tangle of 
inequality and injustice, of hatred and suspicion ; when calculation and 
combination can only weave the web more fiercely; when the whole 
people in some hour of national peril shall seek for the man of heart and 
faith, who will not palter nor fail, in the sweet justice of God, they shall 
turn hither for succor as they once turned to a simple Virginia planter to 
free them from a stupid king and a stubborn Parliament across the seas. 



HOW CAN THE SUPERINTENDENT IMPROVE THE EFFI- 
CIENCY OF THE TEACHERS UNDER HIS CHARGE? 

BY JOHN W. COOK, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT 

DE KALB, ILL. 

I. It may seem somewhat presumptuous for one who is not a super- 
intendent to appear in the rdle of an adviser of the members of this 
honorable body. I therefore hasten to assure you that the responsibility 



Superintendence] IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 99 

must attach to the gentleman who by virtue of your free suffrages was 
chosen to preside over your deliberations. There may be some small 
advantage in being untrammeled by the sobering lessons of experience. 
It is possible that the views of a teacher of teachers may have some 
pertinency, but it is not probable that I shall offer any suggestions that 
have not already claimed your attention. 

Altho somewhat aside from the main topic of discussion, I may be 
indulged in the remark that the best place to improve the teaching force 
of a community is the gateway thru which those are to pass who are to be 
the instructors of its young. At that critical point the superintendent 
should always be found, engaged in the exacting and discriminating 
duties of a sentinel. This is a poor position for a civilian. He may 
meet all of the requirements of a paymaster or even of a sutler, but is in 
danger of forgetting the proper password. And the superintendent 
should have equal authority in mustering out those recruits whose proper 
place is with the awkward squad, and whose presence in the ranks renders 
a successful campaign impossible. To drop the figure, it is my sincere 
conviction that if the superintendent is to have no voice in the selection 
of his teachers, the chances are greatly against his accomplishing much in 
the way of their improvement. Their first allegiance otherwise is due to 
another. Since their appointment may be based upon other considera- 
tions than that of fitness, there is at least a possibility that their retention' 
may be similarly conditioned. Why, indeed, should a board of education 
care to burden itself with such a troublesome duty? Because of a con- 
sciousness of its superior fitness ? Upon what basis, then, was the super- 
intendent selected ? The logic of the situation suggests some ugly 
implications which urge me to drop the analysis at this point. I lay it 
down as a fundamental proposition that the superintendent should have 
the determining voice in the selection of his assistants and that their ten- 
ure should rest upon his judgment. I expect all fair-minded and prop- 
erly disinterested persons to agree with these propositions. The spoils 
politician is a bad lot. If such an ill fortune should happen as to find 
him in command of the West Point of an educational situation, a well- 
known historical incident will probably be repeated. I ought perhaps to 
apologize to the shade of the bogy man of the American Revolution, for 
he was never even charged with a diversion of supplies from the soldier 
to the camp-follower. The whole matter is so obvious that there is no 
room for argument on grounds of common honesty. Everybody who 
knows anything about the matter — and everybody may know who will give 
it two or three minutes of candid thought — understands perfectly that to 
select teachers upon any other principle than that of fitness is to use 
public funds for private purposes and to betray the interests of those who 
are too young to realize the wrong they are suffering, and too weak to 
defend themselves if they knew. 



ioo NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

II. Since the course of study is the educative material which the 
assistant teachers are to employ in the educative process, it seems to me 
of prime importance that it should be so clearly outlined and so fully 
elaborated as to be quite easily understood by those who are to use it. 
To its mastery they must devote a good part of their effort. May we not 
hope that the old contention which held, that it is not of so much conse- 
quence what a child studies as how he studies it, is at last silenced? The 
doctrine of formal discipline received a mortal wound some years since 
from the sharp lance of the relentless Dr. Hinsdale, and has been in a 
dying condition ever since, if, indeed, it has not entirely succumbed. I 
am not saying that we have solved the vexed question of the course of' 
study. It certainly is true that the schoolroom door has been opened to 
the modern world, and that new subjects have come trooping in in a mul- 
titudinous fashion. The pansophic scheme of the good Moravian bishop 
seems, in a way, to be on trial. He would be a brave man who should 
ask for more, and I am not prepared to say that there should be less. 
But I am of the opinion that there are few instances in which it is not in 
sorry need of improvement. 

Have we really abandoned the correlation problem of which we heard 
so much a few short years ago, or have we solved it ? With the zeal of 
early converts we then tried to correlate everything. History was sus- 
pected of at least an occasional opportunity to exercise the number fac- 
ulty, if in nothing more than counting the slain. Object-lessons were 
subordinated to elementary language study, and many another subject 
was bent out of line to induce it to manifest an affinity for some remote 
topic with which no especial kinship had ever before been discovered. 
But the intrinsic individuality of many of the courses obstinately refused 
to surrender itself, and no end of embarrassment resulted as an inevitable 
consequence. Now that time has been given for reflection, is it not wise 
to return to the old problem with renewed vigor and calmer temper ? 
There is real danger that our work will lose much of that intensive quality 
which had a chance to manifest itself under the narrower curriculum. 
We must not, of course, go back to the arid places made waste by jug- 
gling with symbols. Neither can a wholesale correlation be effected in 
the present stage of pedagogical development. Our problem, as it 
appears to me, is rather to find the smallest number of really germinal 
ideas, and to organize the course of study about them. Several of the 
apparently independent lines of work may thus be made to sink into 
incidental and enriching relations to the main movements. Such an 
organization of the educative material would reduce the number of sub- 
jects that seem to require distinct and isolated recognition, and would 
make instruction in them substantially incidental, until they were so far 
developed as to have reached a plane where separate organization is the 



Superintendence] IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 101 

- - . - 

truest correlation. The " incidentalist " has a ground for his contention, 
and it should be recognized and allowed. 

Now, it is my idea that this organization of the courses should not be 
left to the haphazard treatment of the teachers, but that it should be done 
in as thoro a fashion as possible in the manual that is to be placed in 
their hands. I am trying to make a plea for the expansion and elabora- 
tion of the teachers' guides. They should be monographs upon the 
courses, or, rather, bundles of monographs, and should be worked out 
with a considerable degree of fullness. They should be available to appli- 
cants, and examinations to determine fitness should be based in large 
part upon what they offer. They would disclose a pedagogy that would 
be practical in the highest sense of the term, and would furnish to the 
teachers a course of study bearing directly upon the work of the school- 
room. 

I realize the difficulty of their preparation. It would test the profes- 
sional strength of the superintendent in a very critical fashion. I am not 
unaware of the fact that there is a strong tendency to run into formalism, 
but if we wait until there is no lion in the way we shall fall short of the 
highest success. 

III. Assuming that the preparatory stages are successfully passed, the 
superintendent is at last face to face with those who are to attempt to 
carry out his plans. And now I believe that it is of great impor- 
tance to all concerned that he should get into the right attitude toward 
his teachers at the earliest possible moment. And that attitude, I need 
not say in this^presence, is one of thoroly sympathetic helpfulness. Here 
is no place for the task-master. Co-operation is the key % to success. No 
good teacher is the "servant" of the superintendent or of the board of 
education. All of the parties involved in the administration of a school 
system are but the different forces which are to unite in a common pur- 
pose, the education of the children. Everyone gets whatever of signifi- 
cance he may possess when estimated from this standpoint and from this 
alone. And no self-respecting teacher or superintendent will permit any 
body of men which happens, for the time, by the grace of an admiring 
constituency, to be his or her immediate employer, to establish such a 
servile relation. The true attitude is unique, and is not to be compared 
with that of a mill operative or "the hired hand." Boards of education, 
superintendents, and teachers are co-ordinate and indispensable factors 
in the solution of a problem which society, as an organized unity, is 
attempting to solve. This doctrine may be unpalatable to some people 
not a thousand miles distant, but I do not see that it is thereby falsified. 
Obligations are mutual. Those of boards of education to their so-called 
subordinates are as urgent as their converse, altho different in character, 
and no one who is really fit to fill that difficult and often thankless posi- 
tion will take any other view. And I wish, at this point, to digress 



102 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

sufficiently to express my earnest and sincere thanks to many men who are 
bearing the distracting burdens of business life, and who have self-sacri- 
fice enough to add the worry of public cares to an already wearing load. 
It should never be forgotten , that self-respect is an indispensable pre- 
requisite for a good teacher, and she should never submit to a system of 
terrorizing even from the children. Where a high-minded and whole- 
some personality is of such vast importance, everything within proper 
limits should be done to promote it. The superintendent stands between 
the board of education and the teachers, and whatever he may demand 
for himself in the way of respectful consideration from the former he 
should extend to the latter. That the teacher is usually inferior to the 
superintendent in breadth of experience and intellectual power goes with- 
out saying, if things are as they should be. If these conditions should 
happen to be reversed, it indicates a maladministration of forces for 
which somebody is to be blamed. That the teacher is often the superior 
of the superintendent in the immediate management of the children is a 
remark that is equally pertinent. Each should be better in his own place, 
and because the latter is properly the teacher of the former it by no means 
follows ' that there should be a relation in which servility should ever 
enter. Indeed, such a relation is unfortunate from any point of view. 
The situation is what it ought to be if to the proper professional respect 
each should show the other there may be added mutual regard and genu- 
ine friendship. 

And I believe, further, that there should be a strenuous effort on the 
part of the superintendent to reduce to the absolute m minimum the 
amount of mechanical work which assistants are often called upon to do 
out of school hours. I am more and more impressed with the drain 
which the ordinary duties of the schoolroom make upon the vitality of 
the teacher. It is to me little less than a marvel how they endure it as 
well as they do. There should be large space for recuperation if the 
atmosphere of the school is to be bracing and inspiring. I fear that the 
fevered lips and irritable manner so often seen may be accounted for, at 
least in part, by an added hour over absurd statistics. Other things 
being anything like equal, the happiest teacher is the best teacher, and 
good health and abundant vitality contribute immensely to such a result. 

IV. The superintendent can improve the teachers under his charge by 
according to them the largest possible degree of freedom. Genuine per- 
sonalities have their own methods of expressing themselves and cannot 
work in the strait-jackets cut from a standard pattern and furnished 
ready-made by the superintendent. I am aware that I am walking on 
holy ground with my unhallowed sandals on when I enter the realm of 
discipline. To formulate iron-clad rules which are to obtain without 
limitation in all matters relating to the correction of children's faults is 
to place the harassed teacher between the deep sea of the superintendent's 



Superintendence! IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 103 

displeasure and the "other fellow" as represented by the board of educa- 
tion. I must, of course, make exception in the interests of communities 
where teachers are chosen upon some other basis than that of fitness. If 
the bars are taken down in one place, they must be put up in another, or 
we shall be done for. In this discussion I am assuming that the teachers 
are of the superintendent's own selection. What he wants is persons, not 
automatons. Wherever his mind stimulates theirs it is to secure a richer 
and more effective personality. They are not to be his good right hand. 
They are to be their own brain and heart and hand, working out his 
larger purpose under the impulsion of his wider thought. 

But I would not be misunderstood. Very much is said about regard- 
ing the individuality of the teacher with which I cannot agree. Whether 
an individuality should be respected depends upon its quality. What 
many people need to do is to effect a radical change in their individuali- 
ties, if by the term we refer to the fundamental ideas which seem to 
determine them. They need to transfer themselves to new ground, to be 
inspired by new ideals, to find new and better ways of touching the 
world. That such a change is possible, and that it may be radical in its 
character, everyone who has taught to any purpose well knows. Indeed, 
one of the main duties- of the superintendent, if not the main one, is to 
bring about changes in the characters of his teachers that are often quite 
fundamental. 

Happy, indeed, is the community that has been so fortunate as to have 
placed at the head of its school system a person possessing the rare gift 
of stimulating others so that they shall achieve large and gracious person- 
alities. The young are so imitative that to live under the influence of a 
fine example is in itself a blessing. The life of the school is ordinarily 
so conventional that a wholesome individuality is peculiarly invigorating. 
The diversity of temperaments is so great among forty children gathered 
from the homes of* even a single community that a teacher who is above 
all methods prescribed for the many, and who is capable of furnishing, 
out of the depths of her own originality, unfettered by burdensome and 
limiting restrictions, the method for the particular child, is a treasure that 
is above price. 

V. But it is not enough to be a charming personality, desirable as 
such a consummation is. It is our insistent claim that there is at least a 
rudimentary science of education under the guidance of which educa- 
tional practice may be greatly improved beyond what is possible without 
it. It is our misfortune that the large majority of those who are at pres- 
ent employed in the management of public schools are informed neither 
by its fundamental doctrine nor its applications to the teaching art. 
Practice, at the present stage of educational development, is substantially 
empirical. Comparatively few of the rank and file are able to give a 
scientific defense of their method of procedure. In this particular the 



104 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

teaching art shows to a marked disadvantage when compared with the 
practice of the law or of medicine. In these cases there is at least a body 
of respectable precedent to which the practitioner may appeal in defense 
of his method, even tho he may be obliged to confess his ignorance when 
asked to show a scientific ground upon which to stand. Most teachers 
are ignorant of the characteristic features of the methods of those of their 
own guild who have won distinction. The literature of teaching, in both 
its philosophic and practical aspects, seems to be quite equally unknown. 
In other words, the education of the average teacher along professional 
lines must take place after rather than before her employment, and while 
she is engaged in the actual work of the school. That this is a matter of 
grave criticism does not change the fact. We must do the best we can 
under the circumstances. Until public sentiment shall experience a 
material change respecting the professional preparation of teachers, and 
shall see to it that the number of training schools shall be greatly multi- 
plied, the conditions here referred to will continue. 

It thus becomes a pressing necessity for the average superintendent 
to add to the general duties of supervision the further duty of profes- 
sional instruction. This function will be discharged in the main in the 
teachers' meeting, which, in consequence, gives to that instrumentality a 
dignity to which it does not always attain. This consideration carries us 
back to the superintendent, the center of the situation. 

To make an application of the oft-quoted remark of the genial Auto- 
crat of the Breakfast Table, in a somewhat different field, it may be said 
that the reformation of the assistant must begin with the head of the sys- 
tem of which she is a part. He should be an educational expert. I do 
not mean that he should be a skillful manager merely, important as such 
ability is. He should be strong enough and wise enough to resist the 
enticements that come to every general manager to spend his time and 
energy in the manipulation of mechanical details. He should have a 
genuine fondness for the central problems, and should have time to deal 
with them leisurely and reflectively. He should be that rarest of combi- 
nations, a philosopher and a man of affairs. Thought should be forever 
will as well. When there is so much to do that is little and easy, it takes 
a man of large mold resolutely to put it aside for that which is large and 
difficult. The fundamental doctrine and its manifold applications must 
engross the lion's share of his time, if he is to reach his teachers in any 
transforming way. Neither will do without the other. The pedagogical 
prophets are often poor teachers, and great mechanical dexterity will fre- 
quently go far afield. Psychology and educational philosophy often 
go thru the world unwed to practice. If either of two indispensable 
things is more important than the other, I should say that the greater 
need at present is the doctrine. If I were obliged to choose between a 
Simon-pure philosopher of the kind that asserts that philosophy bakes no 



Superintendence] IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 105 

bread and the Simon-pure mechanician that sneers at philosophy, I should 
take the former. For only ideas are germinal, and if your experience is 
like mine, you have had a hard time finding seed-corn that will grow. It 
is far more economical to furnish a general principle that will dispose of 
a class of instances than to deal with them one at a time in an isolated 
way. 

Now, is it not the better way to have the doctrine and its concrete 
application as close together as possible ? We find this to be true to our 
experience in the normal school, and every superintendent is foredoomed 
to maintain a sort of a normal school. The most efficient instrumen- 
tality that I have thus far observed for accomplishing this desired end is 
thru a combination of carefully prepared lesson outlines which state the 
general principle, the aim, and the movement, and illustrative lessons 
with children by an expert teacher. Would that every superintendent, 
who knows how to use him, had. a printer as a part of his office force. 
This being quite out of the question in the large majority of cases, the 
modern neostyle is a cheap and handy substitute. With this valuable 
implement he «an have a press bureau of his own, and can prepare the 
elaborated guides of which I have already spoken in the earlier part of 
this paper. He can thus supply the best books on the theory and art 
of teaching. 

The other feature of the plan removes one of the greatest limitations 
to the teacher's growth — her isolation. Who will not pity the preacher, 
or his^congregation, who never hears a brother of the cloth? The soli- 
tary physician is foredoomed to narrowness. We must see others doing 
what we attempt to do, or we shall fall by the wayside. But the illustra- 
tive lesson should have a thoro overhauling. Observers must learn what to 
look for and how to test it by the canons of the art. A thirty-minute exer- 
cise may merit a three-hour discussion. We may learn something of what 
is meant by skill by an occasional visit to a baseball game when a crack 
team is occupying "the diamond." Every delivery of the pitcher is 
either "a ball" or "a strike.' ' So every movement of a thoroly 
admirable teacher should meet the highest requirement of the recitation 
from the standpoint of the theory and its practical embodiment. It is 
by such a rigorous discipline as this that genuine masters are produced. 
And I remember such a one. I often went to 'her room to "set my 
watch " by observatory time. The memory of what I saw there has ever 
since been at once an inspiration and a reproach. I have long had an 
undying grudge against the man who induced her to abandon the 
normal school for the home, for she was an ideal embodiment of an 
intelligent woman, thoroly grounded in a profound educational phi- 
losophy, gifted with the artist's creative power, and a master of a marvel- 
ous technic acquired by the severest criticism of her work from the 
standpoint of fundamental pedagogical ideas. 



I06 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

And a poor recitation is often as fruitful as a good one. Let the 
superintendent try it himself once in a while, and give his assistants a 
chance to criticise something easy. Lest this remark may be misunder- 
stood, I hasten to add that there are superintendents who are able to 
illustrate the highest form of instruction in any grade. 

I am not unmindful of the criticism made upon attempts to teach 
after a formula. I have simply to remark in passing that in all arts there 
are formal stages thru which one must go to achieve the highest skill. 
That they are looked at askance by many, and regarded as devices for 
which normal schools have a' peculiar fondness, also goes without saying. 
I have only to say that I am not here alluding to the foolish tricks of the 
method-worshipers. Teaching is an art. As such it consists of many 
details, as do all arts. The general movement in the knowledge process 
is capable of statement, however, if there be a science of mind, and its 
formulation should be attempted by every intelligent teacher. It may be 
a master for a while, but in time it becomes one of the most helpful of 
servants. I doubt the possibility of any fine technic without its aid. It 
furnishes a canon of self-criticism, and until one is equipped with a dis- 
position to self-examination and some intelligent basis upon which to 
make it, he will either work by the "rule of thumb" or in the most hap- 
hazard of methods. I was greatly impressed quite recently by the remark 
of a teacher of considerable experience as a university instructor, yet 
whose conduct of the recitation was in many respects seriously faulty. 
He said, in substance : "This is the first time in my life that my manage- 
ment of a class was ever thoroly criticised from the standpoint of educa- 
tional doctrine." How few recitations are really entitled to the 
designation of genuinely artistic presentations! Is it not true that the 
large majority are not dominated by any clearly defined aim which pushes 
with resistless energy thru the exercise from start to finish ? So much of 
worthless matter is allowed to consume precious time, so many distract- 
ing and trivial excursions are permitted, there is such prodigal waste, the 
motive is so obscure, the tension is so slack, that you may go almost any- 
where rather than to a class-room to find such an exhibition of high-class 
art as may be discovered in almost any good shop. The pruning-knife 
of kindly criticism, the free interchange of suggestion, the setting of the 
doctrine over against the act, and especially the superior exercise, 
analyzed to the core, are, as it seems to me, indispensable instrumentali- 
ties in the improvement of a teaching force. There should be no hurry, 
no insincere glossing of defects, but a genuine estimate of value from the 
most competent and kindly of critics. 

VI. At the meeting of this section one year ago the wisdom of trans- 
ferring pupils from one school to another, where especial difficulties are 
encountered in the management of particular children, was discussed and 
approved by high authority. Several instances were cited in which 



Superintendence] IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 1 02 

apparent incorrigibles were found to need only a change of teachers. 
Will not the same policy be found to be equally valuable in its application 
to those in charge of rooms ? The misfits are familiar thorns in the path- 
way of the superintendent. Applicants for positions are not always the best 
judges of the grades for which nature and preparation have fitted them. 
Local conditions sometimes render success an impossibility when a change 
might insure a superior quality of work. We have all known instances 
where a tranfer to another grade was all that was necessary to discover 
unusual fitness for a position that was relatively more difficult. Of course, 
such a readjustment of forces is out of the question unless the superin- 
tendent is unfettered. I am making no plea for incompetents. But 
every right-minded person will insist upon a fair chance for his assist- 
ants. He is, indeed, a seer who can cast the horoscope of a teacher 
with unerring accuracy. Of course, there are instances where incapacity 
demonstrates its presence in a few hours. The quicker such cases are 
disposed of the better, whether it be in the actual work of the school or 
in the teachers' academy. When reflecting upon this matter, however, I am 
reminded of a young woman who by the unanimous vote of a normal- 
school faculty was convinced that her "health" demanded a prompt 
return to her home, because she seemed to lack that unpurchasable com- 
modity known as capacity, but who encountered a more kindly disposition 
in her local superintendent. The same institution has often had occasion 
to "point with pride" to the same young woman because of the notable 
success which she won in one of the largest of our western cities that shall 
be nameless. Evidently she needed a change. And a similar process of 
reassortment has put more than one seeming failure on safe ground. Of 
course, to move one is to move two, but he is a lucky superintendent who 
has only two that need moving. There are practical difficulties in the way 
of any remedy, and they may be peculiar to this suggestion, but with 
that indispensable condition, a free hand at the helm, the difficulties are 
not insurmountable. 

VII. In the earlier part of this paper I have spoken of the sym- 
pathetic relations that should subsist between the head and the subordi- 
nates of a school system. If this happy condition really obtains, the 
private interview will be found to be. one of the most efficacious means of 
correction and inspiration. It is a singular phenomenon that those who 
are not really successful seem often to be the very ones who have not dis- 
covered the fact; at least such is frequently the case. We are so much 
in danger of overlooking our darling faults. That these may be pointed 
out to us in such a manner as to convince us of our error some good 
friend has probably demonstrated to our satisfaction. But to reveal our 
shortcomings, is one' thing, and to show us how to surpass them is quite 
another. A hint may be sufficient, but radical treatment is usually better. 
Happily there are many good books that one may take into the solitude 



Jo8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

of his retirement, and in which he may find his errors reflected as in a 
mirror. Who has not emerged from the rebuking interview with such a 
delightfully impersonal mentor to find a new world awaiting his coming ? 
Will not the well-equipped superintendent be richly supplied with a 
goodly stock of such closet advisers from which he may select the par- 
ticular one that fits the occasion ? Often in our experience with pupils 
who are trying to find themselves in the trying duties of the practice 
school such a prescription has proven of inestimable value. Of what 
avail is the making of many books if they are not to help us in the times 
of storm and stress ? Nothing is truer than that there are treasure- 
houses for our assistants of whose existence they have no knowledge. We 
are not working the good book up to a tithe of its possibilities. Indeed, 
there appears to be a disposition in many of us to look with slight favor 
upon anything that has not emanated from our own inner consciousness 
in the management of our schools. Is this one of the results of the per- 
haps too prevalent tendency toward oral instruction, or is it due to the 
undeveloped state of pedagogical doctrine and practice? And there is an 
ascending hierarchy from Page's Theory and Practice to Psychologic 
Foundations. If I mistake not, Colonel Parker ascribed his educational 
new-birth to Tate, and I could name a man, whom you all know but to 
honor, the editor of a School (and Home) Journal, both in capitals, whose 
effigy adorns the altar in the professional holy of holies of a host of 
schoolmasters whom no man can number, and before which they burn 
their highest-priced incense. And I would include, under the term 
" book," current magazine literature as well. What a boon a really dis- 
criminating clerk would be who with the shears and paste-pot could rescue 
from the waste-basket of oblivion the wealth of valuable material that 
receives but a passing glance from overworked superintendents, and do 
it up in proper packages for convenient distribution ! I am not answered 
by the remark that only good teachers should be employed. As our com- 
mercial and manufacturing establishments must in large part educate their 
workers, so the superintendent must in no small degree do the same 
thing, and for the best of reasons too. One of the best superintendents 
that I have ever known said to me in a recent conversation : " Long experi- 
ence has convinced me that I must give up the employment of teachers 
from other schools, as a general practice, and employ graduates of pro- 
fessional schools, for they can be changed by the material that I put before 
them to study." 

VIII. And, finally, what many teachers need is a " hobby," something 
over which they may have their first enthusiasm. In the days of my early 
childhood I was the proud possessor of a Sunday-school banner which 
bore the mystical inscription : "Thought engenders thought." I some- 
times wondered what it meant. But there is another tri-syllabic motto 
that I should be glad to substitute for the illuminated " God bless our 



Superintendence] TJJE StJREklNTENbENT AS AM OkGANlZER 16$ 

home," that with its variegated worsted hangs over the washstand of many 
a teacher's narrow quarters, for I have learned something of its truth : 
" Enthusiasm engenders enthusiasm." If one has felt the intellectual and 
emotional quickening that comes from falling in love with any worthy 
pursuit, the spirit will spread to other fields and will suffuse, like a glad- 
some tonic, the dull routine of daily life with an exhilarating energy. 

He who for many years once guided the educational destiny of this 
great city revealed the secret of much of his notable success, perhaps, 
when he wrote : " When all else fails, and ' this whole round world seems 
flat, stale, and unprofitable/ as a sure and safe resource there is nothing 
for health, strength, and recreation like a good, reliable hobby. Though 
it be nothing rarer or more costly than moth-hunting, the jingle or jangle 
of rhymes, or even reformed spelling, they are, some of them, as I well 
know, of boundless possibilities." 

" But at your daily mount of your hobby-horse, take not your way 
down the crowded street and through the thronging mart, nor over the 
choice flower-beds and fragrant exotics of your friends, but rather turn 
aside into the quiet lane, or the unfrequented country road, or, still better, 
off for a free stretch over the wide, open prairie, where, with open arms 
and expanding chest, you can shout forth your happiness, till with loud- 
answering echo the solitary places shall be made glad with your presence." 



THE SUPERINTENDENT AS AN ORGANIZER AND AN 

EXECUTIVE 

BY ROBERT EDUARD DENFELD, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DULUTH, 

MINN. 

We assume that the superintendency, like similar positions, grew out 
of a desire to secure results economically — to systematize work, or 
centralize effort, thus recognizing the need of the services of one who had 
given thought and study to this particular branch of human activity, 
understanding the objects sought and familiar with the means employed. 
The growth of communities into larger units also emphasized this need 
by enlarging the responsibilities, and so increasing the perplexities gather- 
ing about the trust that men, often occupied with private cares, were 
compelled to transfer to other hands the more engrossing tasks. 

The pressure for expert management may not have made itself 
seriously felt under the district system, with its limited number of schools, 
its accentuation of the famous triplet, and its scarcity of equipment. 
Nevertheless, such management was fully as much needed then as now. 
The old-time boards, composed of members with sufficient time at their 
disposal, considered themselves competent to manage the educational as 



HO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

1 ' i 

well as the business end. The state prescribed the studies, and the com- 
munity did not feel moved to reach beyond these requirements. When 
inventions multiplied and labor-saving devices came into collision with 
manual labor, business possibilities made specialization a necessity. 
People turned to the curricula of the schools for assistance. These were 
expected to change somewhat the character of their instruction and so to 
adjust the curricula as most effectually to meet the new order of things. 
Different localities presented phases of change expressed by the differ- 
ences existing in the community life of the several centers. 

Apparently the system shapes itself to meet public demands ; therefore 
the call for expert knowledge is so persistent that boards of education 
admit that relief can only come thru the employment of a competent per- 
son, hedged about by reasonable rules and regulations. The state, even, 
has enacted laws that make it incumbent upon boards to secure such 
expert guidance. In some independent districts this functionary is made 
ex officio a member of the board, and given membership upon commit- 
tees, and thus accorded power that could not be conferred upon a mere 
appointee. 

Agitation is going on for a more clear-cut division of labor, for both 
the legislative anoV the executive: 

The duties of the superintendent fall into a threefold classification : 
those belonging to the organizer, the executive, and the supervisor. 
Investigation reveals many perplexities that render a satisfactory and 
efficient performance difficult at times. If a superintendent were privi- 
leged to deal only with the educational, and could feel that whatever is 
proposed in good faith would be accepted in the same spirit, the annoy- 
ances would be minimized. Today, in a majority of the cities, he must 
constantly bear in mind that members of boards are human beings, with 
the failings that attach themselves to such beings; consequently, the 
superintendent is forced to devote a portion of time to making his views 
and recommendations acceptable to the governing body. He must 
resort to diplomacy that will insure success, and is subject to the charge 
— justly, perhaps — of being a politician, or one versed in the science of 
governing men and knowing how to bring about the adoption of the 
measures that he proposes. The term may not be an invidious one and 
ought not, per se, to give offense. 

Now, what do we understand by an organizer ? The term, as defined, 
refers to one who systematizes the parts in their special functions or rela- 
tions — brings about a harmonious order. This definition carries with it 
the idea that the superintendent in his official capacity should have a 
voice — and a very strong one — in those matters that pertain to shaping a 
school system. This view suggests the inquiry : How far shall the super- 
intendent be permitted to go — how much shall he be permitted in the 
way of organizing thp work ? Shall he as the servant of the board adhere 



Superintendence] THE SUPERINTENDENT AS AN ORGANIZER 1 1 1 

to what the board has prescribed so far as the course of study is con- 
cerned, and when in doubt refer the matter back to the board ; or shall he 
investigate all lines of study that materially aid in the mental, moral, and 
physical development, with the understanding that the results of his 
investigation shall be for review by the board, and then incorporated into 
the course of study? This conception of his power would practically 
give him the initiative, and that makes that body a board of review. 

Again, as localities differ in their demands, it seems reasonable to 
insist upon the right to investigate all demands made upon the schools, 
and no superintendent should be called upon to make a hasty decision 
for the purpose of modifying the curriculum. Only when that official has 
marshaled his arguments by well-ordered investigation and study is he" in 
position to show the wisdom of acceding to or rejecting the claims 
advanced. We know too well that the public schools cannot accept every- 
thing that is thrust upon them from all sides. Therefore, someone 
must stand ready to weigh the claims, with courage, insight, and firmness 
adequate to the separation of the wheat from the chaff, permitting only 
such to gain recognition as clear scholarship, sound judgment, and good 
sense warrant. 

Our schools today are suffering from an overcrowding of the course 
of study. Too much has crept in and lumbered it up by reason of 
immature deductions. We are now confronted with the necessity of dis- 
carding what enthusiasts have forced upon us, because they would 
make of the schools a vehicle for the promulgation of their peculiar 
views. 

The richness of a course of study consists in the variety and increased 
number of associations, in the number of relations traceable — the 
multiplying of sense-impressions; in the initiation of new and right 
responses, and in accentuating habituation, compelling the child to real- 
ize that he is only a unit in the social aggregation — but not in the 
increased number of separate studies. 

There are those who would eliminate from the lower grades much that 
has been and is considered essential on the ground that it calls into play 
the smaller nerve centers, too greatly intensifying nerve action ; but 
instead would provide a kind of work that will give greater scope to eye, 
ear, and speech, with their accompanying larger physical movements. 

The newer sections of cities generously permit the practice of profit- 
ing by the experiences and mistakes of the older. This gives some 
authority for the statement made here that the West is pre-eminently the 
place of progress ; at least, in sympathy for the new it far surpasses the 
East; therefore, the one-man power does not become a " bone of conten- 
tion. " The superintendent gets all the authority he needs, if he is equal 
to the occasion — if the office is not larger than the man. You cannot 
separate the office from the individual holding it. Where there are 



112 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

" misfits " no amount of legislation will increase a superintendent's 
ability satisfactorily to discharge the functions of his office. 

If the duty of the superintendent as an organizer lies permanently in 
the direction of planning a satisfactory course of study, it is nevertheless 
incumbent upon him to prepare outlines that are definite, clear, and con- 
cise, but not so minute as to destroy the individuality and circumscribe 
the freedom of those who are governed by them. 

Again, he is especially charged with the subject of classification and 
grading. The individualism advocated by some is satisfactory in so far 
as it is under the control of sound sense and a competent instructor- 
Experience informs us that some provision must be made for dealing with 
class instruction, and some attention accorded the recitation and study 
periods. No classification is entirely satisfactory that totally disregards 
these. The accepted classification into several grades of half-year periods 
is sufficiently broad and elastic to take care of individual cases. This is 
not a criticism upon the individualism presented to this body, nor do I 
wish to imply that individual cases are always properly treated in the 
accepted classification. 

Reports and such secondary matters as enable pupils, parents, and the 
community in general to become acquainted with the progress and stand- 
ing of individual pupils, and thus with the school, need little treatment. 
Some attention, however, must be given to the smoothness with which such 
parts of the general machinery run. Touching this phase the educational 
pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other. All that we can 
expect is to approach to the golden mean. 

As organizer the superintendent's attention is again directed to the 
question of text-books, apparatus, and supplies. Some may feel that this 
duty properly belongs to the supervisor, yet my interpretation of the office 
leads to the belief that it is also part of the business of the organizer. 
All schools and every child in the school should be provided with the 
proper working tools, and should have them in as great abundance as the 
nature of the work and the child's relation thereto require. We all know 
that the market is flooded with all manner of devices, methods, helps, and 
short-cuts, and the superintendent must see that useless appliances do not 
creep in. If the selection of material be left in the hands of that official, 
less money would ordinarily be expended than if the board acted without 
his indorsement or recommendatiou. A board having confidence in the 
judgment of the superintendent will generally refrain from acting until 
it knows his wish in the matter. I have, however, known members of 
boards who were specially sensitive to the representations made to them as 
to the merit of certain pieces of apparatus, to become so enthusiastic upon 
the subject that they championed vigorously and successfully their pur- 
chase at a time when the superintendent was absent. Several dollars, to my 
knowledge, have been expended in purchasing " helps" that in themselves 



Superintendence] THE SUPERINTENDENT AS AN ORGANIZER 1 1 3 

were not worth the price of the material of which they were made. An 
honest and clear-headed superintendent will act very cautiously in select- 
ing material. It is possible to provide the teacher with too much and so 
circumscribe the teacher's inventive power. 

The advantages of the free text-book system are beyond question. 
Where a state has not granted such a right, it is manifestly the duty of the 
superintendent thoroly to inform himself upon its advantages, and devise 
some plan looking to its gradual introduction. He has not performed 
his whole duty unless he is possessed of clear and accurate information 
upon the matter, and has secured the hearty co-operation of the board 
for its adoption. The law creating boards and defining their power might 
be construed broadly enough for the exercise of this right, altho not 
directly referred to, if the board could be made to so consider it. I would 
not, however, go so far as to insist that the superintendent should famil- 
iarize himself with the advantages of the publishing business, or advocate 
the board's entering into competition with publishing houses. A live, 
energetic, broad-gauged superintendent can do much, and his sugges- 
tions will be respected. 

The law requiring the adoption of text-books for a definite period may 
work against the best possible selection. I am of the opinion that the 
so-called " open list " is preferable. It makes it .possible to go into the 
market to make choice of the kind of books that give the greatest variety 
and the most and the best for the money. Where children are compelled 
to purchase books it may be out of the question to get many texts upon 
the same subject, altho the practice, now quite general, termed " extend- 
ing the supplementary list," is practically a confession of the merits of the 
free text-book system. I see no reason for turning over the selection of 
text-books to a committee of the board, or to the board as a whole, since 
its members are not so vitally interested in, or so closely in touch with, the 
educational needs. A tactful superintendent will not arrogate to himself 
exclusive power, but will consult in some way those upon whom he 
depends for a proper discharge of the work. It might be well to place 
this matter in the hands of a committee of principals and teachers, with 
the superintendent as chairman, and then have their recommendations 
passed upon by the board of education. All admit that no one text- 
book contains all the good or can claim for itself exclusive merit in the 
treatment of a subject. Someone's judgment must be brought into play, 
and it properly belongs to the person held responsible for the results, and 
such person should decide upon the method that will bring him the 
greatest information. It is true that in smaller systems, employing from 
200 to 500 teachers, very excellent results have been secured by placing 
the selection in the hands of the superintendent. 

If there is any duty more responsible, more exacting, or more crucial 
than any other which the superintendent is called upon to perform, it is 



114 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOC! A TION [Chicago 

the one connected with the selection of teachers. If he has not the 
right to say what kind of teachers shall serve under him, or what sort 
of a corps he shall bring together to carry out his system, the results are 
doubtful. It would therefore seem just and eminently fitting to put 
into his hands the power to make the selection of teachers satisfactory. 
I cannot see how any motives could actuate other than those directly 
conducive to a good working school system upon the basis of success and 
harmony. He is the most interested person and should be the most 
desirous of placing a premium upon scholarship, character, and efficiency. 
If the matter were left to members who are sometimes closely related to or 
intimately acquainted with some of the applicants, there might uninten- 
tionally creep in a degree of favoritism that would in the end be ruinous. 
If this were not the case, it might at least work against loyalty and create 
such a state of affairs as would jeopardize the harmony. Very satisfactory 
results have been secured where the superintendent is ex officio a member 
of the committee on teachers, and practically decides the selection. 

The superintendent should also be familiar with matters pertaining to 
school accommodation, and should be prepared from time to time to 
recommend such plans as will secure the greatest convenience for both 
teachers and taught. He should not, however, subject himself to the 
charge of extravagance. His knowledge need not be that of an expert 
draftsman or builder, but his information should enable him to recom- 
mend the most scientific accommodations that the limitations of the com- 
munity afford. His views upon these matters should be clear and well 
defined. The district may not be able to provide ideal structures with all 
the latest improvements — these are not absolutely necessary — but his 
knowledge of what can and may be provided should lead to the erection 
of buildings suited to the community's financial limitations — serviceable, 
convenient, and reasonably satisfactory. One such building erected will 
give tone to the whole and will make it impossible afterward to erect any- 
thing of an inferior character. 

Having thus minutely mentioned some of the duties connected with 
the organizing phase of the office, we may add that the plan should provide 
for some way of reaching the teachers for help and instruction, and should 
not be so exacting or rigid in its regulations as to smother by over-super- 
vision, but give ample latitude for individual effort. 

Having defined a policy and inaugurated a system acceptable to the 
board, he faces the responsibilities that attach to putting it into practice. 
As previously stated, it is difficult to differentiate the work of the super- 
visor from that of the executive; they so frequently overlap. His may be 
a grand model, but not on an easy-working basis. He may, indeed, be 
totally incapable of directing it, either thru too great aggressiveness 
or because influenced too largely by theory or not fully aware of his limita- 
tions. In this direction his mistakes are many. It is easy for one to feel 



\ 



Superintendence] THE SUPERINTENDENT AS AN ORGANIZER 1 1 5 

that the deductions and conclusions reached are the only ones attainable, 
•and the danger presses upon him of passing the yielding point, and so 
becoming arbitrary and losing the opportunity — he may fail to "strike 
while the iron is hot." 

The weaknesses of the executive are along the line of diplomacy, and 
in the method of approach. It is not always what is required, but the way 
in which it is acquired, that invites defeat. He finds it necessary to. 
placate all the elements — the board, the teachers, the parents, the child, 
the community — in an attitude of co-operation, and must carefully weigh 
and distinguish between the rights and privileges belonging to each of 
these elements. Members of boards feel that they are at least partially 
responsible for the success of a system, and it is easy to give offense by 
claiming for one's self all the responsibility, while concession in non- 
essentials would avoid friction. 

Boards should be taken into a superintendent's confidence, and vice 
versa, not in any cringing or obsequious manner. He is no servant' or 
slave in the worst sense of these terms, but a man whose bearing and 
action, as well as his intelligence, should make him respected, and they 
will be if he is acquainted with his own limitations and has a good work- 
ing knowledge of human nature. The public admires courage and firm- 
ness, and will grant support when they see it deserved. No element must 
get the upper hand of him, for he is the guide and director and must be 
obeyed. Senseless coercion and arbitrary decisions are uncalled for. All 
may claim, and reasonably, a listening ear, no matter what the complaint, 
and he must be discreet enough to reserve judgment until he fully com- 
prehends the situation. He need not preach, but should think and act 
upon mature deliberation. Parents and children can be met in a way 
that will make distasteful and disagreeable things less so. Whatever the 
superintendent does, he must approach it with his eyes open to the con- 
sequences, and must realize that only those things should be done that 
are reasonable and consistent. Rumblings and discontent will be heard ; 
indeed, the system may be out of harmony so far as individuals are con- 
cerned ; some may claim that -too much, others that too little is being 
done; dissatisfaction may arise between parents and teachers — in fact, 
does arise — and transfers are asked on insufficient ground. To bring har- 
mony out of such chaotic conditions is needful, and it is his business to 
see that all the wheels in this vast, machinery run smoothly, if he main- 
tains his reputation as an executive. 

There are two extremes to be avoided : the negative, which is always 
of the Micawber type, and the sledge-hammer tyro, intent only upon 
gaining the point seemingly so essential, unwilling to consider both 
sides. If he come close to the community in his capacity as a private 
citizen, he may readily inform himself upon the thoughts that are taking 



1 1 6 NA TIONAL RDUCA TIONAL ASSOC/A TION [Chicago 

1 

* 

root, and should strive to be an important factor in shaping these 
thoughts to the most helpful solution of existing questions. 

It is not necessary to enumerate the many ways in which a superin- 
tendent may feel the public pulse. The man who is intent upon discharging 
his full duty will find a sufficient number of avenues along which he may 
act, if he only cares to search for them. It is impossible to give seriatim 
the long catalog of particulars in which, as executive, he may be called 
upon to act. It is only necessary to say that whatever pertains to the 
execution of his plans ; whatever he can do to secure co-operation ; what- 
ever will bring the public schools nearer to the public; whatever will 
enable him to exercise nice discrimination and keen judgment, becomes 
part of his duty in the carrying out of the system. 

This presentation may be ideal — perhaps overdrawn and imaginary ; 
still, the best results educationally cannot be obtained until the greatest 
freedom possible within reasonable limitations, a more permanent tenure 
of office, power commensurate with exactions and responsibilities, and 
hearty support by the public in all things laudable are accorded this 
functionary by public consent. Then may be claimed for it what an east- 
ern superintendent has said : 

" Whatever there is of tone, support, progress, or efficiency, it all con- 
centrates upon and radiates from the system and character of the superin- 
tendency." 



DISCUSSION 



E. H. Mark, superintendent of city schools, Louisville, Ky. — The organization and 
government of any system, commercial, industrial, or social, must depend upon the object 
to be attained and the nature of the work to be done. In the commercial world, when 
any new enterprise is to be launched, one or more persons familiar with the details of the 
enterprise are called in to take charge of its organization and management, and business- 
men are very careful not to invest capital in the undertaking until assured that it will 
receive such expert service in both its organization .and management. There is certainly 
no enterprise in which the entire community is so much interested, and which ±>ears so 
directly on the prosperity of everyone in that community, as the public-school system. I, 
therefore, take it for granted that as much care will be exercised in the control and man- 
agement of this system as in that of a commercial enterprise. 

If expert service is required and demanded in the ordinary affairs of life, how much 
more will the control of a school system, which deals with the destiny of the child, demand 
intelligent and studious supervision ! 

There can be no difference of opinion in regard to the place the child occupies in 
our educational system. The sole purpose of the public-school system is the greatest 
good to the child, and all legislation, organization, and management is directed to this 
end. 

School boards, supervisors, principals, teachers, courses of study, school buildings are 
only means to the end to be attained. Who shall direct the affairs toward this end has 
been fully answered in saying that this supervising work should be intelligently done. 



Superintendence! THE SUPERINTENDENT AS AN ORGANIZER 



117 



With the organization of school boards the superintendent has nothing to do. These 
are made by legislation. They are the bodies in which all organization originates, and 
they are, in most cases, the creators of the office of superintendent, and as creators hold 
control of the office and its duties. Therefore, " the superintendent as an organizer and 
an executive " will do just what the school board determines. This is the real, not the 
ideal condition. As to what he ought to do there can scarcely be any difference of opin- 
ion, but what he will do depends upon the character of the board and his own per- 
sonality. If the board happens to be composed of good, sensible business-men, and not of 
politicians, the superintendent will very probably, if he is careful and thoughtful, have 
almost complete control of the appointment of supervisors, principals, and teachers, and 
he will determine the course of study to be pursued. His judgment and experience will 
be sought in determining the character of all school buildings. 

This is as it should be. Expert work is now being recognized in every department 
of the commercial world as essential to the intelligent management of business enter- 
prises. So, in the educational world, where the work should be as intelligently managed 
as in the commercial world, the organization and management should be placed in the 
hands of one who is familiar with the work to be done and the purpose to be accomplished 
by the work. To take a child and by means of a course of study, teachers, school build- 
ing, books, and apparatus to bring him into right relations to nature, the state, and society ; 
to fit him to be a factor in the world in which he lives ; to prepare him for the com- 
munity life in which he must take a part ; to give him a proper conception of his rights 
and the rights of others, is not the work of a tyro, and cannot be intrusted to unskilled 
hands. Only one who fully understands all these relations and the means of adapting 
the child to them can be safely intrusted with the work of organizing and directing. 

The mere adaptation of the child to any particular work cannot determine a course 
of study, for no school has the right to determine what the life-work of any child shall be, 
and any course of study for a public-school system which panders to a popular clamor for 
a preparation for special life-work is as false as the one which says that only those things 
shall be taught from the text-books which a child will have use for in life. School must 
prepare a child for any position in life, and the course of study must be selected for the 
purposes of mental discipline, development, and power. Having the accomplishment of 
all these things in mind, it seems that there can be little doubt as to the duties of a super- 
intendent as an organizer and an executive. There are great doubts as to the fitness of 
school boards for determining the policy of a school system and for answering many of 
the questions which present themselves in the organization and management of it. Not 
because the members of these boards are not thoroly reliable business-men, fully com- 
petent to pass judgment upon matters connected with the financial affairs of the system 
but because the majority of the questions to be decided are such as require a knowledge 
of principles not found in the world in which the members of the board are actively 
engaged and to which they have not the time to give the necessary study and investiga- 
tion. It is true that many persons seek election or appointment on school boards in order 
to secure the adoption into the course of study of a particular hobby or fad, which they 
believe to be the cure-all for all educational diseases and the one thing necessary to the 
proper education of the children ; or it may be, on the other hand, that this election or 
appointment is sought in order that the course of study may be stripped of all those things 
which are not " practical." In either case great harm is done to the system. 

But the faults just enumerated are not to be found wholly in the enthusiastic reform- 
ers on the school boards, but if the charges recently made in articles in some of the maga- 
zines and in some of the papers read before this body be true, some of these sins lie at 
our own doors. 

Then, from all the facts in the case, it seems that in the organization of a school sys- 
tem there should be two factors — the school board and the superintendent. The duties 
of the two should be correlative in nearly all the work. The superintendent should, as 



1 1 8 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOC! A T10N [Chicago 

the expert, submit plans, and the board should legislate so as to make these plans effect- 
ive. In financial matters the board should have entire control. In the appointment of 
principals, teachers, and supervisors, and in suggesting everything that pertains to the 
educational side of the system, the superintendent should have the power of nomination 
at least. There should be no question as to his authority in directing the affairs of the 
system as to transfer of teachers, preparation of a course of study, and the carrying out 
of the same. 

In the erection of school buildings, the board and the superintendent should consult 
in regard to plans and specifications, but the board alone should have to do with con- 
tracting and building. The duties of the superintendent should be so clearly defined and 
understood, by law if possible, that it would be impossible for any member of the board 
to interfere with him in the performance of his duties. Nor should any superintendent 
attempt to perform the duties clearly incumbent on the board. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF ACTIVE MEMBERS 

ENROLLED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE ANNUAL VOLUME FOR 1899 

(Los Angeles Meeting) 



MAY 20, 1900 



1888. 

1899. 
1899. 
1899. 

1899. 
1899. 

1897. 
1897. 

1899. 
1899. 

1899. 

X899. 
1899. 
X899. 

1899. 
X898. 
1899. 
1899. 



life member 

Joseph O'Connor. 

Principal of Mission High School, x8th and Dolores Sts., San Francisco, Cal. 



ACTIVE MEMBERS 



Altoona Mechanics' Library and Reading 
Room Association. 

Charles B. Dudley, Chairman Library 
Committee, Altoona, Pa. 
George P. Anderson, A.M., '86, Whitman 
Coll., Wash.; B.D., '91, Yale. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Man- 
ila, P. I. 
E. Benjamin Andrews, LL.D., '84, Univ. of 
Neb. 

1898. Superintendent of Public Schools, Vic- 

toria Hotel, Rush and Ohio Sts., 
Chicago, 111. 
Henry P. Archer, A.M., '59, College of 

Charleston. 
1885. Superintendent of Instruction, 74 Rut- 
ledge Ave.. Charleston, S. C. 
J. P. Archibald, B.E., '93, M.E., '95, State 
Nor. Sch M Indiana, Pa.; A.M., 99, Mt. 
Hone Coll. 

1899. Superintendent of Schools, Walnut St., 

Blairsville, Pa. 
Carl E. Bacon, A. B.. Harvard. 

Allyn & Bacon, Publishers, 378 Wabash 
Ave,, Chicago, 111. 
Paul V. Bacon, A.B., '98, Harvard. 

Agent for Allyn & Bacon, publishers, 
378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
William A. Baldwin, B.S., Harvard. 

Principal a of State Normal School, 
Hyannis, Mass. 
J. Edward Bangs. 
1894. Principal of Township High School, 

1097 N. Main St., Pontiac, III. 
Darwin L. Bardwbll, A.B., '83, A.M., '88, 

Amherst. 
1899. Superintendent of City Schools, 41 
Riverside Drive, Binghamton, N. Y. 
R. J. Barr. 
1882. Superintendent of City Schools, 10x5 W. 

Division St., Grand Island, Neb. 
J. A. Beattie, A.M., '76, Bethany Coll. 
1896. President State Normal School of Ne- 
braska, Peru, Neb. 
Francis G. Blair, B.Sc, '97, Swarthmore 
Coll. 

Department of Education and Train- 
ing, Eastern Illinois Normal School, 
Chat leston, 111. 



Malcolm Booth, Ph.B., '79. Yale. 
1898. Superintendent of Schools, » w 
throp Ave., New Haven, Conn. 



icols, 280 Win- 



Hugh Brown, A.B., '84, Univ. of Mich. 

1897. Superintendent of Schools, xxo W. 

Huron St., Pontiac, Mich. 
Joseph Carter. 

Superintendent of City Schools, 201 S. 

Elm St., Champaign, 111. 
Francis B. Cassilly. 

1898. Vice-President St. Ignatius College, 

Chicago, 111. 



1899. Henry L. Chaplin. 

1894. Superintendent of Schools, Sterling, 111. 
1899. Chicago Institute, Academic and Peda- 
gogic. 

President, Francis W.Parker; Libra- 
rian, Irene Warren; 603 Marquette 
Bldg., Chicago, 111. 
1899. George Victor Clum, A.B., '93, Ohio State 
Univ. 
1898. Superintendent of Schqpls, Earlville, 111. 
1895. William Gibson Coburn, A.B., 'go, Univ. of 
Mich. 

1895. Superintendent of Schools, 92 MaCamly 

St., Battle Creek, Mich. 
1899. Connecticut Agricultural College. 

President, George W. Flint, Stores, 
Conn. 
1899. Charles H. Copbland, A.B., '96, A.M., 
'97, Indiana Univ. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Fair- 
mount, Ind. 
1897. James M. Cottingham. 

1895. Principal of Benton School, 14th and 
Liberty Sts., Kansas City, Mo. 
1899. William J. Cox, A.M., '93, Univ. of Wooster. 
Superintendent of City Schools, 16x4, 
8th Ave., Moline, 111. 
1899. William I. Crane. 



Head of English Department, Steele 
ton, O, 



High School, X206 W. 5th St., Day- 



1899. C. L. Cronebaugh, B.Sc, '87, N. N. U. 

1898. Superintendent of Schools, 746 Wheel- 

ing Ave., Cambridge, O. 
1899. Mrs. Annie B. Dean. 

Student of Education, 7x9 State St., 
Madison^Wis. 
1899. Washington S. Dearmont, A.M., '89, Mo. 
State Univ. 

1899. President of State Normal School, Cape 

Girardeau, Mo. 
1899. Dickinson College. 

President, George Edward Reed, Car- 
> lisle, Pa. 
1899. Charles Bartlbtt Dyke, A.B., '98, Stan- 
ford Univ. ; A.M., '99, Columbia Univ. 
1899. Professor of Education, Hampton Insti- 
tute, Hampton, Va. 
1899. Eastern Illinois State Normal School. 
President, Livingston C. Lord, Charles- 
ton, 111. 
1899. Joseph B. Estabrook, A.M., Olivet Coll. 
1896. Superintendent of Schools, 13x6 Main 
St., Racine, Wis. 
1899. Richard D. Ewing, B.Sc, Univ. of Mich. 
X900. Superintendent of Schools, Escanaba, 
Mich. 
1899. Rev. James P. Fagan, S.J. 

1899. Vice • President and Secretary of George - 
town University, W. Washington, 
D. C. 



119 



120 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



[Chicago 



1899. E. B. Fishburne, Jr., Grad., '03, So. Car. 
Mil. Acad.; Ph.B.,A.M.,'98., State Univ., 
111. 

Commandant and in chaise of Mathe- 
matical Department of Fishburne 
Military School, Wayne Ave., 
Waynesboro, Va. 
1899. Samuel S. Fbchhbimbr Fletcher, A.B., 
*94, London; Ph.D., '97, Jena. 

1898. Lecturer on Education in the University 

of Cambridge, and Teacher of Method 
in the C. 17. Day Training College, 
16 Warkworth St., Cambridge, Eng- 
land. 
1899. Harrison L. Frank. 

1899. Superintendent of City Schools, 41a E. 
x Clinton St., Frankfort, Ind. 

1899. John D. French. 

1899^ Superintendent of Schools, Hastings, 

1900. F. P. Gbiger, A.B., '94, Mt. Vernon Coll. 

1897. Principal of High School, Canal Dover, 

O. 
1899. 'William H. Glascock, A.B., '98, Ind. Univ. ; 
Ph.M., '99, Univ. of Chicago. 
1899. Superintendent of Schools, 408 College 
Ave., Bloomington, Ind. 
1899. J. H. Glotfeltbr. 

1891. Superintendent of City Schools, 323 
Atchison St., Atchison, Kan. 
1899. William E. Goddard, A.B., '90, Univ.* of 
Mich. 

1894. Agent for Ginn & Co., 209 S. Carroll 

St., Madison, Wis. 
1899. Alexander Campbell Goodwin, A.M., 
Ph.D., Hanover Coll. 
1899. Superintendent of City Schools, Jeffer- 
sonville, Ind. 
1899. M. H. Haertel, B.Sc, '95, St. Charles Coll., 
Mo. 

1898. Professor' of French and German, Lu- 

theran Ladies* Seminary, Red Wing, 
Minn. 
1899. J. A. Hagbmann, Ph.B., '99, Univ. of Wis. 

1899. Superintendent of Schools, Fort Atkin- 

son, Wis. 
1899. Winfibld Scott Hall, Ph.D., M.D., Leip- 
zig, Germany. 

1895. Professor of Physiology in Northwestern 

University Medical School; Presi- 
« dent of Board of Education, Berwyn, 

111. 
1899. George P. Hambrbcht. 

1898. Superintendent of City Schools, 408 
High Street, Grand Rapids, Wis. 
1899. Hampton Institute. 

President, H. B. Frissell; Librarian, 
Miss L. E. Herron, Hampton, Va. 
1899. Elbridgb L. Heath. 

1898. Principal of High School, Calumet, 

Mich. 
1899. Frank F. Heighway, B.Sc, '88, No. Ind. 
Nor. Sch. 

1896. Superintendent of Schools, Crown Point, 

Ind. 
1899. A. Ross Hill, A.B., '99. Dalhousie Coll., 
Halifax, Nova Scotia; Ph.D., '95, Cornell. 

1897. Professor of Philosophy, University of 

Nebraska, 505 N. 25th St., Lincoln, 
Neb. 
1899. John A. Hill, B.Sc, '95. 

1899. Superintendent of City Schools, Tipton, 

Ind. 
1899. Florence B. Homman. 

1899. Superintendent of Public Schools, Whit- 
ing, Ind. 
1897. Mrs. E. A. Hubbard. 

Supervisor of Primary Schools, 503 
Union St., Joliet, 111. 
1899. Philip M. Hull, A.B., "76, A.M., '79, Hamil- 
ton Coll., N. Y. 
1899. Institute Conductor, cor. Globe and 
Montgomery Sts., Johnstown, N. Y. 
1899. Indiana Normal School of Pennsylvania. 
Principal, D. T. Waller, Jr., D.D. ; 
Librarian, Albert F. Carter, Indiana, 
Pa. 



ipe: 
Oakenwald Ave., Chicago, 111. 



1899. Indiana University Library. 

President, Joseph Swain ; Librarian, 
Geo. F. Danforth, Bloomington, Ind. 

1898. Thomas P. Jandon,Jr. 

Principal of Webster School, 7x0 W. 
14th St. , Kansas City, Mo. 

1899, John B. Stetson University. 

President, John F. Forbes, DeLand, Fla. 

1899. Johns Hopkins University. 

Librarian, N. Murray, Baltimore, Md. 

1899. Henry Johnson, B.L., '89, Univ. of Minn. 

1899. Department of History, Eastern Illinois 

State Normal School, Charleston, 111. 

1899. T. S. Johnson. . 

1898. Superintendent of City School, McPher- 

son, Kan. 
1899. Grant Karr, Ph.D., Jena. 

Superintendent of Practice School, Os- 
wego Normal School, 3a Mohawk St., 
Oswego, N. Y. 
1894. Mrs. W. Schleppegrell-Keppler. 

1893. Principal of Froebel Academy, Main 
and Monroe Sts., Jacksonville, Fla. 

1897. W. D. Kbrlin. 

Superintendent of City Schools, 289 E. 
Washington St., Martinsville, Ind. 
1899. Alfred Kirk. 

District Superintendent of Schools, 4339 
Oal 
1899. D. Langb. 

1887. Supervisor of Nature Study, Teacher of 
Geology and German, Central High 
School, St. Paul, Minn. 
1899. W. D. Lash, A.M., '74, Ohio Univ. 

1878. Superintendent of Schools, Zanesville, 

1899. Lawrence University. 

President, Samuel Plantz; Librarian, 
Zelia Smith, Appleton, Wis. 
1899. Lehigh University. 

President, Thomas M. Drown, South 
Bethlehem, Pa. 
1899. Edward M. Lbhnerts. 

1896. Department of Geography, State Nor- 
mal School, Director American Bu- 
reau of Geography, 456 E. Sanborn 
St., Winona, Minn. 
1899. J. E. Lemon, A.B., '83, Univ. of Mich. 

Superintendent of Schools, 528 Maple 
Ave., Blue Island, 111. 
1899. Ezra E. Lollar, A.B., '93, Otterbein Univ., 
O. 

1899. Superintendent of City Schools, Gar- 

rett, Ind. 
1899. J. J. Maas. 

Principal Second District Schools, Syca- 
more, near 4th St., Cincinnati, O. 

1898. J. D. Matlock. 
Representative of American Book Co., 

Birmingham, Ala. 



1899. J. M. McCallib. A.B., '87, Univ. of Tenn. 
1899. Superintendent of City Schools, Center 
St., Henderson, Ky. 
1899. W. J. McKonb, B.Pd., 1900, Mich. State 
Nor. Coll. 

1898. Superintendent of Public Schools, 1100 

E. Porter St., Albion, Mich. 
1899. John J. McMahan, A.B., »86, A.M., '88, So. 
Car. Coll. 

1899. State Superintendent of Education, 1118 

Senate St., Columbia, S. C. 
1899. Mercer University Library. 

President, P. D. Pollock, Macon, Ga. 
1899. Anthony Middleton. 

1894. Superintendent of Schools, Chenoa, 111. 
1899. Midland College. 

President, Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, D.D.; 
Librarian, Granville H. Meixell, 
Atchison, Kan. 

1899. Montana State College. 

President, James Reid, Bozeman, Mont. 

1900. Abby B. Morgan. 

Dearborn- Morgan School, 443 Main St., 

Orange, N. J. 
1898. Anna Murray. 

Sloyd Teacher, 18-26 Van Buren St., 

Chicago, 111. 



Superintendence] 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OP MEMBERS 



121 



1899. Louis P. Nash. 

1899. Superintendent of Schools, Morgan St., 

Holyoke, Mass. 
1899. J. £. NeCollins, B.L., Univ. of Wis. 

1900. Superintendent of Schools, Ishpeming, 

Mich. 
1899. Aaron Haydbn Nelson, A.M., '58, Brown 
Univ. 

5508 Greenwood Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1899. Burton E. Nelson, B.Sc, M.Sc, Western 
Nor. Coll. 

1893. Superintendent of City Schools, Lewis - 

town. III. 

1899. Frank Nelson, Ph.B., '9a, Iowa State Univ. 
1899. State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, 213 Topeka Ave, Topeka. Kan. 

1899. Charles £. Nichols. 

1894. Superintendent of City Schools, 153 

Stevens Ave., Mount Vernon, N. Y. 

1898. William Noetung, A.M., '59, Union Coll., 

Schenectady, N. Y. 
1877. Professor of Pedagogics, Normal School, 
Bloomsburg, Pa. 

1899. Northern State Normal School. 

Principal, D. B. Waldo, Marquette, 
Mich. 
1899. Ezra W. Palmer, A.B., '94, Univ. of Kan. 
1897. Superintendent of Schools, Box 308, 
Cripple Creek, Colo. 
1899. C. E. Patzer. 

Teacher in State Normal School, 335, 
33d St., Milwaukee, Wis. 
1899. Percy Pickrell. 

Agent for Ginn & Co., WiUiamsville, 111. 
7899. Colin M. Pinkerton, Ph.B., '82, Drake 
Univ., la. 

1896. Superintendent of Schools, 6x4 M ain St., 

Lead, S. D. 
1899. J. Asbury Pitman. 

1897. Superintendent of Schools, 62 Green- 

wood St., Marlborough, Mass. 
1899. E. A. F. Porter. 

Representative of American Book Co., 
317 Walnut St., Cincinnati, O. 
1899. Port Jbrvis Free Library. 

Librarian, Elizabeth G. Thorne, Port 
Jervis, N. Y. 
1899. Samuel C. Price, A.B., 'ox, Ohio Univ. 

1895. Superintendent of Public Schools, 87 

Lincoln Ave., Mt. Clemens, Mich. 
1899. F. G. Proudfoot. 

With D. C. Heath & Co., 378 Wabash 
Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1899. Public Library. 

Librarian, W. L. Rowland, Rockford, 
111. 
1899. William E. Pulsifbr. 

Educational Publisher of D. C. Heath 
& Co.. 93, 5th Ave., New York. 
1899. Walter E. Ranger, A.B., '79, A.M., '83. 
Bates Coll. 

1896. Principal of State Normal School, John- 

son, Vt. 

1898. Dimon H. Roberts, A.B., '92, A.M., '95, 

Amherst Coll. 

Superintendent of Model Schools, State 
Normal School, 253 Main St., Winona, 
Minn. 

1899. R. Kbablb Row, A.B., '97* Queens Univ., 

Kingston, Can. 

With D. C. Heath & Co., 378 Wabash 
Ave., Chicago., III. 
1899. JbrohnJ. Savitz, A.M., '93, Ursinus Univ. : 
Pd.M., '99, New York Univ. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Myr- 
tle Ave., Boonton, N. J. 
1899. John J. Schobingbr. 

1876. Principal of Harvard Preparatory 
School, 4670 Lake Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1899. School op Pedagogy, New York Univer- 
sity. 

Dean, Edward R. Shaw, Washington 
Square, New York, N. Y. 
1899. Scotia Seminary. 

President, Rev. D. J. Satterfield, D.D., 
Concord, N. C. 



1899. 
1899. 
1899. 
1899. 

x«99- 

1899. 
1899. 

1899. 
1898. 

1899. 
1899. 

1899. 

1899. 
1899. 

1899. 

1899. 
1896. 
1899. 

1899. 
1899. 

1899. 
1899. 
1899. 

1899. 

1893. 

1899. 



F. M. Shelton, B.Sc, '99, Mt. Union Coll. 
1899. Teacher in Grammar Grade, Louisville, 

O. 
Mrs. Julia Cole Sherwood. 

1898. Spruce Grove District, Lower Lake, 

Cal. 
F. F. Showers, B.L., Univ. of Wis. 

1899. Superintendent of City Schools, Antigo, 



uperio 
Wis. 



Elmer E. Silver, A.M., '88, Brown Univ. 
Publisher, 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 
111. 
James W. Simmons. 

Superintendent of Schools, 640 Clark 
St., Stevens Point, Wis. 
D. H. Smallby. 

388 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 

Irving B. Smith, A.M., '73, Hillsdale Coll. 
1899. Conductor of Teachers' Institutes, De- 
partment of Public Instruction, State 
of New York, Warsaw, N. Y. 
J. E. Smith. 
1885. Superintendent of Schools, City Hall, 

San Antonio, Tex. 
Smith College. 

President, Rev. L. Clark Seeley ; Libra- 
rian, Miss L. W. Lyon, Northampton, 
Mass. 
South Dakota Agricultural College. 

President, J. W. Heston, Brookings, 
S. D. 
Southern Illinois Normal University. 

President, Daniel B. Parkinson ; Libra- 
rian, Bessie M. Thompson, Carbon - 
dale. 111. 
M. A. Carroll Stapleton, A.B., '85, A.M., 

'88, Middlebury Coll., Vt. 
1895. Superintendent of Schools, Anaconda, 

Mont. 
State Female Normal School. 

President, Robert Frazer, FarmvilIe,Va. 

State Normal School atJacksonville. 

President, William Clarence Daugette, 
Jacksonville, Ala. 
Edward L. Stevens, A.B., A.M., Hamilton ; 

Ph.D., 111. Wesleyan. 
1898. Superintendent of Schools, Borough of 
Queens, N. Y. ; res., Flushing, N. Y. 
John W. Swartz. A.B., '96, Ohio Wesleyan. 
Superintendent of Schools, Tippecanoe 
City, O. 
Jambs L. Thatcher, B.L., '93, Univ. of Wis. 
Representative of Ginn & Co., Mil- 
waukee, Wis. 
Isaac Thomas, A.B., '81, A.M., '84, Ph.D*., 

1900, Yale. 
1898. Principal of High School, 8 Wilson St., 

Burlington, Vt. 
J. A. Townsend, A.B., '94, Dartmouth Coll. 
With Charles Scribner's Sons, 334 Dear- 
born St., Chicago, 111. 
Tualatin Academy and Pacific University. 
President, Thomas McClelland, D.D. ; 
Librarian, Joseph W. Marsh, Forest 
Grove, Ore. 
C. W. Turner. 

With Silver, Burdett & Co., Lincoln, 
Neb. 
University of Chicago. 

President, William R. Harper; Libra- 
rian, Zella Allen Dixson, Chicago, 111. 
University of North Dakota. 

President, Webster Merrifield; Secre- 
tary, Joseph Kennedy, Grand Forks, 
N. D. 
Edwin M. Van Petten, M.Sc, '85, 111. Wes. 

Univ. 
1892. Superintendent of City Schools, 1217 E. 

Washington St., Bloomington, 111. 
George H. Voorhis. 

1881. Principal of Centennial Grammar 
School, 3x1 S. Clinton Ave., Trenton, 
N J. 
W. H. Wagner, B.L., Univ. of Neb. 
1894. Superintendent of City Schools, He- 
bron, Neb. 



122 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



[Chicago 



X899. J. W. Walker. 

1733 College Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 
1899. Edward G. Ward. 

1898. Borough Superintendent of Schools, 976 
Decatur St., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
1899. Ward Seminary for Young Ladies. 

President, J. D. Blanton,Nashville,Tenn. 
1899. Eugbnk C. Warrinbr, A.B.,'91, Univ.of Mich. 

Supt. of Schools, Saginaw, Mich. 
1899. John S. Weaver. 

1892. Principal of High School, 166 Stanton 
Ave., Springfield, 0. 
1899. £. Eugene Webster. 

419 E. North St., Three Rivers, Mich. 
1899. George W. Webster, M.D., '82, N. W. 
Univ. Med. Sch. 

Professor of Physical Diagnosis^ North- 
western University Medical School, 70 
State St., Chicago, 111. 
1897. Frank H. Westcott, A.B., Univ. of Chi- 
cago. 
1897. Superintendent of Schools, Lacon, 111. 



1899* Wheaton College. 

President, Charles A. Blanchard, 
Wheaton, 111. 

1899. Eugene A. Wilson, A.M.. '99, Mt. Hope 
Coll., 0. ; M.Pd., '99, Mich. Nor. Coll. 

Superintendent of Schools, 141 Wash- 
ington St., Benton Harbor, Mich. 

1899. J. Alfred Wilson, B.Sc, '97, Rutgers Coll. 
1899. Principal of Public Schools, Main St., 
Milltown, N. J. 

1899. Woman's College. 

'President, J. H. Apple, Frederick, Md. 

1899. Elizabeth Josephine Woodward. 

Associate Principal of Private School, 
319 Marlborough St., Boston, Mass. 
1895. Jason E. Hammond, B.Sc, '86, Mich. Agri. 
Coll. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, X15 St. Joseph St., Lansing. 
Mich. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 



AT THE ANNUAL MEETING HELD AT CHICAGO, ILL. 
FEBRUARY 26, 27, AND 28, I90I 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION 

1901 



PRINTED BY 

Gbe lllnfvergftg of Chicago press 

1901 



CONTENTS 

CHICAGO MEETING — 1901 



PAGE 

Secretary's Minutes 5 

Report of Committee on Temperance Instruction — Lane 9 

The Gospel of Work— Cooley 13 

Discussion — Mark 17 

Education at the Paris Exposition — Rogers - 17 

Simplified Spelling — Vaile 25 

Discussion — Mac Donald, Pretty man, Parker ', Thompson, Carter, White, Jones, 

Skinner, Harris, Vaile - - - - 31 

The Past and the Future Work of the Department — Greenwood 43 

Discussion — Cooper - - - 48 

Sketch and Early History of Department of Superintendence — White - 49 

Medical Inspection in Public Schools — Christopher 52 

Discussion — Gove, Seaver, Maxwell, Krohn 54 

Use and Control of Examinations — Hadley -56 

Report on Manual Training in the Detroit Public Schools — Trybom 66 

Progress and Aims of Domestic Science in the Chicago Public Schools — Tibbits - 73 

Manual Training in Menomonie Public Schools — Hoyt - 77 

Discussion — Parker, Stout, et at. 85 

Possibilities of Manual Training for Moral Ends — Bates ----- 86 

ROUND TABLES 

Round Table of Superintendents of Large Cities — Leader, Soldan : 

Topic — Organization of Inspection and Supervision — Jones, et al. - - - 92 

Round Table of Superintendents of Small Cities : 

Section A — Leader, Wolfe : 

Topic — Developing Greater Efficiency in the Teaching Force — Whitcomb, 

McNeill, Kirk, Griffith, et al. - 96 

Section B — Leader, Shearer : 

Topic — Grading in the Interests of Pupils — Coleman 101 

Section C — Leader, Mott : 

Topic — Correlation of High-School and Grammar-Grade Work — Boynton, 

et al. 103 

Section D — Leader, Downing : 

Topic — Literature in Grades below the High School — Miss Schreiber - - 104 
Round Table of State and County Superintendents — Leader, Bonebrake : 

Topic — Consolidation of Rural Schools and Transportation of Pupils - - 109 
Round Table of Training Teachers — Leader, Miss Lawrence : 

Topic — Observation of Experts as a Means of Training - - - - no 



The Need of Individual Instruction — Kennedy - in 

Discussion — Millspaugh, Hall, Whitcomb, Fall, Balliet 117 

A Standard Course of Study — Boone - - -119 

Discussion — Draper, et al. 134 

Some Aspects of Public-School Training — Briggs 136 

Discussion — Harris 146 

The Situation as Regards Courses of Study — Dewey 148 

Supplementary List of Active Members - - - - 166 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 

CHICAGO MEETING, 1901 



SECRETARY'S MINUTES 



FIRST DAY 
MORNING SESSION.— Tuesday, February 26, 1901 

The Department of Superintendence was called to order in University Hall of the Fine 
Arts Building, Chicago, 111., at 10 A. M., President L. D. Harvey in the chair. 

Prayer was offered by Dr. E. E. White, Columbus, O. 

After a few announcements by the president, Mr. E. G. Cooley, superintendent of 
the Chicago schools, was introduced and presented the first paper of the meeting, upon 
"The Gospel of Work." The paper was discussed by Superintendent E. H. Mark, 
Louisville, Ky. 

Mr. Howard J. Rogers, director of education and social economy, United States 
exhibit at the Paris Exposition, gave an address upon " Education at the Paris Exposi- 
tion." 

The following question had been assigned a place upon the program by vote of the 

department at the meeting in 1900: 

Should the Department of Superintendence memorialize the Board of Directors of the National Educa- 
tional Association to appropriate the sum of $1,000 for each of the next five years, to be expended in promoting 
the cause of simplifying our English spelling, under the direction of a commission to be named by this body ? 

The discussion of the question was opened by Mr. E. O. Vaile, editor of the Intelli- 
gence, Oak Park, 111. Others participating in the discussion were : John MacDonald, 
editor of the Western School Journal, Topeka, Kan.; Principal E. B. Prettyman, Mary- 
land; Colonel F. W. Parker, Chicago; Mr. Slosson Thompson, of the Times- Herald, 
Chicago ; and Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111. 

The time for the discussion having expired, and announcement to that effect being 
made by the president, Mr. Soldan, St. Louis, moved that the time be extended thirty 
minutes. Carried. 

The discussion was continued by Dr. E. E. White, Columbus, O.; Superintendent 

L. H. Jones, Cleveland, O.; Dr. W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education ; 

and was closed by Mr. Vaile, who offered the following resolution : 

Resolved, That this department respectfully presents the following petition to the Board of Directors 
of the National Educational Association, and asks for its favorable action thereon, [For full text of the peti- 
tion see Mr. Vaile's address, p. 35.J 

Superintendent C. G. Pearse, Omaha, Neb., moved that the resolution be indefinitely 
postponed. Superintendent Joseph H. Carter, Champaign, 111., moved to lay the motion 
to postpone upon the table. Vote upon motion to table: yeas, 74; nays, 104. Motion 
declared lost. Vote upon indefinite postponement: yeas, 105; nays, 77. The motion 
to indefinitely postpone was declared carried. Motion to adjourn to 2:30 P. M. carried. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The department was called to order by President Harvey at 2 : 40 P. M. 
Superintendent J. M. Greenwood presented a paper upon " The Past and Future 

5 



6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Work of the Department of Superintendence." Superintendent F. B. Cooper, Salt Lake 
City, Utah, opened the discussion. 

Dr. E. E. White moved that the paper of Superintendent Greenwood be published 
by the Board of Directors in form for general distribution. The motion was amended 
to include Dr. White's " Historical Sketch of the Department." Carried. 

Dr. W. S. Christopher, Chicago, gave an address upon " Medical Inspection in 
Schools." The following discussion was participated in by Superintendent Aaron Gove, 
Denver; Superintendent E. P. Seaver, Boston; Superintendent W. H. Maxwell, New 
York city ; and Dr. W. O. Krohn, Chicago. 

After various announcements the meeting adjourned to meet at 8 : 1 5 P. M. 

EVENING SESSION 

The meeting was called to order at 8 : 15 P. M. by President Harvey. The president 
announced that President Arthur T. Hadley of Yale University, who was to have delivered 
the address of the evening, had been called home by the dangerous illness of his daughter. 
He then introduced President James H. Baker of the University of Colorado, who by 
invitation read President Hadley's address upon " The Use and Control of Examina- 
tions." 

The meeting adjourned to 9 : 30 Wednesday morning. 

SECOND DAY 
MORNING SESSION. — Wednesday, February 27 

The meeting was called to order by President Harvey at 9 : 50 A. M. 
The following committees were announced : 

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS 

Superintendent L. H. Jones, Cleveland, O. Superintendent C. E. Chadsey, North Denver, Colo. 

State Superintendent C. J. Baxter, New Jersey. 

COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS 

Principal E. O. Lyte, MillersviUe, Pa. Superintendent Frank A. Smith, Lawrence, Kan. 

Superintendent McHenry Rhoads, Owensboro, Ky. State Superintendent Alfred Bayliss, Illinois. 

Superintendent L. L. Wright, Iron wood, Mich. 

Papers were presented by J. H. Trybom, supervisor of manual training, Detroit, Mich., 
on "Manual Training in the Elementary Schools of Detroit;" by Principal Henry S. 
Tibbits, Chicago, 111., on " The Progress and Aims of Domestic Science in Chicago ; " by 
Superintendent Judson E. Hoyt, Menomonie, Wis., on " Work in Manual Training in the 
Public Schools of Menomonie, Wis." 

Dr. A. E. Winship, Boston, was recognized at this point, and in a brief speech 
presented President Harvey with a gavel with which to regulate discussion. 

The papers presented were discussed by Colonel F. W. Parker, Mr. J. H. Stout, 
Menomonie, Wis.; Mr. Bevans, Aurora, 111.; Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 
111.; Professor C. M. Woodward, St. Louis ; Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y.; 
and Mr. Trybom, Detroit. 

Professor R. Charles Bates, supervisor of manual training, Tome Institute, Port 
Deposit, Md., read a paper on the " Possibilities of Manual Training for Moral Ends." 

After various announcements the meeting adjourned. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

Round-table meetings were held during the afternoon as follows, convening at 
2 p. M.: 

I. "City Superintendents in Large Cities." 
Leader, Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis. 



Superintendence] SECRETARY'S MINUTES 



The topic discussed was " Organization of the Work of Inspection and Supervision 
thru Assistant Teachers and Principals, so as to Reach the Grade Teacher." 

The discussion was participated in by Superintendent L. H. Jones, Cleveland, O.; 
Superintendent William F. Slayton, Atlanta, Ga.; Superintendent H. O. R. Siefert, Milwau- 
kee, Wis.; District Superintendent Leslie Lewis, Chicago ; Superintendent William N. 
Hailmann, Dayton, O.; Mr. Anderson, Milwaukee, Wis.; Superintendent Soldan, St. 
Louis; Superintendent Z. H. Brown, Nashville, Tenn.; Superintendent William J. M. 
Cox, Moline, 111.; District Superintendent Miss M.Elizabeth Farson, Chicago ; Superin- 
tendent Thomas M. Balliet, Springfield, Mass.; Superintendent E. H. Mark, Louisville, 
Ky.; District Superintendent A. G. Lane, Chicago; Superintendent C. G. Pearse, 
Omaha ; District Superintendent Charles D. Lowry, Chicago. 

II. " City Superintendents in Small Cities." 

Section A. — Leader, Superintendent L. E. Wolfe, Kansas City, Kan. 

The questions discussed were : " The Work of the Superintendent in Small Cities in 
Developing Greater Efficiency in the Teaching Force ; " " The Advancement of Pupils 
thru the Grades along a Straight, Rather than a Broken, Line of Progress ; " " How shall 
We Secure Better Teaching from Those under Our Supervision ? " 

The discussion of the first question was participated in by Superintendent A. K. 
Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass.; Superintendent J. H. Glotfelter, Atchison, Kan.; Superin- 
tendent W. F. F. Selleck, Austin, Minn.; Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111.; 
Superintendent Darius Steward, Stillwater, Minn. 

President I. C. McNeill of the West Superior Normal School, Wisconsin, opened 
the discussion of the second question named, and it was continued by Superintendent 
Arthur Powell, Marion, O.; Superintendent R. A. Ogg, Kokomo, Ind.; Superintendent F. 
Treudley, Youngstown, O.; President John R. Kirk, State Normal School, Kirksville, 
Mo.; Superintendent M. A. Whitney, Elgin, 111.; Superintendent F. V. Hubbard, Red Wing, 
Minn.; Superintendent John Richeson, East St. Louis, 111.; Superintendent George V. 
Buchanan, Sedalia, Mo.; Superintendent McDonald, Henderson, Ky.; Professor C. M. 
Woodward, St. Louis; Superintendent Aaron Gove, Denver; Superintendent P. R. 
Walker, Rockford, 111. 

Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y., discussed the question : " How shall 
We Secure Better Teaching from Those under Our Supervision ?" 

Section B. — Leader, Superintendent William J. Shearer, Elizabeth, N. J, 

The topic discussed was : " Grading for Efficient Organization in the Interest of 
Pupils." 

Those participating in the discussion were: Superintendent Shearer ; Superintendent 
E. N. Coleman, Fort Dodge, la.; Superintendent Charles W. Deane, Bridgeport, Conn. 

Section C. — Leader, Superintendent T. A. Mott, Richmond, Ind. 

The subject discussed was : " Correlation of High-School and Grammar-Grade Work." 

The discussion was opened by Superintendent F. D. Boynton, Ithaca, N. Y., and con- 
tinued by Superintendent C. M. Bardwell, Aurora, 111.; Professor A. F. Smith, Kansas City, 
Mo.; Professor Daniel E. Phillips, Denver University; Principal George H. Rockwood, 
Chicago; Superintendent C. S. Marsh, North Tonawanda, N. Y.; Superintendent T. A. 
Mott, Richmond, Ind.; Superintendent Smith, Danville, 111.; Dr. A. E. Winship, Boston ; 
Superintendent J. F. Keating, Pueblo, Colo.; Superintendent J. N. Study, Fort Wayne, 
Ind.; Principal Samuel B. Hursh, Streator, 111.; Superintendent Edward Ayres, La Fayette, 
Ind.; Superintendent Barto, Princeton, 111.; Superintendent J. W. Carr, Anderson, Ind.; 
Superintendent B. F. Moore, Marion, Ind. 

The discussion was concluded by Superintendent Boynton, Ithaca, who summed up 
the points made in the discussion. 

Section D, — Leader, Augustus S. Downing, principal of Teachers' Training School, 
New York, N. Y. 

The question under discussion was " Literature in Grades below the High School." 



8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The discussion was opened by Miss Mae E. Schreiber, of the Department of Public 
Instruction, Madison, Wis. 

III. "State and County Superintendents." 
Leader, State Superintendent L. D. Bonebrake, Ohio. 

The topic discussed was: "The Consolidation of Schools and Transportation of 
Pupils." 

The discussion was opened by. State Superintendent Alfred Bayliss, Illinois. Others 
participating were: County Superintendent O.J. Kern, Rockford, 111.; Superintendent 
Gross, De Kalb county, 111.; State Superintendent Frank L. Jones, Indiana ; Professor 
A. J. Hutton, Whitewater Normal School, Wisconsin ; Superintendent A. B. Graham, 
Springfield, O. ; State Superintendent J. W. Olsen, Minnesota ; State Superintendent 
R. C. Barrett, Iowa ; State Superintendent Skinner, New York ; Superintendent Nattrass, 
La Fayette county, Wis.; County Superintendent Miss Fanny G. Gies, Mower county, 
Minn.; County Superintendent O. T. Bright, Cook county, 111.; State Superintendent 
W. T. Carrington, Missouri ; State Superintendent T. T. Tynan, Wyoming. 

After the close of the discussion Chairman Bonebrake introduced Division Superin- 
tendent M. S. Stone, of the Philippine Islands, who spoke of educational work in those 
islands. 

Superintendent Bayliss introduced the following resolution, which was adopted : 

Resolved— 

x. That it is the opinion of this round table of state and county superintendents that it is desirable that 
we have legislation providing that any group of school districts may be consolidated, and provision be made 
for carrying children to and from school at public expense. 

a. That it is desirable that the proposition be systematically presented to the people of rural com- 
munities. 

3. That we ask that the question be made a part of the general program of the Department of Superin- 
tendence for next year. 

State Superintendent Charles R. Skinner, of New York, made a motion that a com- 
mittee of three be selected to present a report on the present conditions of rural schools 
to the directors of the National Educational Association at Detroit next July, and to ask 
for an appropriation to carry on further investigation of consolidation of schools and 
transportation of pupils. The motion was amended to a " committee of five " and carried. 
A committee, composed of Superintendent Alfred Bayliss, of Illinois; Superintendent 
R. C. Barrett, of Iowa; Superintendent Frank L. Jones, of Indiana; Superintendent 
Charles R. Skinner, of New York ; and State Commissioner L. D. Bonebrake, of Ohio, 
was then appointed. 

The following officers of the round table were elected for next year: chairman, 
Hon. Frank L. Jones, state superintendent of Indiana ; secretary, Miss Fanny G. Gies, 
superintendent of schools of Mower county, Minn. 

On motion, the meeting adjourned until the second day of the National Educational 
Association at Detroit next July. 

IV. Round Table of Training Teachers. 
Leader, Miss Isabel Lawrence, St. Cloud, Minn. 

The subject discussed was: "The Observation of Experts as a Means of Training — 
Its Value and Limitations." 

Those taking part in the discussion were : Miss Sarah C. Brooks, supervisor of 
primary schools, St. Paul ; Professor J. S. Gaylord, State Normal School, Winona, Minn.; 
Superintendent W. A. Shoemaker, St. Cloud, Minn.; Miss Amalie Hofer, Kindergarten 
Magazine, Chicago ; President John W. Cook, Northern Illinois State Normal School, 
De Kalb ; Principal W. A. Baldwin, State Normal School, Hyannis, Mass.; Mr. E. C. 
Bronson, Normal School, Athens, Ga.; Miss Ada Van Stone Harris, supervisor of primary 
schools, Newark, N. J.; Professor G. E. Maxwell, State Normal School, Winona, Minn.; 
Miss Hughes, Cambridge, Eng.; Miss Katherine Dopp, Chicago ; Dean James E. Russell, 
Teachers College, New York. 



Superintendence] SECRETARY'S MINUTES 9 

THlkD DAY 
MORNING SESSION.— Thursday, February 28 

The meeting was called to order at 9 : 50, President Harvey in the chair. 

After announcements, the president introduced District Superintendent A. G. Lane, 
Chicago, chairman of the Committee on Physiology in Schools, appointed at the meet- 
ing of the department in 1900. 

Mr. Lane presented the following report : 

The undersigned committee of the Department of Superintendence was appointed 
under the following resolution : 

Resolved y That the chair appoint a committee of seven, whose duty it shall be to report upon the teach- 
ing of physiology in the schools, especially with regard to the condition and progress of scientific inquiry as 
to the action of alcohol upon the human system, and to recommend what action, if any, by this department, is 
justified by the results of these inquiries. 

Your committee recommends the adoption of the following report : 

The Department of Superintendence agrees cordially with the special advocates of 
the temperance cause in holding that everything which public instruction can do in the 
battle against intemperance ought to be done, and that both physiology and hygiene 
should be so taught as to leave in the minds of children and youth an adequate and 
proper knowledge of the effects of alcoholic drinks and stimulants, and of narcotics, on 
the human system. 

Since the last meeting of this department there has been considerable discussion of 
the question as to whether alcohol under any conditions is properly to be defined as an 
article of food. Medical authorities are quoted in support of both sides of this question ; 
but no authority has been found to maintain that alcohol is a food in the ordinary sense 
of that term. The question of the supposed food value of alcohol is a technical one for 
medical experts to determine, and not one which need concern the men and women 
who are engaged in the work of public instruction of children and youth. For them it 
is enough to know that its use as a beverage is injurious, and that all authorities agree in 
deprecating the formation of the drinking habit and in commending all practicable efforts, 
thru public instruction, to promote the cause of temperance. 

The questions of highest importance for teachers and superintendents of schools to 
consider are those which relate to the methods by which temperance mstruction shall be 
imparted, the extent to which it shall be carried, and the subject-matter to be presented. 

The educational side of this subject is vitally important and demands thoro and sys- 
tematic study. 

We therefore recommend that a body of educational doctrine be formulated which 
may guide temperance instruction in the schools thruout the country, and we further 
recommend that the scope of the investigation be so enlarged as to cover, not only the 
topics already suggested, but also the whole field of personal hygiene, so far as this is a 
practicable matter for school instruction. 

We also recommend that this investigation be conducted under the direction of the 
National Council of Education, in accordance with the regulations of the National Educa- 
tional Association. 

Albert G. Lane. 

O. T. Corson. 
F. Louis Soldan. 
E. O. Lyte. 
Edwin P. Seaver. 
James H. Van Sickle. 
Edwin A. Alderman. 

Upon motion of Mr. Lane, seconded by Henry Sabin, of Iowa, the report was adopted 
without debate. 



IO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

A paper on " Individual Instruction an Imperative Need in Our Schools " was given 
by Superintendent John Kennedy, Batavia, N. Y. The discussion was opened by President 
Jesse F. Millspaugh, Winona, Minn., and was continued by Dr. G. Stanley Hall, of Clark 
University ; Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb ; State Superintendent Delos Fall, of Michi- 
gan ; Superintendent T. M. Balliet ; and concluded by Superintendent Kennedy. 

Dr. E. O. Lyte presented the report of the Committee on Nominations, as follows : 

The committee appointed by the president of the department to nominate officers of the department for 
the ensuing year begs leave to submit the following report : 
The officers nominated by the committee are as follows : 
For President — G. R. Glenn, state school commissioner, Georgia. 
For First Vice-President — H. P. Emerson, city superintendent, Buffalo, N. Y. 
For Second Vice-President — F. W.Cooley, city superintendent, Calumet, Mich. 
For Secretary — John W. Dietrich, city superintendent, Colorado Springs, Colo. 

Upon motion of Superintendent O. T. Bright, the secretary was directed to cast the 
ballot of the department for the nominees named in the report. The secretary reported 
that he had so cast the ballot, and the officers named in the report were declared elected. 

Superintendent William J. M. Cox, Moline, 111., offered the following : 

Resolved — 

x. That a committee of seven be appointed by the president of the department for the careful examina- 
tion of the papers, addresses, and discussions dealing directly with the work of school supervision, heretofore 
presented in the meetings of the National Educational Association, the Department of Superintendence, and 
the Council of Education, for the purpose of culling from the mass of material thus accumulated such parts 
thereof as the committee shall deem worthy of publication in a special report, supplementing the several papers 
and excerpts by such authoritative statements, notes, and suggestions as may be found necessary or desirable. 

a. That we request the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association to provide for the 
publication of said report in such form and numbers as the committee shall recommend. 

Upon motion, the resolution was adopted. Mr. Ossian H. Lang moved that the 
department memorialize the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association 
to appropriate $200 to defray the expenses of the committee provided for in the foregoing 
resolution. 

Superintendent L. II. Jones, Cleveland, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, 
presented the report of the Committee on Resolutions as follows : 

Resolved — 

x. That the sincere thanks of this department are due, and are hereby offered, to the president and other 
officers of this body for the wise selection of topics for our discussion, for the dignified and able management 
of the work of the department, and for the courteous treatment of members during the progress of the different 
sessions of the present meeting ; and that our thanks be extended to those who have prepared papers or discus- 
sions to our interest and advantage. 

2. That this department hereby expresses its interest in the problem of centralization of rural schools 
and the transportation of pupils at public expense, now being practiced so successfully in many states, and 
that we see in this movement possibilities of great improvement of rural schools, involving the excellences of 
a graded system of instruction without the attendant evils consequent upon the crowded conditions of tenement 
life in cities ; and, further, that we look upon this movement as having important bearing upon the solution of 
pressing sociological as well as educational problems, and that this topic be recommended to the officers -elect 
of this body as worthy a place upon the general program of this department at its next meeting. 

3. That this department expresses its great gratification at the progress made evident by exercises before 
this body at this meeting in the work of manual training in the public schools of the country, and especially at 
the fact that this department of education has ceased to be presented as a sensational element of a fragmentary 
and one-sided training for special industries, and has taken its place as an essential part of the education of a 
free people intent upon the complete and harmonious development of the individual, opening for him, not a 
single line, but the whole field of human endeavor. 

4. That this department extends its thanks to the permanent Secretary of the National Educational 

Association for the never-failing wisdom and courtesy shown at this meeting, as at all times, in dealing with 

the questions which grow out of the relation of this department to the general association, and especially with 

details of transportation of members, and that he be commended for the system and efficiency which he has 

introduced and maintained in his department. 

L. H. Jones, Chairman, 

C. E. Chadsey. 

C. J. Baxter. 



Superintendence] SECRE TAR Y'S MINUTES 1 1 

Superintendent Aaron Gove moved that a committee of three be appointed by the 
chair to report a year hence a constitution and by-laws for the department under the 
limitations of the constitution and by-laws of the National Educational Association. 
Carried. 

Superintendent R. G. Boone, Cincinnati, being recognized by the chair, presented 

an invitation to the department to meet at Cincinnati in 1902. Superintendent G. R. 

Glenn, of Georgia, seconded for Cincinnati. 

Superintendent E. G. Cooley, Chicago, invited the department to meet in Chicago 
in 1902. 

State Superintendent W. W. Welch, of Montana, invited the department to meet in 
Helena, Mont. 

Superintendent Gove expressed regret at manifestations of a disposition to return to 
the old order of things and to adopt an itinerant policy. He favored continuing the 
meeting at Chicago. Superintendent Blodgett, Syracuse, spoke in favor of the itinerant 
plan. Superintendent O'Connor, of Nebraska, favored Chicago. 

John McDonald, of Kansas, invited the department to meet in Wichita, Kan. 

State Superintendent Skinner, of New York, favored Chicago. Superintendent 
Pearse, Omaha, spoke for Chicago. 

The department then proceeded to vote for the location of the meeting for 1902. 
Cincinnati received 109 votes; Chicago, 126 votes; Helena, 6 votes; Wichita, 1 vote. 
Chicago, having received the highest number of votes, was declared to be the choice of 
the department for the meeting in 1902. 

President Harvey then introduced President Green of the National Educational 
Association, who addressed the department briefly regarding the meeting of the National 
Educational Association at Detroit in July, 1901. 

The department then adjourned to meet at 2 p. M. 

AFTERNOON SESSION 

The department convened at 2 p. M., President Harvey in the chair. 

Superintendent R. G. Boone of the Cincinnati schools read a paper upon "A 
Standard Course of Study for Elementary Schools in Cities." 

The discussion was led by President A. S. Draper of the University of Illinois, and 
participated in further by Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis. 

Professor L. B. R. Briggs, of Harvard University, gave a paper upon "Some Aspects 
of Public-School Training." 

The paper was discussed by Dr. William T. Harris, Washington; Dr. C. A. McMurry, 
State Normal School, De Kalb, 111. ; Superintendent William N. Hailmann, Dayton, O. ; 
President R. H. Halsey, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. ; and Superintendent R. G. 
Boone. 

The meeting then adjourned to convene again at 8 : 15 P. M. 

EVENING SESSION 

The department was called to order at 8 : 15 P. M. by President Harvey. 

Professor John Dewey, Chicago, gave the address of the evening, on " The Situation 
as Regards the Course of Study." 

President Harvey announced the following committees, appointed in pursuance of 
resolutions passed by the department during the convention : 

COMMITTEE ON SELECTION AND PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL RELATING TO CITY- 
SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

Superintendent J. M. Greenwood, Kansas City, Mo. President R. H. Halsey, State Normal School, Osh- 
Superintendent W. J. M. Cox, Moline, 111. kosh, Wis. 

Dr. Eiaerson E. White, Columbus, O. Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia Univer- 

Superintendent E. H. Mark, Louisville, Ky. sity, New York city. 

State Superintendent N. C. Schaeffer, Harrisburg, Pa. 



12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

COMMITTEE TO FRAME CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF 

SUPERINTENDENCE 

Superintendent Aaron Gore, Denver, Colo. Superintendent R. G. Boone, Cincinnati, O. 

Superintendent William H. Maxwell, New York city. 

The convention then adjourned sine die. 

Frank B. Cooper, 

Secretary. 



Superintendence] THE GOSPEL OF WORK 1 3 



PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS 



THE GOSPEL OF WORK 

EDWIN G. COOLEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF CITY SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, ILL. 

We are living in a civilization with a penchant for action ; " hustle " 
is the watchword of the hoilr. A strenuous, or at least a clamorous, life 
is the only one worthy of the commendation of the American — that is, the 
American of the latitude and longitude of Chicago. Americans, indi- 
vidually and collectively, seem to be looking about for more worlds to 
conquer. 

Men of our day organize into numerous civic and other missionary 
associations, ready to undertake the redress of every public grievance, at 
least so far as this redress can be brought about on the platform and 
around the dinner table. Our ladies, thru their numerous clubs, are add- 
ing to the homely affairs of the household the task of the mental, moral, 
and physical regeneration of society. As a nation, we seem ready to 
undertake the larger responsibilities of world-regulation. In addition 
to the task of absorbing the thousands of aliens who are seeking our 
hospitable shores, we are taking up the work of a national colporteur in 
foreign lands and in strange climes. Expansion and optimism are our 
ideals, as a nation and as individuals. 

Along with this restless, active life has arisen a contempt for the pas- 
sive virtues, and for people who profess, or who advocate, them. We 
seem to be ready to accept the doctrine that the earth and its fruits 
belong to those only who can use them, and who will and can use them 
according to modern ideas of the fitness of things. The red Indian who 
uses the earth as a hunting-ground cannot expect to keep the land away 
from him who will raise corn and hogs on it. The Filipino who uses 
rosewood for railroad ties ought not to be trusted with the stewardship of 
earth's wonderful resources. The Boer who persists in cattle-raising in a 
country that abounds in gold and diamond mines should not expect to 
be permitted to stand in the way of modern progress, and civilization. 
We apply the parable of the talents to such cases with a vengeance, trans- 
forming it into the doctrine that " might makes right." 

Our lawmaking bodies show an inordinate faith in the power of 
authority in the form of legislative action. Every winter sees its addi- 
tional mountain of legislation ; and yet every reformer cries out for more, 
forgetting the most important factors of his problem — the officials who 



14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

execute the laws, and the characteristics of the people who live under 
them. Legislation is urged as tho life were passed in a vacuum and 
resistance were unknown. 

Our schools have not escaped this modern tendency. We have been 
expanding with the rest. We have felt impelled to attempt the complete 
regeneration of society in four short years, regardless of thousands of 
years of opposing inheritances. We have been ready to undertake any 
new project that seemed to be of an educative nature, without con- 
sidering its relations to other branches of work, or to the amount of 
unconsumed energy available. Happy and famous is the man or woman 
who has been able to set the schools a new task, for multitudes have 
arisen to call him a reformer. 

The thorogoing belief in the efficiency of work and of the obligation 
of all mankind to work owes much to the evangelism of such men as 
Carlyle and Ruskin. Carlyle preached the gospel of work to a genera- 
tion that looked for leadership and inspiration to men who had little or 
nothing to do. His Sartor Resartus, his Heroes, and his Past and Present 
are full of this gospel. He cries : 

The world and all that is in it are the result of work. The great men in history, as 
well as the great races, have been those who earnestly worked. The old gospel was, 
"Know thyself ;" the new is, " Know thy work and do it." All work is noble ; a life of 
ease is not for any man. One monster there is in the world, the idle man. What is his 
religion ? That nature is a phantasm, where cunning beggary or thievery may some- 
times find good victual ; that God is a lie ; that man and his works are a lie; 

Ruskin was almost equally earnest in his advocacy of work ; and to 
precept added action. Many of us have read, with some amusement, of 
his road-building experiment with the Oxford students. But the young 
men who took part in this experiment never forgot the obligation he laid 
upon them, to labor — each within his particular province — with all his 
soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind. 

The world has been greatly influenced by these teachings of Carlyle 
and Ruskin. In the lives of many of our famous men are to be found 
acknowledgments like that of Thomas Huxley, published in his recent 
Life and Letters. In recalling some of the powerful influences which have 
affected his life, Huxley speaks of the writings of Carlyle, and especially 
of Sartor Resartus. The idea that " work alone is noble ; the doctrine 
that whatever of morality and of intelligence ; what of patience, faithful- 
ness of method, insight, ingenuity, energy ; in a word, whatsoever of 
strength a man had in him lies written in the work he does," has been an 
inspiration to the youth of the nineteenth century. The renewed inter- 
est in Carlyle and his work, shown by the placing of one of his essays on 
the college reading list, is a happy omen of continued interest in his 
ideas. 

The teacher, like all earnest men, believes in his mission, and has an 
almost unbounded faith in the efficiency of school- work.. He, like Carlyle, 



Superintendence] THE GOSPEL OF WORK 1 5 

may underestimate the strength of the inherited impulses and instincts 
he deals with. He has usually been willing to add mountains of work 
to his own and his pupils' burdens. Any " ology " whatever can find 
advocates for a place in the curriculum ; and too many of them have 
already succeeded in crowding themselves upon the school. Only a Car- 
lylean temperament could have induced the teacher to attempt the moun- 
tains of work prescribed in some of our school programs. It is not 
strange that he sometimes adds to this another Carlylean characteristic, 
that of grumbling a little. In his application of the doctrines of Carlyle 
he has failed to discriminate, to realize that what we want today is not 
more subjects to work at, but a change in our method of teaching that 
will be in accordance with Carlyle's doctrine — a change that will offer 
opportunities for real work. 

In the following statement of Carlyle is, I believe, the kernel of modern 
educational doctrine. He says : 

The knowledge that will hold good in working, cleave thou to that. Properly, thou 
hast no other knowledge but what thou hast by working ; the rest is yet all a hypothesis of 
knowledge, a thing to be argued in the schools, a thing floating in the clouds in endless 
logic-vortices till we may try to fix it. Doubt of whatever kind can be ended by action 
alone. Man perfects himself by working. Destiny, on the whole, has no other way of 
cultivating us. 

In this utilizing of the motor influences, in this return to Froebel's 
idea of self -activity, we are getting into line with the influences that are 
moving modern society. We are beginning to believe in the doctrine of 
Dr. John Dewey, " that the school has no other educational resources than 
those which exist outside of the schools ; that, so far as the principle is 
concerned, it is simply a continuation of the same methods which are 
operative in the informal education." The knowledge we get in connec- 
tion with some activity, some piece of work we are earnestly striving to 
do, we can cleave to that. All other knowledge is likely to be held in 
out-of-the-way compartments of the mind, where practical application to 
the problem of life can never come. We are utilizing these motor influ- 
ences in many ways in our modern school. The kindergarten, construct- 
ive work, and nature study; our manual training, and most of the 
methods of teaching other subjects, are endeavors to turn motor impulses 
to use. As Dr. Dewey says : 

We are coming to believe that the possibility of having 'knowledge become some- 
thing more than the accumulation of facts and laws, of becoming actually operative in 
character and conduct, is dependent on the extent to which that information is evolved 
out of some need in the child's own experience and to which it receives application to 
that experience. 

In other words, character- making is the result of doing something ', is 
the result of the formation of habits. Indeed, we are almost ready for 
Carlyle's extreme statement : "All work is religion, and whatsoever reli- 
gion is not work may go dwell among the Brahmins. Labor are est orare. 



* 1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

If labor is not worship, the more the pity for worship, for this is the 
noblest thing under God's sky." 

While I am not an advocate of the soft pedagogy that is supported in 
some quarters, yet I believe that all work and no play makes Jack a dull 
boy ; but I also believe that " all play and no work makes Jack a mere 
toy." I do not believe it is wise to endeavor to have the child believe 
that the work he is trying to do is play. I do not, on the other hand, 
believe in the doctrine of drudgery. I do not believe in an ideal of work 
that regards it merely as a preliminary to enjoyment, as something to 
be gotten over that enjoyment may follow. I do not believe in the doc 
trine that men should bear the repulsive burden of work in order that the 
remainder of life may be spent in idle enjoyment. I do not believe in a 
separation of work into drudgery and enjoyment. I do not believe that 
boys and girls in school should be taught to endure the drudgery of the 
schoolroom for the sake of any fun that is to follow. I do not believe 
in setting up a dualism between work and enjoyment, that will debase all 
work into mere drudgery. I believe that both boys, and men, who are 
not overworked, enjoy the work which they can do well. Froebel taught, 
first, tha"t the child develops thru creative activity; secondly, that the child 
is benefited by contact with other children, and is happy in proportion as 
he is unselfishly employed. 

In addition to this, every observing person knows that the idea of 
drudgery during youth and manhood, with idleness and ease in old age 
as a reward for the drudgery, is an illusion. In Tennyson's " Ulysses" we 
see pictured the old hero's ennui *X the prospect of a life of ease, and of his 
longing to continue the work in which his manhood had been passed : 

I am become a name ; 
For always roaming with a hungry heart. 
Much have I seen and known — cities of men, 
And manners, climates, councils, governments, 
Myself not least, but honoured of them all — 
And drunk delight of battle with my peers, 
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. 
I am a part of all that I have met ; 
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' 
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades 
Forever and forever when I move. 
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, 
To rest unburn ished, not to shine in use, 
As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life 
Were all too little, and of one to me 
Little remains : but every hour is saved 
From that eternal silence, something more, 
A bringer of new things ; and vile it were 
For some three suns to store and hoard myself, 
And this great spirit yearning in desire 
To follow knowledge, like a sinking star, 
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION 1 7 

Much of the irksomeness of labor is the result of a belief that all work 
is drudgery, to be hastened thru with as soon as possible. As long as we 
attempt to separate work into drudgery now and enjoyment later we 
shall have people asking whether life is worth living. If we can arouse 
in our young people the instinct of workmanship thru our manual train- 
ing and other constructive work ; if we can make them feel that labor 
well done is noble, much of the irksomeness will disappear. If our young 
people can be made to feel the moral obligation upon every member of 
society to work — to produce something — they will be better citizens. 
If they can be made to feel the supreme necessity of becoming interested 
in their work, they may expect happiness. If our notion of leisure is 
that of the Greeks, that leisure is only time and opportunity to prepare 
for the doing of a higher grade of work, the world will be the better 
for it. 



DISCUSSION 



Superintendent £. H. Mark, Louisville, Ky. — I am interested in this particular 
subject and very much in accord with the positions taken by the reader of the paper. I 
especially like that part which says this is a working world. I believe in work, and 
work in school. I believe in the kindergarten, but I do not believe in carrying kinder- 
garten work into the eighth grade and the high school. We are not getting full results 
from the energy we expend, because of our failure rightly to appreciate a proper applica- 
tion of work. Only about 20 per cent, of the energy spent in school is effective. We 
must not make the mistake of bedizening in order to make it appear that we are really 
working. We attempt sometimes to go outside of the old-fashioned ways, and I am of 
the opinion that this is not always wise. I believe in the old-fashioned ways, and that 
some of the things we are now doing would be less objectionable if we had not deserted 
the old ways of performing them. Boys and girls need to learn to do a few things and 
to do them well. They should also learn that there is dignity and joy in work. 



EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION 

HOWARD J. ROGERS, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ECONOMY FOR 
THE COMMISSIONER-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE PARIS 
EXPOSITION OF I90O 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

One of the sad inflictions which follow in the wake of a great expo- 
sition is the individual who is always talking of it or lecturing on it. But, 
in spite of my desire to escape this fate, the invitation of your president 
was worded so graciously, and a public expression of the obligations of 
the United States commission for the loyal support of this association so 
manifestly due, that I felt constrained to accept. 

I wanted also to retract, or modify, a statement made before this 
association two years ago at the Columbus meeting. In outlining the 



1 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

plans for the United States exhibit I said that we had no national sys- 
tem of education ; that we had forty-five systems, with a few territorial 
annexes thrown in. While in a strictly literal sense this is true, practi- 
cally it is not. We have today in the United States a greater unity and 
similarity in courses of study and methods of administration than exist 
in any other country in the world with the exception of France. The 
result of the rigid system qf uniformity which enabled the French min- 
ister of public instruction a number of years ago to boast that he could 
look at the clock at any hour of the day and tell what every school child 
of France was doing, is still in evidence. But the United States educa- 
tional exhibit at Paris, if it served no other purpose, demonstrated 
beyond question that the only differences in our educational methods 
are those of local emphasis, which do not affect the "general* tendency 
and unity. 

Had the labels over a portion of the work of Boston or New York been 
interchanged for those of Denver or St. Louis, no one not having a knowl- 
edge of its local touches and coloririg could have detected the difference. 
The plan of our exhibit, which placed the work of similar grades side by 
side, irrespective of localities, brought out this similarity in a most convin- 
cing manner. It was the cause of much comment on the part of foreigners 
and of much surprise on the part of Americans. An impression, more or 
less well defined, has undoubtedly been in the minds of educational people 
that this similarity existed, but it had never before been so strikingly 
demonstrated. We attributed the cause, in our explanations, to two 
sources : first, to the United States Bureau of Education ; its control over 
the states is purely advisory, but so wise has been its administration, so 
valuable the information which it has collected and distributed, and to 
such high renown has it attained under its present commissioner, that its 
influence as a harmonizing, directive, and unifying force is most powerful ; 
and, secondly, to the National Educational Association, whose meetings are 
the great clearing-house for educational ideas in this country. There is 
no need to dwell before this audience upon the value of this association as 
a common ground for interchange of thought, comparison of methods, 
forming of acquaintanceships, and promotion of confidence. Yet the 
magnitude of the organization was puzzling to foreigners and its forma- 
tion the subject of much inquiry. 

The place of education at the Paris exposition was theoretically all 
that could be desired, but practically there was much that could have 
been improved. Not yet at an international exposition has a building 
adequate been devoted solely to education. In Paris, in the Palace of 
Education was joined the exhibit of the liberal arts, Group III. Space 
was granted to each nation for both groups together, and the division 
between the groups left to the commissioner-general of that nation. As 
a consequence, while most of the exhibits were in the gallery, many were 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION iO 

on the ground floor ; the continuity was broken, and in some instances, 
notably Germany, the whole space in this building devoted to the com- 
mercial products included under Group III. 

From the scientific point of view, however, both as regards the exhibit, 
classification, and official recognition, education was given the preced- 
ence. This circumstance was particularly gratifying to the representa- 
tives of the United States, where the commercial spirit rules — dominates. 
The tendency of the French in this respect was particularly noticeable in 
the formation of the international juries. At least 50 per cent, of the 
membership of each class jury was French. The French representation 
in the six class juries of Group I, education, was concededly stronger 
than in any of the 121 classes. Men prominent in educational, literary, 
and scientific fields were eager to serve. Such names, well known in 
America, as Le*on Bourgeois, former minister of public instruction, a 
member of the Chamber of Deputies, and the most prominent member for 
France in the Peace Congress, president not only of Class I, but of the 
entire superior jury ; Liard, of the university ; Ferdinand Buisson, whose 
report on American education in 1876 is a classic; Cam i lie S€e, and others 
give evidence of the caliber of the jury. An award granted after due 
deliberation by such a body of men bears more than the ordinary signifi- 
cance attached to exposition awards. 

The direct control of the educational sections was vested in the min- 
ister of public instruction, one of the three most powerful ministers in 
the French cabinet. He has under his authority not only all elementary 
and secondary instruction, but the universities, the beaux arts, the salons, 
the national theaters, and the opera. To the minister, M. Georges 
Leygues, and his directors the foreign educational representatives were 
indebted for many courtesies from an exhibit standpoint and in official life. 

There was one exception to the general control exercised by the min- 
ister of public instruction, viz., Class VI, industrial and commercial educa- 
tion. By a special law, passed a few years ago after considerable struggle, 
all industrial and technical schools were placed under the jurisdiction of 
the minister of commerce and industries. Inasmuch as the general man- 
agement of the exposition fell under the latter ministry, the industrial 
schools demanded and received a separate building for their exhibit. 
This building was a small annex to the main Palace of Education, and 
contained only the work of French schools. 

Five nations besides France took a leading part in the educational 
exhibit : the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Hungary, and Japan. 
A number of other nations, notably Sweden, Italy, and Spain, played 
lesser roles. 

To an American the most interesting phases of the exhibit were the 
expectant attitude of England, the awakening of Russia, the development 
of Japan, and the industrial training of Hungary and France. 



20 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

England for the first time was represented at an international exposi- 
tion. The exhibit of the great public schools of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, 
and Winchester was historic and highly attractive to Americans; the 
exhibit of Oxford and Cambridge was scientific and exhaustive ; but the 
real interest lay in the efforts of the adherents to the education act of 
1870 to push to its logical results the provisions of that act, and the 
eagerness of the progressive wing of the education office to adapt Ameri- 
can ideas to English conditions. The figures published last year showed 
that for the first time the attendance on the board schools exceeded the 
attendance on the free denominational schools, and that the territory 
occupied by the latter is being rapidly absorbed. The next decade will 
see rapid advances in educational methods. The younger and more pro- 
gressive elements are strong advocates of the prominent features of the 
system of the United States, and expect much from the influence which 
may be exerted, or rather the discussions and agitation which may 
arise, from the presence of the United States educational exhibit now in 
Manchester, England. 

A word on the latter point may be in order now. Among the experts 
and delegates from other countries who examined our exhibit critically 
last summer, none were more sincere in tfceir praise than the English. 
Their sincerity was best proven by their actions. The idea grew that 
many of the best features of American education, in spite of the fact 
that they were the product of a younger civilization and developed from 
totally different conditions, could be grafted into the English system. 
The problem was how best to enlist the attention of the British public. 
At this juncture Mr. John H. Reynolds, principal of the Municipal Tech- 
nical School, Manchester, England, came forward with a proposition to 
transport the United States exhibit complete from Paris to Manchester, 
and set it up for exhibition in precisely the same form as at Paris. He 
submitted the plan to the Manchester municipal authorities, and, after 
sending a committee to investigate, they reported favorably. The director 
of education for the United States in the meantime had secured the con- 
sent of all the principal exhibitors to the transfer of the exhibit to Man- 
chester, and the consequent delay in its return home. The Manchester 
authorities assumed the entire cost of packing and shipping the exhibit 
from Paris, its installation at Manchester, and its reshipment to New York. 
The exhibit was opened to the public in the latter part of January, and 
will remain until March. Concerning it one or two extracts from the 
English press are of interest : 

No member of a technical instruction committee or of a school board, no governor 
or manager of a school, no teacher, whether in a primary or secondary school or uni- 
versity, can afford to miss such a rare opportunity, provided in so public-spirited a fashion. 
They will come, not from Manchester alone, but from all the country round. The general 
public also will find in it abundant interest and entertainment. The productions of the 
American art schools and the superb collection of photographs of school and college life 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION 21 

are in themselves worth going a long way to see. But the amount of pleasure and profit to 
be derived from a visit will depend largely upon the intelligence with which the visitor fol - 

lows the scheme upon which the exhibit is displayed It is delightful to see so 

much care and pains bestowed on instruction in history in the primary and secondary 
schools, though one could wish that young Americans were not taught so sedulously to regard 
Britons as the enemies of the republic. At every turn one is struck with the extreme dex- 
terity with which statistics are set out in graphic forms, sometimes in curves, sometimes 

in colored squares or columns, the relative size of which indicates ratios of figures. 
************ 

In this connection it is striking to observe in the kindergarten and primary sections 
the admirable educational skill with which taste and constructive power are developed 
and exercised in young- children by the system of " free drawing." and brush work, which 
is so infinitely more stimulating to the childish mind than the dry and abstract type of 
art work instituted by our South Kensington department. There are any number of other 
points which call for notice in this wonderful exhibition, but we can only advise every- 
body to go and see it for themselves. 
************ 

Well, I need not pause to observe that in this particular section of the Paris exhibi- 
tion there was no finer display than that made by the United States. It gives a bird's- 
eye view, as it were, of education as it exists in the states today. Its purpose is to represent 
the best work and the ripest methods, no matter whence their source within the limit of 
the United States. The field covered by the exhibit is so full, varied, and interesting that 
no outline can possibly do it justice ; but, within the space at my disposal, if I can convey 
to the public an impression of what this exhibit is, I shall not be altogether dissatisfied. 

We sincerely trust that some of the expectations of the promoters of 
the plan may be realized. It is a small seed, and a foreign public is a 
stony soil, but there may take root some features of American education 
which will prove of great benefit to popular education in England. That 
there will be any quickly apparent effect no one dreams. Evolution is a 
slow process ; evolution in education one of its tardiest forms. But there 
exists no system of public education in any country which cannot* be 
improved by the introduction of some of the best features from another 
country, and from this object-lesson planted in the center of the great 
industrial and manufacturing district of England, where the free and 
intelligent development of youth is a vital problem, and where admiration 
for American methods and American 'virility runs highest, much good 
may reasonably be expected. 

The English educational exhibit showed strength and a rugged deter- 
mination to work out a solution adapted to the great variety of conditions 
bequeathed from former generations; but a stronger and more hopeful 
sign was the intense earnestness of the younger, progressive schoolmen 
to find this proper adjustment of the ideal with the actual, and to determine 
just how much of improved methods can safely be introduced without 
clogging the machinery. It is a good sign, when men are dissatisfied with 
present conditions, to find them acting conservatively ; keen for improve- 
ment, but with patience to wait. There will be fewer back -tracks to cover 
in the future. 

In the Russian educational exhibit there was also an awakening to be 



2 2 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

noted, but of an entirely different nature. In England it is the awakening 
of the leaders ; in Russia it is the awakening of the people. In England 
it is the leaders who must urge; in Russia they must use the curb. There 
is a point in the uplifting of an ignorant populace that is near the danger 
line. It is when they begin to question, and there are none of their own 
class to answer. The attendance in the schools controlled by the minister 
of public instruction of Russia has doubled in the last ten years, and the 
attendance on the church schools, which number about one-third of the 
total number of the primary schools, has been equally increasing. There 
is no effort to compel attendance. There is not accommodation for 
those who clamor to come. Schools in the rural districts are at a great 
distance from each other, and great sacrifices are often made by parents 
to enable their children to attend school. In every district in the 
provinces there are children who travel daily many versts for the same 
purpose. With such a spirit in the people the responsibility on the 
government is doubled. It not only has to provide schools in sufficient 
numbers to prevent the cry of inequity, but it must control the unrest 
which inevitably follows the consciousness of growing power. 

There is no antagonism between the church and state schools. There 
is no reason *why there should be. The head of the state is the head of 
the church/ There is oftentimes a keen rivalry in neighboring provinces 
and districts, but most of the new schools established are under the minis- 
try, and if the inhabitants of a district so decide, the church school therein 
is turned over to the ministerial supervision. The school term in Russia 
is three years of six months' instruction each year — a small total when 
compared with our own elementary course, but a great advance over the 
serfdom and ignorance of a few decades ago. I have confined myself, in 
speaking of Russia, to the common schools, as they formed the larger and 
more interesting part of the exhibit from a sociological standpoint. Of 
the exhibit of many excellent high schools in cities, the technical schools 
and universities, and the efforts in St. Petersburg for the higher educa- 
tion of women much might be said, but it would extend too far the limits 
of this discussion. 

The Japanese exhibit was exactly what we expected it to be. Those 
who recall the educational exhibit of Japan in Chicago in 1893 and the 
promise which it contained will readily understand this statement. The 
increase in attendance during the last decade was over 80 per cent., and in 
the ten years between 1888 and 1898 the government expenditures for ele- 
mentary education jumped from eight to eighteen million dollars. Their 
elementary instruction seems designed to increase that proficiency in indus- 
trial pursuits for which they are already noted, and to render more perfect 
that lightness of touch and delicacy of design which characterize the art of 
the nation. They are a progressive nation, alert and quiet. I did not hear 
a Japanese juror make a remark during the exposition ; but I do not 



Superintendence] EDUCATION AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION 23 

» 

remember anything they did not see. I never heard a Japanese educator 
talk anyway, which is at least one remarkable difference between the "Yan- 
kees of the East" and the Yankees of the West. The technical and higher 
instruction of the Japanese is thoroly well outlined and tends toward the 
same great object — the industrial development of the nation. Perhaps 
no economic truth was more seriously impressed on the western nations 
by the exposition than that Japan, thru its rapid development in decora- 
tive art and designing, and thru its cheap labor, will soon become a 
formidable competitor in the markets of the world. The Japanese are 
quick to acknowledge the debt they owe the United States in educational 
matters, and the influence of American teachers and of American-trained 
native students is evident. 

Concerning the educational exhibit of France there is so much that 
could be said that it may perhaps be better left unsaid than to be half- 
said. There is no foreign educational system better known to this audi- 
ence than the French, and to discuss it would be to restate what you 
have often read. I shall, therefore, touch only two points. In the 
arrangement of the exhibit space was used prodigally. It was a French 
exposition. The earth and the fullness thereof was theirs, and they hesi- 
tated not to make use of it. We never could learn their exact area in 
Group I, but it is conservative to. say that it was four times as large as 
that of all other nations combined. In this they partially defeated their 
object, for it is impossible to spread a system over so great an area and 
have it at all comprehensive or within the grasp of the student. It 
wearies the sightseer also by its endless repetition. Of its excellence 
and thoroness there was no question, tho there was absolutely nothing 
new in the method of arrangement or presentation. 

The other point affects the spirit of the exhibit and brings us to the 
radical difference between the schools of the United States and those of 
France, Hungary, and, other nations which feel the French influence. 
The latter in their primary schools specialize from the earliest grades ; the 
former educate all pupils alike till in the secondary grades. This differ- 
ence is fundamental and is incident to the different theory which under- 
lies the spirit of popular education in the Old World and the New. It is 
impossible with us to assign to a child of ten or twelve years of 
age his future occupation. To attempt to do so would be resented 
by the people. There is no perpetual or hereditary working class; 
no families identified with certain occupations. Such conditions can 
exist only in an old and thoroly settled civilization, where all chances 
of sudden wealth and preferment have been exhausted, and nothing 
remains for the masses but to attain the highest possible industrial skill in 
the arts and trades. A freedom and elasticity is demanded in the educa- 
tional system of our country to correspond to the possibilities existent 
in our material development. 



24 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The conditions in the United States do not require, nor do our people 
demand, that there should be in our course of study a dominant tend- 
ency toward any particular phase of industrial progress. We have 
noticed the opposite in the exhibit of every other nation at Paris this 
summer. There is no question as to the excellence of their work. The 
system of manual instruction employed in the schools of France is beyond 
doubt brought to a higher state of perfection than in any other country. 
The exhibits from the holes primaires superieures, both in the Champ 
de Mars and the Ville de Paris building, were equal in many respects to 
the work of master-workmen. The only question is whether the needs of 
a nation justify this excessive specializing in the schools supported by 
public money. We are quite positive that our own social conditions do 
not demand it. We have our manual- training high schools and a system 
of manual training in many of our elementary schools, but its object is to 
train the senses in conjunction with the mind, but not to the exclusion of 
the humanities. 'Our industrial drawing is developed from an original 
system of elementary drawing, but not with the intention of making 
designers or artists, tho we are pleased if this may be the result. We 
aim to develop the imagination, to train the powers of accurate observa- 
tion, and to enable the pupil to represent his conclusion both graphically 
and in well-chosen language. 

There exist certainly radical differences in the theory underlying 
public education. Which will subserve better the destinies of the nation 
only experience can determine. It is possible that both continents 
have the system which their own civilization and industrial development 
most require. 

We cannot form a just comparison of the educational systems of 
countries without taking into account the history of the country and the 
antecedents of the people. No adequate idea of Greek art and Greek 
literature could be obtained unless we knew the characteristics of the 
Greek nation, its intense love of freedom, and its passion for physi- 
cal beauty and development. We must look to the traditions of the 
people, their historical beginnings, and the spirit of their institutions. 
America has been particularly fortunate in this respect. We had no 
legacy of ignorance and stolidity bequeathed to us from the Middle 
Ages. There are some advantages in being a young nation. Whatever 
nation of Europe you may choose for an example; whether we take 
France or Prussia, which for nearly a century have been engaged upon 
the problem of the education of the masses; or England, which has 
been engaged uponit a lesser time; or Russia, which is just beginning 
— they have had first to penetrate down thru the ignorance, superstition, 
and even the antipathy to culture generated by centuries of mental 
apathy. They have had first to awaken a responsive spirit — a problem 
we have escaped. 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 25 

The exposition of 1900 led to the discovery of none of these things. 
All students of education have seen the drift of school- affairs. The 
exposition did, however, emphasize the vital problems of our educational 
life by placing side by side in contrast the many systems evolved from 
the various relations of the governing and the governed. But the ques- 
tion most general in its application, which is engrossing the attention of 
the greatest number of countries, and which at the exposition was most 
diversely represented, is to what extent the social and industrial develop- 
menr of a nation warrants specialized training at public expense in ele- 
mentary schools. 



DISCUSSION— SUBJECT: SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 

• 
Shall the Department of Superintendence Ask the Board of Directors 

of the National Educational Association to Appoint a Permanent 

Commission in the Interest of Simplified Spelling and Appropriate 

$1,000 a Year for Five Years, for its Use in Promoting the Cause? 

e. o. vaile, editor of "intelligence," oak park, ill. 

Mr, President^ Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is not always that an audience has the text printed and put in its hands. But, to 
make sure of a full understanding in this discussion, I have had the resolution and peti- 
tion printed, and I trust each of you has a copy in hand. To make sure of its meaning, 
let me read it with you : 

Resolved, That this department respectfully presents the following petition to the Board of Directors of 
the National Educational Association and asks for its favorable action thereon : 

To the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association: 
Gentlemen : 

Whereas, The twelve simplified spellings are widely used and generally legitimized because of their 
adoption by the National Educational Association in its late volumes of proceedings ; and 

Whereas, The National Educational Association is looked upon, and justly, as the natural and logical 
. friend of childhood, and the indorser and promoter of all movements looking to improvement and advance in 
education; and 

Whereas, There is great need, particularly in the interest of children and other learners of our Ian- 
guage, that cohesion, organization, and standing should be given to the movement for simplifying our spelling 
by giving it wise, capable, and influential leadership ; 

Therefore, We, the Department of Superintendence, at this our annual meeting, recognizing the 
responsibility which rests upon the teachers of the country, as well as the opportunity now open to them, to 
insure the steady progress of this movement along moderate, reasonable, and practical lines, do respectfully 
request you to appoint the persons named below as a permanent commission in the interest of the movement 
toward simplifying our spelling, and to appropriate the sum of $1,000 for each of the next five years to be 
used in whole or in part by said commission in such way as it may judge to be to the greatest advantage of the 
cause, the appointment and appropriation to be made upon the following 

CONDITIONS 

1. That the commission may fill all vacancies arising in its body or in its offices by a majority vote, cast 
by mail or otherwise, as may seem expedient, and it may elect additional members at its discretion and establish 
rules for its own government. 

2. That the commission shall make an annual report, including an itemized statement of expenditures, 
to the Department of Superintendence, and also to the Board of Directors of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation. * 

3. That the money appropriated for the commission shall be paid by the Treasurer of the National 
Educational Association upon vouchers duly signed by the president of the commission. 

4. That any unused portion of the amount authorized to be expended in any one year may be used in 
any subsequent year. 



26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION . [Chicago 

MEMBBKS OF THE COMMISSION « 

William R. Harper, president of the University of R. G. Boone, superintendent of schools, Cincinnati. 
Chicago. Charles M. Jordan, superintendent of schools, Min- 

E. Benjamin Andrews, chancellor of the University neapolis. 

of Nebraska. Edward Brooks, superintendent of schools, Phila- 
Andrew S. Draper, president of the University of delphia. 

Illinois. J. H. Van Sickle, superintendent of schools, Balti- 
Dr. J. W. Stearns, professor of pedagogy, University more. 

of Wisconsin. Dr. W. H. Ward, editor of the Independent. 

Dr. John Dewey, head professor of pedagogy, Uni- Melvil Dewey, director of the state library and home 

verstty of Chicago. education departments of the University of the 

Ella F. Young, assistant professor of pedagogy, Uni- State of New York. 

versity of Chicago. Henry Holt, publisher, New York. 

F. A. March, professor of comparative philology, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Cambridge, Mass. 
Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. Benjamin E. Smith, managing editor of the Century 

Francis W. Parker, president of Chicago Institute. Dictionary. 

E. G. Cooley, superintendent of schools, Chicago. James MacAlister, director of the Drexel Institute, 

Lewis H. Jones, superintendent of schools, Cleveland. Philadelphia. 

In regard to the names just read, I want it clearly understood that there is no fiction 
or guesswork in putting them on this list. I hold in my hand the written assent to serve 
on this commission, if it is appointed, of every person named excepting two. They 
assented orally, and are in the audience, and can speak out if I have misunderstood them. 

It is probably well at the outset to guard against any misinterpretation of this peti- 
tion. The proposition to appoint such a commission, and to give it money to use in its 
discretion in the interest of this movement to rationalize our spelling, appears to strike 
some as an effort to create a committee to head a raid against our orthographic absurdi- 
ties, and to bombard the public with pleas and arguments for simplified spelling as 
vigorously each year as £1,000 will permit. 

There is no such thought or purpose behind this proposition. Does any member of 
this department believe that there is the slightest danger that Dr. Harper, or Dr. Draper, 
or Superintendent Cooley, or Dr. Dewey, or any other person named on this commission, 
would lend himself to an aggressive or an offensive propaganda on this subject ? There 
is not a single zealot, or even an enthusiast, on the list. 

Let me call your attention to the composition of this proposed commission : seven 
university men, all of them well known ; seven superintendents of large systems ; and seven 
men prominent as educators or editors, or in some other line of work. That there is only 
one lady in the list is no fault of mine. I wanted the women teachers well represented. 
I proposed to several eminent women in the best way I knew, but only one accepted. Is 
it possible that anyone can fear that the men named are going to put their heads together 
to decide what changes in spelling are desirable, and then keep dinging at their fellow- 
citizens to adopt these changes ? Is it to be feared that they will attempt to agitate th is 
question or to accelerate the movement already started without using good sense, without 
considering the danger of reaction, of creating disgust, of intensifying prejudice ? 

Friends have remonstrated against urging this measure on the ground that it is wise 
to let well enough alone ; that the most dangerous thing for the reform now is to try to 
hurry it ; that we must wait for the new spellings already inaugurated to " soak in," and 
take root, if you will excuse the mixed metaphor. Are not the records and the standing 
of the persons named ample guarantee that they understand all this ? that they know 
enough not to make the fire too hot for the broth ? For thirty-five years I have advo- 
cated the simplification of our spelling whenever fit occasion has offered. For twenty 
years I have used in Intelligence the identical spellings which this association has adopted, 
and I am using no more today than I did at first. Why ? Simply becausf I have never 
felt that the time was ripe for me to take an additional advance step. You may be sure 

x Consent to serve on the commission, if appointed, was received after adjournment of the department 
from Chauncey M. Depew, United States senator from New York, and Miss Sarah L. Arnold, supervisor of 
primary instruction, Boston, Mass. 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 27 

I would take no hand in any scheme which might undo what I have so long labored to 
help to build up ; in any scheme that might tend to chill the sentiment and the sym- 
pathies favorable to this movement which are just beginning to warm into life. No such 
purpose and no such danger lie in this proposition. The business and professional 
records of the men and women named in this list, their demonstrated levelheadedness and 
good sense, are ample, assurance that we shall not put the cause in jeopardy from hasty, 
ill-advised, or overzealous counsels by intrusting them with the leadership, while their 
eminence and standing will bring immense strength to the cause and guarantee modera- 
tion and wisdom in promoting it. 

Every genuine schoolmaster must have Abraham Lincoln's faith in the people. 
When the people once fully understand the bearings of a practical question, you can 
safely trust their decision. The great, the essential thing is to make them understand 
the question. Give them light, and you need not fear the general result. 

It is on this principle that I urge the appointment of this commission. One main 
purpose is to establish a bureau of light and publicity ; to evoke a voice so clear and wise 
and moderate and authoritative that the people will have confidence in it and follow it. 

There is need in the movement today of a nerve center, to which information and 
stimulus will be communicated, to be sent out again as inspiration and impulse ; a central 
body to receive and consider all reform suggestions, to publish such as it deems wise and 
practicable, and thus to bring .into touch with each other all the elements which favor the 
simplifying of our spelling. 

The simple appointment and announcement of a commission composed of such 
scholars and leaders of thought would in itself be a most potent influence in liberating 
and evoking spelling-reform sympathies and developing sentiment in its support. If 
nothing else were done than to cause this commission, representative of the great body 
of teachers, to stand forth clearly before the people as both an umpire and a leader in the 
purposeful evolution of rational spelling, it would be well worth the money which it is 
proposed to spend. 

Such a commission, standing as sponsor for the intelligent and reasonable and wise 
direction of this movement, would give character and standing to it which would be of 
great advantage. It would give the cause recognition as a thing feasible and desirable, 
and to be encouraged by all progressive social forces. 

The best scholars and educators of this country, and of England, are practically a 
unit in believing in the simplifying of our spelling, differing only as to degree and 
methods. They have never taken or been encouraged to take active charge of the move- 
ment. Thru the agency of this commission scholars, educators, men of character and 
stability and influence, free from all suspicion of overzeal or immoderateness will have 
the movement in hand. The weight of their advice and influence will harmonize the 
divergent views as to methods of procedure and bring into unison all elements favorable 
to reform. 

Such a commission would save the cause from its unwise friends and convince the 
public that there is a simplification of spelling which is moderate, feasible, and progres- 
sive, which is approved by scholars and educators, and which all sensible men and women 
can safely indorse and encourage. 

Today there is little concert of action among the friends of simplified spelling. No 
supporter of the cause can learn, except by chance, of other supporters. A great many 
people who are really in sympathy with it take no practical steps to help it because they 
hear no voice of recognized wisdom and of commanding influence to lead them. There 
is the greatest need of a head center to which all may look for guidance and advice. To 
create such a committee, for wise counsel and for judicious encouragement of the move- 
ment, is the object of this effort. It would install a moderator and leader, whose moral 
weight and authority would hold the enthusiasts in check and attract sympathy to the 
cause. It would give cohesion, stability, organization, and standing to the movement. 



28 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

We are all agreed that simplified spelling can and will come only as a process of 
development But it will never come thru a blind, unguided, accidental, haphazard 
development. It will come only thru a development which is guided and conscious on 
somebody's part. An evolution that is intelligent and purposeful, which is directed 
according to the wisdom of some one, or of some many, is the only evolution, whether 
slow or rapid, which will ultimately give us rational spelling. So far the movement has 
progressed by uncertain steps, according as the suggestions of Noah Webster, or of the 
philological societies, or of the National Educational Association have been accepted and 
acted upon. But there is need of a matured plan, a far-reaching purpose, framed on 
moderate and intelligent lines, by which all can work who believe in the end sought 
One good step has already been taken thru the initiative of this department. Sooner or 
later a next step must be taken, and a next, and a next, and a next, until the grand con- 
summation is reached — simple phonetic spelling. 

Now, what shall be the next step ? Who shall determine it ? Shall it be the change 
of ph to f? the reduction of double consonants to one ? the omission of the final e when 
phonetically useless or misleading ? What it shall be is plainly a question of mere expe- 
diency. Who shall decide it ? Is the time ripe to inaugurate one or all of these changes ? 
These questions some time must be decided. Is it wise to leave them to be brought up 
in this department as the spirit may move a member, and let them be decided by vote 
according as one influence or another happens to predominate at the moment, without 
reference to any comprehensive plan, and without any definite knowledge as to the ripe- 
ness of the time ? To ask the question is to answer it. It would certainly be the part of 
wisdom to place this whole matter of controlling and promoting this movement for sim- 
plifying our spelling in the hands of a selected body of capable, trustworthy, representa- 
tive, earnest men, such as are nominated in this petition. 

The objections urged against adopting this petition may all be grouped under one 
head, viz.: it is not the function of the National Educational Association to espouse, much 
less to spend money on, any particular cause in regard to which any difference of opinion 
exists among its members. Now, I should like to know why it is not in keeping with the 
general purpose and character of the National Educational Association to put its immense 
influence and its wise directing hand behind this important movement and keep them 
there. It is as distinctly a movement in the interest of education as any that can be 
named. It is the interests of our children, not only of the present, but of innumerable 
generations to come, and of others who have to learn our language, which constitute the 
great argument in favor of this reform. 

Primarily this whole question is an educational question, and if it may not properly 
enlist the earnest effort and sympathy of this body and of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation in general, I do not know for what these organizations exist. The teachers of the 
country, represented by their superintendents, are the most logical element in the com- 
munity, not only to move in this matter of simplifying spelling, as they have done, but 
also to see that good and wise leadership is provided and kept at the head. Is there a 
cause in the line of progress and reform more appropriate for the National Educational 
Association to foster, a cause more fit and logical for it to spend some of its money upon ? 

But, it is said, the superintendents are not at one on this question, nor are the great 
mass of teachers. So far as the mass of teachers are concerned, they are loyal to their 
superintendents. Let them know where the superintendents, as a body, stand on any 
educational question, and you will find the teachers with them. It would be deplorable 
and unnatural if it were not so. 

So far as this body of superintendents is concerned, and also the Board of Directors, 
who have the final voice, the question is simply one of majority rule. Why should it not 
be ? Did ever any great movement for the betterment of mankind command unanimous 
support ? Is it reasonable to say that this organization should never actively support 
any measure upon which its members are not all agreed ? 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 29 

Such a principle is un-American; it is unreasonable. It would render human progress 
impossible. If the influence and weight of this body of educators are never cast in support 
of any measure until that measure has the support of all our members, the cause of human 
progress and improvement will never have reason to be grateful to the National Educa- 
tional Association or to this department. When this body, or any other like body of sin- 
cere, earnest, but fallible human beings, becomes unanimous in support of any advance 
step, the evidence will be clear that the movement has got beyond the need of such sup- 
port. If a majority favors this petition, the minority ought to — and they will — acquiesce. 
It is absurd to • ask for delay until the minority approves. Let the majority rule, and 
don't say it would be unwise and injudicious to adopt this petition just because we are 
not all agreed. The affairs of this world cannot be run on the unanimity plan. In the 
slang of the street, the band-wagon of progress comes along, and those who refuse to 
jump in are left to trudge along by themselves. 

Testimony and experience are all on the side of simplified spelling, both that it is 
feasible and that, in spite of all drawbacks, it is desirable. Not a single philologist in 
this country or in England can be named who is not unequivocally in favor of amending 
our spelling. These experts say boldly and with one voice that the science of etymology 
will gain more than it will lose by the adoption of phonetic spelling, and, whether this 
were so or not, they say, and have said for years, that our spelling can be simplified, and 
that it should be. 

On this point of etymological or historical spelling the argument is absolutely closed, 
as everyone must admit who is familiar with the literature on this subject for the last 
thirty years. Conservatism, reverence for what is old and established, was wisely made 
a powerful factor in human nature. I would not show it disrespect. I only insist that 
on this question it shall stand squarely on its own ground ; that it shall not base its oppo- 
sition to change in our spelling upon any false position, but solely upon the only honest 
ground which is left to it, viz., that our present spelling is here, we've learned it, it is ours, 
it should be preserved because it is established, and on this ground any change in it must 
be opposed. 

That plea we can all respect. It comes home to everyone of us. But is this plea 
sufficient, in the face of the enormous burden imposed by our present spelling upon 
every child and adult who has to learn to read and write English, to justify this body in 
refusing to indorse this movement and to give it the full and wise support proposed in 
the petition ? My faith in the humanity and strong common-sense of our superintendents 
and educators makes me believe that the coming vote will show that the plea of conserva- 
tism must give way before the command of duty, the duty to let our children share in the 
blessings and advantages of the progress and improvement which are so marked in every 
other field of our modern life. 

Some oppose this petition on the ground that the reform is now making progress, 
and that the establishment of this commission might endanger all that has been gained. 
I do not share any such fear. If I understand the school superintendents of this country, 
they believe in progress, in a wise, moderate, steady, and sound advance, in every phase 
of education. 

The action of the National Educational Association two years ago was the first 
practical step in leadership of this movement by an influential body- Has not the 
result more than justified the courage and wisdom of this department in taking that 
initial step at Indianapolis, instructing the Secretary in printing its proceedings to adopt 
such simplified spellings as might be agreed upon by Dr. Harris, Superimendent Soldam 
and Superintendent Balliet ? Did any harm to the cause result from thai action ? Could 
any larger success be asked for under all the circumstances than has followed thai first 
step ? It shows what may be expected if a comm Union fairly representing the learning, 
the social weight, the business success, and the educational strength of the country should 
stand forth, at the command of the National Educational Association, a* the avowed 



30 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

sponsor and promoter, not of unwise and harmful agitation, but of sound, moderate, and 
practical steps ; of intelligent, conservative, and matured plans and policies for nourishing 
spelling-reform sentiment and of helping toward the end sought. Even the publication 
broadcast of the names of the members of this commission as standing sponsor in a defi- 
nite way for wise and sane efforts in favor of rational spelling would be a most worthy 
thing for this association to accomplish. 

When four years ago it was proposed to introduce that first resolution in this body, 
the same objections were raised as now. Friends of spelling reform advised me to desist, 
not to introduce the resolution. It would stir up a muss. It would do no good. It 
would be defeated. I would hurt the cause. Only one man knows how near that reso- 
lution, after being prepared, came to going into the hotel grate that February morning in 
1897. It was an anxious time until by an unquestioned majority the resolution was 
passed and the committee was appointed. If the counsel which is so determined now 
had prevailed then, nothing would have been done and the encouraging progress of the 
last four years would not have taken place. 

It is not pleasant to persist in presenting and urging this matter in the face of the 
opposition arrayed against it. But I believe it is the duty of this body, which it owes to 
itself and to the children, to take hold of this movement and give it character, and stand- 
ing, and intelligent and wise direction. 

Objection is made to spending the, money of the association for such a purpose. 
Why? The association has a fund of nearly #90,000. What was it raised for ? Who 
will tell ? It has come into the treasury from membership fees without any specific pur- 
pose. Each one has done his share in accumulating it. I think no one will question 
that I have done mine. What member or set of members have a right to set up their 
authority and pronounce this proposed appropriation as an illegitimate use or waste of 
the association's funds ? Clearly that money is eligible for any use which is germane to 
the grand purpose of this organization. What is that purpose ? The preamble to our 
constitution distinctly declares that object to be (I quote the words) " to promote the 
cause of popular education in the United States." Can any proposition now before the 
public be named which, if adopted, would do as much, or a tenth part as much, " to pro- 
mote the cause of popular education" as the simplifying of our spelling, making it con- 
sistent and rational ? Every man and woman here knows that, simple and easy to learn 
as is our English speech, the language that we speak with the voice, our irregular and 
illogical spelling is a very serious and wholly needless hindrance in the way of every 
child or adult who undertakes to learn to read and write it. There is no educational 
reform or improvement that, in helpfulness for the young and in easing the process of 
primary education, can be compared for a moment with the rationalizing of our spelling. 
The National Educational Association has never spent a dollar which was spent more 
wisely and legitimately than would be the money asked for in this petition. There is no 
cause now ripe for the attention of this department and of the National Educational 
Association upon which the small amount of money named could be spent more judi- 
ciously and effectively. 

But what will the commission want money for ? is asked. Consider that the men 
and women who have consented to act on this commission, if it is appointed, are, every- 
one of them, busy to the last degree with the affairs of their own office or business. If 
this commission is appointed, it will find work to do, you may be sure. In the nature of 
the case, this work will have to be done largely by correspondence. Can these members 
be asked to pay their own postage and stationery ? So, to start with, there is stationery 
to be provided, and printing, and a competent stenographer-clerk to work under the 
president's direction. There must be conferences and reports, etc. The sum named is 
very small in comparison with the work which will develop. But there is ground for 
hope that after the commission once gets to work, and its beneficent object becomes 
understood by our philanthropic millionaires, funds will come to it sufficient to enable it 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 3 1 

to carry on its work efficiently. Certainly no one fears that any money appropriated for 
the use of this commission will be spent in junketing, or wasted in any way. 

In conclusion, and as a general answer to all fears and objections, let me call atten- 
tion to the fact that the petition to the Board of Directors does not commit the association 
or the commission to any particular policy or opinion whatever in regard to spelling 
reform or its promotion. Everything is left absolutely to the discretion of the commission. 
In my correspondence with them this point was made very plain. If a majority of its 
members should share the fear of some of our friends that any proposition for even gentle 
agitation now would jeopardize what has already been gained, the commission could so 
announce, and matters would undoubtedly remain as they are. No reformer would be so 
foolish as to think of urging steps which a committee of such men would not approve. If 
the committee should deem it best for the present to do no more than discreetly to encourage 
and promote the use of the changes now before the public, for one I should think it wise. 
In this one particular alone the commission could do very effective service for many months. 

These gentlemen are nominated as known and avowed friends to the cause of sim- 
plifying our spelling, with the expectation and understanding that they will advise and 
take such steps only as they think wise. If their judgment is against agitation or any 
other step, they will act accordingly. If they deem it wise to agitate the matter in any 
way, it will be their duty, and they will be expected to do so. Is there any superintendent 
who cannot absolutely trust such a set of men to handle this question, or who cannot 
agree to follow their leadership ? 

I move the adoption of the resolution and the petition. 

John MacDonald, editor of Western School Journal, Topeka, Kan. — We read that 
" in the beginning it was said, ' Let there be light,' and there was light." A few of the 
brethren met in Washington in 1898 and said, "Let there be orthography," and there 
was orthography. By a vote of eighteen to seventeen, at a meeting of the Board of 
Directors, eighteen men undertook to say to 150,000,000 people how they should spell 
twelve English words. What effect has that attempt had upon the English-speaking 
world ? What effect has it had upon 76,000,000 of people in the United States ? What 
effect upon the American press ? The main effects seem to have been that the reform is 
supported by two or three educational journals. Our reforming brethren might say to 
the people of the United States, in the language of the Scripture : " We have piped unto 
you, but ye have not danced." 

Now it is proposed to carry the reform still farther thru the agency of a committee 
of prominent educators. We might meet that by saying that " great men are not always 
wise, neither do the aged 'understand judgment." 

It is easy to say from this platform that all the philologists are in favor of the spell- 
ing-reform movement, but it ought to be noted that not a single name has been given 
here this morning as favoring it. 

English orthography is assuredly the most rugged in the world, but it is the out- 
come of the ruggedness, character, and characteristics of the English-speaking people. 
I maintain that there is no demand for a reform of this kind. I am opposed to depreda- 
tions on the English language and hope the depredators, like him we read of in the 
sacred writings, may soon be " clothed and in their right minds." 

Principal E. B. Prettyman, of Maryland. — Every time I have seen any of the 
twelve amended spellings in educational journals I have been greatly annoyed. The 
spelling of the English language has gone on to change in a natural way. It came 
about thru one plain, natural law — the law of the best usage. There have been 
many changes since Chaucer's time, and these have come about thru the operation of 
this law of usage. Many changes were suggested in earlier editions of Webster* 5 Dic- 
tionary* but they were not all accepted by scholars. Many were ignored by literary men 
and scholars, and so were finally abandoned. 



32 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

We are a great people, but we are not prepared to ignore, or to propose for reform, 
what the great men of England regard as good English speech. I say : Let well enough 
alone. Let the law work out the changes surely and beautifully, as it will do. The old 
rule of the best usage should continue to prevail just as it has done. 

President F. W. Parker, Chicago Institute. — The evidence on this question is 
all in, and the ridicule as well, and it is all on one side — all on the side of the child. 
The children should learn to read and express 'thought without the handicap of the 
abomination of desolation of our unphonetic language. 

The manner of spelling words is simply fashion. Fashion changes, and why should 
not fashion in spelling change ? This is a question of intelligent education. Thousands 
of dollars are spent necessarily every year in teaching children how to spell anomalous 
words. Think of the waste of time ! Ask the teachers and they say : "We must spend time 
on spelling which we should devote to more important things, as geography, history, lit- 
erature." There is no argument against this movement except tradition. What would it 
give us ? O think what it would give us in the first three years ! Give the children release 
from bondage ! Think of the millions who are to learn to spell the English language — the 
people of our new possessions ! Think of the difficulties they will confront in acquiring 
a mastery of our wretched orthography ! What arguments are made againsl this reform ? 
Just the argument that it is wise to stand by the old. We must bring the force of this 
higher educational power to bear upon this question. If we do not save the children, who 
will? 

Slosson Thompson, of the Chicago Times-Herald. — Mr. Chairman: So long as 
the advocates of the disfigurement of the English language confined their efforts to 
printing their appeals in such magazines and periodicals as had space to waste on a 
futile kicking against the prickles of learning, there was no need for anyone to take 
up the cudgels in behalf of his mother-tongue. Adopting the lofty style of the only 
truly great lexicographer: "Sir, the orthography of the English language needs no 
defense." It* stands, what it is, glorious and unapproachable in its incongruity, match- 
less in the potency and picturesqueness of its irregularities. I revere it for its unmastered 
difficulties, its verbal snares and pitfalls, its inexplicable spelling, and its sweet unrea- 
sonableness. I love it for the enemies it has made — and overwhelmed. 

English is not a perfect language. Heaven preserve it from the canker of perfec- 
tion ! The perfect languages are all dead. Regularity and reforms killed them. The 
irregular, unscientific English has outstripped every other living language. It has 
strangled Volapuk, the ideal language of the spelling reformers, in its cradle. 

But when the spelling reformers ask a representative body like this to expend 
$5,000 upon an undertaking to which the knight-errantry of Don Quixote was sanity, it is 
time the common-sense of the English-speaking multitude was heard in protest. By the 
way, how would the spelling reformers spell Don Quixote ? 

I would be the last man to rob Mr. Vaile of his rattle. Let him play with it. But 
when he asks a body of men devoted to teaching the English language to appropriate 
money to introduce scientific confusion of tongues into their teaching, I submit-that he is 
trespassing on hallowed grounds. If Mr. Vaile were an arboriculturist as he is a verbal i- 
culturist, he would prune the beauties out of our forests, he would trim the maple and oak 
leaves of their distinctive glories, pluck the odd leaf from the clover and shamrock, and 
put every trunk, limb, and branch of nature into a plaster cast. 

I suppose if educated Chicago were canvassed for the one man who by inveterate 
instinct and perverse practice spells English most incorrectly at every opportunity, and 
makes opportunities where they do not occur, I should have been its first choice. For 
twenty-seven years of daily newspaper work my spelling has been the despair of type- 
setters in three cities. But in all that time — blundering along, strewing my way with the 
fragments of the late queen's English — will you believe it, I cannot remember now to 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING . 33 

have misspelled a single one of the words which our good friends, the reformers, would 
mutilate, dismember, and disembowel, to make them easier to spell and shorter to write. 
What does this mean ? It would seem to mean that they are crying " Reform, reform ! " 
where there is no demand or need for reform. Have you ever stopped to consider the 
task of Sisyphus these spelling reformers have set themselves ? You might as well 
attempt to bail Lake Michigan with a gill dipper as to try to reform the English lan- 
guage by dropping a few letters out of two score words in it. 

The attempt is as preposterous as it is unnecessary. Let us consider the English 
tongue, which today is the noblest heritage of over 130,000,000 people. It is the most 
wonderful conglomeration that was ever evolved from the confusion that befell the build- 
ers of the tower of Babel. The mixture of blood in the race that is being assimilated 
in the schools and workshops of this land comes from a few sources compared with the 
multiplicity of sources from which the spoken and written language of that race is derived. 
The language is so tenaceous of what it has once fairly taken into its maw that it is not 
safe to write " obsolete " against any word once in familiar use. Naturally a language 
so varied in its derivation, so flexible in its structure, so irregular and inexplicable in its 
idioms, abounds in words and phrases that are the joy of its possessors and the despair 
of philologers and professors. The latter have been trying to reform the life and letters 
out of the English tongue ever since it was recognized as such. It has never suited the 
scientific grammarians and philosophers. 

How do you explain the phenomenon that you cannot find a master of the English 
language in the ranks of the spelling reformers ? Scores of philologists rail against it ; 
not one great writer complains. I account for it on the theory that the good workman 
seldom finds fault with his tools. From Chaucer, an infamous speller, and Shakespeare, 
who could not spell his own name twice alike consecutively,, and Milton, who could not 
see whether his daughter spelled "though" with a silent terminal or not, down to 
Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson, who ever heard a great writer thinking or 
caring whether his printer spelled " program " in long or short meter ? 

But there is a serious side to this subject which the spelling reformers in their per- 
sonal arrogance might well pause to consider. What right have they, in order to effect 
what must be at best a questionable reform, to attempt to break down the uniformity of 
printed English literature ? What compensation do they offer for the confusion of spell- 
ing which they would introduce into the books of 130,000,000 people ? I am inclined to 
say: Blessed are the dead languages, for their .reformers are also dead. They at least are 
beyond the reach of the pride of personal conceit that would advocate lighting daylight 
with electricity because the sunlight causes a few weak eyes to blink. 

We who have lived long enough to observe the effect have seen no compensating 
advantage from the reform in spelling words like "honor," "labor," etc., without the u. 
For many years its sole result was the difference between the typography of books printed 
in England and America. There is a disposition now to revert to the original form in 
books printed for sale in both countries. Philology and reason were behind the change, 
but the genius of our glorious language revolts at reason and resents any reform that robs 
it of any of its idiosyncrasies. 

Do you want to know why the work of spelling reformers will prove vain ? It robs 
the printed language of ingrain dignity of form, and gives to it the ludicrous appearance 
of a stump-tailed fox. In the current phrase of the street, the spelling reformer makes 
good old English words like "though," "through," "thought," and even the Greek 
derivative "programme," look like "thirty cents." There is a beauty in the mere form 
of old familiar words that should be sacred from the reforming iconoclast. Language is 
a growth which no art can improve upon. The philologists have never added a single 
familiar word to the language. Why should they be permitted to "monkey" with it ? 

What the varied forms of molding, pillars, windows, arches, caps, and cornices, and 
above all proportion, are to architecture, the forms of certain words have become to 



34 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

-i i i - - - —i 

printed English. Let me illustrate. You all know the thirteenth chapter of First Corin- 
thians : 

x. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as 
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 

3. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though 
I have all, faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 

3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and 
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 

I need read no more. You know how disastrous has been the attempt to substitute 
the word "love" for "charity" in this passage. Let the reformers have their way with 
spelling the word "though," let them spell " prophecy " with an/, and the offense to the 
eye would be almost as great as was revision of " charity " to the ear and heart of every 
lover of English literature. 

The spelling reformers of today have not the plea of discovery or invention to offer 
for their crusade. Artemus Ward, Orphus C. Kerr, Josh Billings, and Petroleum B. 
Nasby took phonetic liberties with the English tongue, besides which their tentative 
reforms are like glow-worms to the blazing sun. These truly clever professors of sloth 
and illiteracy had the courage of their calling. They knew that the road to literary fame 
and fortune by the beaten road of original thought and verbal distinction was a long and 
hard one to travel. They realized that bad spelling was the protest of the multitude 
against the superior attainments of the industrious few, and therefore they adopted the 
system of our friends, the spelling reformers, as their short-cut to the hearts and dollars 
of their countrymen. 

But do not conclude that A. Ward, Office Seeker, Billings, and Nasby were the original 
spelling reformers. The species has flourished in every age, since illiteracy provided an 
easy and humorous foil to learning. Shakespeare and the dramatists of his time showed 
themselves masters of the phonetic trick three hundred years before Artemus Ward con- 
vulsed two nations by spelling " before " with a letter and a figure. What we need is 
not a reform in the spelling of the English tongue, but a reaction against the ghastly 
failure to teach spelling in our schools at all. I was going to say a reform in the method 
of teaching spelling in our schools. But, thanks to the professors, they have no methods. 
Our children are no longer taught to spell. They visualize words. That is to say, they do 
not spell cat c-a-t, or dog d-o-g. They see the word written on the blackboard, and are 
told to associate it with the animal it represents. Of course, there is not the faintest 
suggestion of a dog or a cat in the form of the written word. So when your daughter 
comes to write " the cat killed the rat," you are in luck if she does not write, " the cow 
licked the can." When this visualization gets beyond simple objects it is necessarily 
absolutely and hopelessly at sea. Last summer my little girl of nine years, writing from 
the Massachusetts coast, wrote, " the tid was firy lo," and also that " the water was firy 
kol." She had her own system of phonetic spelling. She composes with natural facility, 
and her letters are a joy to all her grown-up correspondents. But they are making her 
mother gray before her time. 

Now, spelling, as taught in our public schools, is an attempt to revert to the Egyptian 
system of hieroglyphics. It would make bricks without straw — words without letters. 
It does not make each word consist of so many movable characters, but seeks to make each 
word a symbol. In this way our children are being taught by the Chinese method which 
requires a sign for every word. A printing establishment in China has to have fonts 
containing thousands of separate and distinct characters, where the American com- 
positor can set up hundreds of thousands of words from a single font of type containing 
only the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. This is the system which the visualists are 
forcing upon the innocent but doomed children of Chicago. They are seeking to make 
them fill their little minds with the association of ideas between printed words and myriads 
of objects, or ideas, for which they stand. 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 35 

Let me put this indictment of a monstrous system more plainly. Spelling by the 
visualizing method requires the child to identify arbitrary signs for innumerable things. 

Spelling by the system of our fathers required us to know only twenty-six arbitrary 
signs by which we can construct the names of everything in heaven above and in earth 
beneath and in the water under the earth. 

Professor Clark, of the Northwestern University, recently gave an account of the 
failure of a class of 191 to pass an examination in spelling 150 ordinary words. He pro- 
duced the list in proof that the words were in ordinary use. I have tried it on several of 
my acquaintances of the generation which learned spelling and also definition from the 
old-fashioned spelling-book. Not one of them stumbled over more than five words, and 
one of these was " Philippine," which is a trick word. And yet 153 of that class of 
191 fresh from their studies failed to pass the examination, notwithstanding 'there was 
an allowance of twenty errors per paper. One of the graduates of the modern system of 
spelling without letters incorrectly " visualized " 77 words out of 150. The man who first 
invented and went about advising " visualization " ought to be indicted for larceny of 
the first principle of education. Verbal and literal iteration — that alone can store the 
memory with indelible and instantly available impressions. 

But, gentlemen, spelling reformers are humbugs. What they propose is not reform. 
It is mere freak abbreviation. Take, for instance, the twelve words which the National 
Educational Association indorsed as a feeler three years ago : program, tho, altho, thoro, 
thorofare, thru, thruout, catalog, prolog, decalog, demagog, pedagog. 

There is not an idea of reform or genuine simplification in one of these. Many of 
them have been used time out of mind with the apostrophe. The reformers are fond of 
telling the story of the man who said he never really understood the meanness of the 
term "demagogue" until he saw it spelled without the final ue. That man had a latent 
sense of the true dignity of words, and the reformer who first invented the story was so 
intent on his little point that he did not appreciate how the same abbreviation in spelling 
made catalog, prolog, decalog, and pedagog look like so many bumps on a log, or, to speak 
more accurately, like so many kites without tails. They are rudderless words, without 
pride of ancestry or dignity of form. In at least two of the words mentioned above the 
reformers have not followed their own pretense of spelling phonetically, since th-o-r-o 
does not spell thorough, and th-o-r-o-f-a-r-e does not spell thoroughfare. 

But what impression has spelling reform made on English during the past twenty 
years ? I leave it to you to say whether you believe the dent is any deeper now than it 
was when that March hare from Lafayette started the raid to make a printed page of 
English look like a bad case of delirium tremens superinduced by an overdose of gin 
fizzes of Efs and Jays and Zees. 

Today, thank heaven, the English language is flourishing like an ever-green bay tree. 
The new International Dictionary, made necessary after only ten years since the preced- 
ing revision, claims to have 25,000 additional words. It is still the standard American 
dictionary in court and counting-room. It still adheres to the correct pricinple of 
dictionary-making, and gives the language as it is, and not as this or that spelling 
deformer would make it. 

To teach the language as it is, I take it, is the simple, plain duty of the public schools 
of America. No matter how we may individually think it should be spelled, we must 
accept spelling, backed as it is by tradition, by growth, by history, by etymology, and by 
the printed literature of the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race in a multitude 
of books no man can number. It is downright profanation to think of making old junk 
of printed English books since the days of Edmund Spenser. 

We must adhere to a single common standard in spelling as in money and morals. 
It is your duty to set your faces like flint against the attempt to scatter the seeds of con- 
fusion in the spelling-books of the republic. Reform the methods of teaching spelling ; 



36 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

they cry aloud for your immediate and prayerful attention ; but say " hands off " the uni- 
versally accepted spelling of English. 

My last word to you, whether it refer to reading, writing, ciphering, or spelling, is to 
stand fast by the old ways which have never failed, and to shun new and scientific nos- 
trums in education as you would the foul Bend who would lead the children committed to 
you thru flowery fields of dalliance to ignorance and destruction. Mere memory without 
understanding is nought. But understanding without a more or less full and accurately 
stored memory is ignorance. 

As for the English language — it is all right. By reason of its strength, its flexi- 
bility, its directness, its copiousness, its nobility, and its irregularity, it stands without a 
peer among the languages of the living. It has a literature that not only surpasses the 
literature of any other language living or dead, but it surpasses them all, for it practically 
comprehends them all. The work of the philologist is to trace the ancestry of words back 
to their roots. It has never given a single green twig or shoot to language. It multi- 
plies books and not literature. 

Skeats, the greatest of the philologists, acknowledges that " the speech of man is in 
fact influenced by physical laws, or, in other words, by the working of divine power." I 
know not how that may be, but, tho doubtless the philologists and spelling reformers 
might have produced a better language than English, doubtless they never have and 
never will. 

Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111. — The power of the English 
language lies in the thought and the ease of its utterance, and not in its execrable orthog- 
raphy. It is because of the tongue, not because of the monstrosities of the spelling, that it 
is a powerful instrument. I have had difficulty with spelling so much that I have had to 
carry a dictionary in my satchel for recourse in my correspondence. I have had to waste 
time and life because of this difficulty. I have spent more time in learning to spell than 
I have to get rich. We do have the pupils visualize — but we also have them spell in 
the old-fashioned way. We do not know how many are killed in going thru the trying 
ordeal of learning to spell, but we want to spare the killing of the millions who are 
coming. 

We must think of the children. We are not thinking of what the editors say. We 
must think of relieving the children of the drudgery of mastering this spelling. This 
reform would save the children so much that we must urge it. 

Dr. E. E. White. — There should be a complete separation of this question. The 
question of spelling reform and the proposition to appoint a commission by the National 
Educational Association for the furtherance of that reform are two very different ques- 
tions ; the second is the real question before us. 

Spelling reform has been a disappointment to its friends. It has gone on very 
slowly. Notwithstanding the approval of it on the part of philologists and philological 
societies, they have not shown zeal enough to put their hands in their pockets to give it 
substantial support. What does this mean, if not that they do not see how it can be 
effected ? There is evidently little faith in its triumph. 

The Board of Directors of the National Educational Association at Washington in 
1898 by a vote of eighteen to seventeen authorized a change in the spelling of twelve 
words in the printed proceedings of this department. This action was heralded as the 
action of the National Educational Association. The question was never before that 
body, and the Board of Directors had no authority to speak for the association on such a 
question. Its action was limited to the publishing of its proceedings. 

We are asked to take this action in behalf of the children, but in their interest I 
object to such an increase in the spelling burden. The children are not to be helped by a 
change in our orthography, for a change in the spelling of 40 to 100 words will add that 
many additional new spellings for the children of this and the next generation to learn. 



Supetintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 37 

Even the teachers must know the standard spelling as well as the new, especially when 
they come to make application for places. Every new spelling authorized adds to the 
task of learning to spell, and so the burden is not to be lifted in this way. The children 
are obliged to learn to spell English words as they are now written. It will take one 
hundred years to change the spelling of as many words, so that the new spelling will 
take the place of the old in English literature. 

This is not a proper work for this association. It is not its function. Spelling 
reform is not a definite and clear means of promoting popular education, as already 
shown. This National Educational Association should be kept free from the responsi- 
bility and annoyance of a commission reporting changes in spelling from year to 
year. The funds of the association should not be used to promote such a reform. Let 
it be left to the philological and spelling-reform societies in this country and Great 
Britain. 

Superintendent L. H. Jones, Cleveland, O. — My name was placed on this com- 
mittee with my consent, but I came to this meeting with no enthusiasm for this move- 
ment. Since hearing the lack of argument upon the other side, I am heartily in favor 
of it. 

Superintendent Charles R. Skinner, Albany, N. Y. — At the Washington 
meeting, when this question came up, I was one of the seventeen to vote against the 
reform. I am still opposed to it. An arithmetician has figured out that it would take 
25,000 years to bring about the assimilation of the twelve amended spellings into our 
language. 

Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. 1 — One of the 
gentlemen who have spoken this morning has stated that the spelling reform dates back 
twenty-five or thirty years in this country. He refers to the movement as initiated by the 
action of the Philological Association of Great Britain and the indorsement of its action 
by the Philological Association in America — the spelling reform itself is twice as old. 
It originated chiefly in the work of Alexander J. Ellis, who was a scholar of Trinity 
College in Cambridge in the thirties and forties of the last century. It was his sound 
advice and deep skill in phonetics that Isaac Pitman made use of in the invention of 
phonography — the first great system of shorthand writing, which has come into use among 
the reporters of the English language everywhere. Mr. Ellis was greatly interested in 
discovering the history of the changes in pronunciation m the English language, 
and he saw quite clearly that if the nation used a phonetic alphabet it would photo- 
graph from one generation to another the status of pronunciation and enable the future 
scholar to trace the laws of change which prevail in orthoepy. Some time between 1840 
and 1850 Mr. Ellis published a pamphlet under the title of A Plea for Phonotypy, by far 
the ablest document that has urged a reform in spelling of the English language. Mr. 
Ellis 1 final great work in his specialty, which has assisted the students of English more 
than any other great work ever written, is a treatise on early English pronunciation, with 
a special reference to Shakespeare and Chaucer. The five volumes of this remarkable 
work bring together into one focus nearly all that has ever been taught or written that 
will throw any light on the ancient pronunciation and its progressive changes. The first 
volume of this work did not appear before 1869. 

The great scholars, such as Sweet, now professor in Oxford and author of many 
books on the dialectic varieties of English ; Alexander Melville Bell, the author of Visible 
Speech and another able advocate of reformed spelling, who attempted to form an alphabet 
of signs which suggest in themselves the vocal organs used in the utterance of the sounds 
represented, whose alphabet, slightly modified, has been adopted by Sweet and is used in 
all the universities where a scientific study is made of the elementary sounds of languages 

1 Revised and extended by the author. 



38 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION LChicago 

and their alphabetical representation ; J. A. H. Murray, of- Oxford University, the editor 
of the great dictionary of the English language, and indeed the great dictionary of the 
world, for that matter, because it contains the results of the labors of three thousand Eng- 
lish scholars who have divided up the literature of the language and read all of its 
classical writings and brought together their results in such a way as to show the history 

* 

of the first appearance and all subsequent changes of each word in the language ; these 
men and their disciples all gladly acknowledge a great debt to Alexander J. Ellis. 

Speaking of the date of the beginning of the spelling reform, upon reflection I see 
that it is fully fifty years since I began to be interested in it, having in 1851, thru the study 
of phonography, become interested, also in phonotypy thru A. J. Ellis' plea for it. I had 
great hopes from 1850 up to the time of our Civil War to see a general adoption of a 
reformed alphabet, each letter of which should represent only one sound, and which should 
contain a character for each sound in the English language. 

I have learned much since then, and know how difficult it is to make a change in any 
institution or usage which affects the population as a whole. I might add that the Anglo- 
Saxon population is the most conservative of all populations, because the genius of its 
government is that of compromise and that of foundation upon established usage without 
reference to logical arrangement or complete reasonableness. The constitution of Great 
Britain is a collection of established usages, each one representing the result at which two 
opposing parties compromised their extreme views and adopted a mixed view, not quite 
one thing or quite the other. It is not a theoretical constitution reasoned out and adopted 
by a people, but only a system of special rights and privileges fixed by compromise 
between two stubborn opposing interests. 

It is clear that a people whose local self-government depends upon the sacred 
observance of laws more or less irrational and contradictory, and made harmonious only 
by hundreds of years of supreme (or highest) court decisions, has acquired the habit of mind 
of respecting peculiarities of all kinds, not merely of law, but also of personal habits, and 
also of methods of writing and spelling the words of one's language. 

The philologists have long since proved that the peculiarities of English spelling do 
more to mislead than to aid one who investigates the derivation of words. The difficulties in 
the English spelling trace back to the patchwork of the Norman scribes, and then later on to 
the whimsical ignorance of men in the time of Samuel ]ohnson,who supposed that they knew 
the etymology of the words that they were using, but were mistaken, as scholars had been 
in the case of the word island, which in the sixteenth century (a century before Johnson) 
began to be spelled with an s, on the theory that it was derived from the Latin word 
insula, and that it was a compound word containing the French word He or isle and land, 
whereas the old middle English word Hand or ealand was composed of the word land and 
the prefix ea % signifying "water" or " river." 

Murray's English dictionary enables each student to find the results of the history of 
English words, both as to pronunciation and derivation, arranged conveniently under 
each word. I remember my astonishment year before last when I found in one of the 
works of Professor Sweet the fact stated that the common pronunciation of the word 
children is cAooldren, the ild being pronounced as if spelled with the 00 sounded as in the 
word "foot." I was astonished at this, because this was in my youth the general pronun- 
ciation among the farmers of New England.. It seems that their ancestors had brought 
this pronunciation from England, and that it still exists as common among the English 
dialects. 

The past summer I was traveling in Suffolk, in a part of England belonging with 
Norfolk to East Anglia. It was the place that sent most immigrants to Massachusetts 
from 1630 to 1680. I was surprised to find my Connecticut pronunciation of u after r 
still in use among the common people in that part of the country south of Norwich and 
not far from Ipswich. As a boy I pronounced true and fruit, not with the sound of 00 
as in " food," but with the sound of u as in " pew," " endure," " sue." Long ago I 



Supeimtendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 39 

had been taught by teachers to change my pronunciation, but I remember once when 
visiting Harvard College making the observation that the majority of the tutors and 
under-professors, who came from the rural regions of New England and were not born 
in Boston, pronounced in conversation the «-sound in such words as " truth," not as oo 
in " soon," but as a diphthong or glide from the sound of z in " it " to the sound of oo in 
" foot," just as I did. 

In my visit to Suffolk county last summer I learned the reason for it. The people of 
the rural regions of a country retain from one generation to another, without much change, 
the pronunciation of their forefathers. Whereas the prevailing English uses a jy-sound 
with an 00-sound following it, pronouncing " due " almost as if it was spelled joo, yet in 
East Anglia and wherever in America the population is from rural New England this 
iw-sound of u is preserved, notwithstanding the fight of the teacher against this usage. 

I have repeated these trifling circumstances in order to indicate the direction in 
which the labor of the English philologists who favor spelling reform is of great service 
in throwing light upon the English speech as it is written and spoken. I always wish to 
say a word for the great dictionary of Murray, which gives to our scholars, and to the 
scholars of every remote country where English is spoken, the ability to see as in a 
mirror the English language in its entire history. 

I have gone into these particulars also in order to intimate, in what I trust is a polite 
and acceptable manner, that those who object to spelling reform from a scholarly stand- 
point may be justly charged with some defect in their scholarship, and that they do not 
know the present situation of English philology. 

I do not hesitate to repeat on all occasions that I am, and have been, a believer in 
the desirability of effecting a reform in the spelling of English. But I do not believe 
that this can be done by the intense zeal of a few individuals, or even of a considerable 
class of people, such, for instance, as compose this association. I do believe that the 
unreasonable conservatism which widely prevails among the opponents of spelling 
reform can be undermined only by a gradual process, and that this association, in 
adopting a dozen simplified spellings, has taken a wise measure. Once habituated to 
the idea of reforming or simplifying our spelling, the mass of the population in the next 
generation will be ready to make radical changes, whereas, if radical changes are 
attempted now, the conservative people will combine in self-defense, and shut the door 
against any semblance of change. This is a case where a thin wedge is needed, and 
where it is wisest to make as little agitation as possible. Hence, when my committee 
recommended, a couple of years ago, the list of twelve words — which, by the way, I 
obtained from my friend, Mr. Vaile — we hoped that the changes would be used in the 
publication of the proceedings of this association, and that as little as possible would be 
said about it. We did not approve of Secretary Shepard's action in printing the list of 
words and sending it out to the public press thru the country, because we knew that it 
would cause a reaction. At the Washington meeting we had a fight in the Board of 
Directors over the rule, and it was confirmed, as has already been stated here, by a vote 
of eighteen to seventeen. I shall not be surprised at all if a vote next summer reverses 
the whole matter by a vote of two to one. We thought, however, that we could hold the 
thin wedge where it is, if we said as little about it as possible and fought for the reten- 
tion of the small list of words that we had simplified. The next generation will become 
familiar with the work of simplifying the alphabet, and will demand and secure radical 
reforms ; at least this is what we hope. 

But we must not forget, any of us, that this is a National Educational Association, 
and that spelling reform, or temperance reform, or religious reform, or moral reform, is 
not the special object of this association. Our object is reform in school methods, 
namely, methods of instruction, methods of discipline, methods of organization, and 
methods of management. If our association becomes a spelling-reform association, 
another one specially devoted to school reform will become necessary. I am not in 



40 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

favor even of the thin wedge which we adopted two years ago, if that is to be a cause of 
new struggles and ever-recurring discussions of the subject. 

I have already presented my views in correspondence with my friend, Mr. Vaile, on 
this point. I honor and respect Mr. Vaile for his unselfish and persistent advocacy of the 
spelling reform, but I certainly think that his movement is ill-timed and worse than 
useless as an aid or help to spelling reform. It will produce reaction and stir up feel- 
ings and sentiments in the matter where we ought to have only clear reasons and a 
judicial frame of mind. I am therefore opposed to the resolutions which he offers in 
detail and as a whole. 

Mr. Vaile and Colonel Parker have stated here that this reform is entirely in the 
line with the regular work of this association, but they do not show how it is related to 
the work of instruction or the work of discipline, or of organization and management. 
They certainly would not suppose that the teacher can introduce spelling reform into 
his school without the permission of his school committee, or that the school committee 
can do it without the countenance and support of the entire English-speaking people. 
It cannot, therefore, be a matter which relates directly to education in the schools. It 
can in no sense be accomplished by a few individuals, or even by a large association. 
One cannot take up this reform and carry it on alone. By attempting to do this he will 
simply make himself disagreeable to his fellow-men. He will be disagreeable because 
he will neglect the concrete and manifold interests of society and thrust unduly forward 
one simple interest, one reform out of an infinite number of possible reforms which 
ought to be secured. The spelling reform is, therefore, not a reform whiph can be 
secured by this National Educational Association, and those who favor the adoption of the 
resolution in question will, if successful, simply turn the work of the association ou{ of 
its regular course into that of a spelling-reform association, and will divide the mem- 
bers of our association into two opposing camps on a question which does not relate 
directly or indirectly to instruction or discipline in the schools. 

Mr. Vaile, in closing the discussion, 1 regretted that the responsibility of the closing 
address did not rest on other and abler shoulders, especially as he had to oppose his 
friend, Dr. Harris, with whom now for the first time in his life he found himself in opposi- 
tion. He was astonished at Dr. Harris' attitude on the matter under debate. He recog- 
nized the doctor's great influence in the association, but he hoped that at least the younger 
men would be independent and vote according to their own judgment. Then, directly 
addressing Mr. Thompson, Mr. Vaile said : I understand you, sir, to say in effect that 
a master of the English language cannot be found in the ranks of spelling reformers. 
Did I correctly understand you ? (The gentleman arose from his seat and admitted that he 
had so stated.) 

Mr. Vaile. — Do you admit that Alfred Tennyson was a master of the English lan- 
guage or contributed anything of value to English literature ? 

Mr. Thompson. — Why, yes. 

Mr. Vaile. — Mr. Tennyson was a vice-president of an English spelling-reform 
association. Do you admit that Charles Darwin was a master of English or contributed 
anything of value to literature ? 

Mr. Thompson. — Yes, to the literature of science. 

Mr. Vaile. — Very well. Mr. Darwin was also a vice-president of an English spelling- 
reform association. Do you admit that William Dean Howells ever contributed anything 
of value to English literature ? 

Mr. Thompson. — I should like to discuss Howells with you. 

Mr. Vaile. — That is neither here nor there. What do you answer to the question ? 
Mr. Howells is, or at least was a few years ago, a vice-president of a spelling-reform 
league in the city of New Vork, and felt inclined to accept a place on the commission 

z Revised and extended by the author upon receipt of a copy of the foregoing discussion. 



Superintendence] SIMPLIFIED SPELLING 4* 

named in this petition, but finally decided that he could not. Brander Matthews and 
Edward Eggleston are, or were, vice-presidents of that same New York spelling-reform 
society. The gentleman can hardly help allowing some mastery of English lo William 
E. Gladstone, Herbert Spencer, and Charles Sumner. Every one of these men, not to 
mention others of eminence, is on record as an outspoken believer in spelling reform. 

Dr. White wants to know why I and other advocates of phonetic spelling do not 
adopt it. Look at the unfairness of the argument. I am dependent, like every other 
publisher or editor, upon my business for my living. I believe thoroly in simplified 
spelling for the sake of the children and the teachers. I use as much of it now, and 
have for years, as I dare to in my papers. Is it fair to ask me to run my head against the 
wall of prejudice on this subject which still exists, and which Dr. White personally 
exhibits and encourages, and thus to deprive myself and family of bread and butter ? 
Is it just, is it reasonable, for Dr. White to raise such an argument against this movement ? 
He finds fault with the philologists because they do not push the reform themselves. The 
philologists are active in supporting the cause of simplified spelling. Max M tiller declared 
his conviction that it is the duty of scholars and philosophers not to shrink from holding 
and expressing what men of the world call Quixotic opinions on this subject. He says : 
" I feel convinced that practical reformers should never slumber nor sleep. They should 
repeat the same thing ever and over again, undismayed by indifference, ridicule, con- 
tempt, and all the other weapons which the lazy world knows so well how to employ 
against those who venture to disturb its peace." 

The literature of the last thirty years shows that philologists have done their duty in 
this direction. 

s The charge has been made that reformed spelling is losing ground ; thatTeversion 
to former spellings is taking place. That is a mistake. A few publishers are so eager to 
cultivate a market for their books in Canada and England that they ignore the American 
public and American preference in this matter, and cater to British prejudice. Think 
of it! The irony of itl Dr. Harris, a devoted and lifelong advocate of simplified 
spelling, is compelled by the publishers of the excellent "International Education" 
series, of which he is the editor, to put the long-discarded u back into " color," " favor," 
etc. There is no reaction against simplifying our spelling. It is only the work of two 
American publishers who are willing for a very slight and doubtful compensation to take 
a backward step at the expense, so far as their influence goes, of the American people 
and of American children. 

Dr. Harris maintains that this is not a proper matter for this department or for the 
National Educational Association to take hold of ; that it is not an educational question ; 
that it is merely a side issue. If the removal of obstacles and hindrances from the path- 
way of the children in learning to read is not an educational question in the broad sense, 
what is it ? If it does not tend " to promote the cause of popular education " — the 
very purpose of the National Educational Association, as declared in its constitution — 
what would promote that end ? For Dr. Harris to take such a position is inexplicable. 
He holds the office of Commissioner of Education of the United States. As such he 
disburses a certain amount of the nation's money, and for what purpose ? What is the 
object of his office ? Clearly it is to promote popular education, the same as the declared 
object of this association. Has Dr. Harris the right to use his office or the money of his 
bureau for any other purpose ? Clearly he has not. And yet, among the " Circulars of 
Information " which he issues as Commissioner of Education is a large and most excellent 
pamphlet on reformed spelling. If the simplifying of spelling is not an educational 
question, if in itself it does not promote popular education, what right has Dr. Harris to 
spend the money of his bureau in getting out such a pamphlet ? I might just as fairly 
censure him for abusing his office and misusing public funds as for him to stand on this 
platform and condemn my proposition as an illegitimate matter for this organization to 
take hold of and encourage. 



42 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Nobody wants to see this association become a spelling-reform society, and there is 
no danger of its becoming such. But this association owes it to itself and to the children 
of this and all coming generations to do what it can consistently to encourage and pro- 
mote the simplification of our spelling. In the way I propose it can exert its powerful 
influence and not divert itself in the least from its true function. 

Dr. Harris digs deep, in his usual way, to find in the peculiarities of Anglo-Saxon 

character a powerful reason why prejudice against changing and simplifying our spelling 

must be respected. He overlooks two important points: (i) While the Anglo-Saxon is 

conservative, he respects consistency and right ; he is resolute and determined when his 

face is once set, whether toward reform or any other goal ; he is quick to adjust himself 

to new conditions when he sees their advantage. The progress and improvements of the 

century are due to the Anglo-Saxon. It is amazing that he has not yet waked up to the 

need of progress and improvement in his written speech. (2) The doctor takes no 

account of the influence of English spelling on English character. His philosophy can 

hardly deny that the inconsistencies which are so indelibly impressed on the child in his 

early school years serve to weaken his appreciation and reverence for logic and reason. 

Max Muller forcibly reverses Dr. Harris in this way : 

What, however, is even more serious than all this is not the great waste of time in learning to read, and 
the almost complete failure In national education, but the actual mischief done by subjecting young minds to 
the illogical and tedious drudgery of learning to read English as spelled at present. Everything they have to 
learn in reading (or pronunciation) and spelling is irrational ; one rule contradicts the other, and each state- 
ment has to be accepted simply on authority, and with a complete disregard of all those rational instincts which 
lie dormant in the child and which ought to be awakened by every kind of healthy exercise. I know there are 
persons who can defend anything, and who hold that it is due to this very discipline that the English character 
is what it is ; that it retains respect for authority ; that it does not require a reason for everything ; and that it 
does not admit that what is inconceivable is therefore impossible. Even English orthodoxy has been traced 
back to that hidden source, because a child accustomed to believe that t-h-o-u-g-h is tho t and that t-h-r-o-u-g-h 
is tkrooy would afterwards believe anything. It maybe so; still I doubt whether even such objects would 
justify such means. 

Dr. Harris does not believe that a reform in spelling can be effected by the intense 
zeal of a few persons or of a large organization. Who does believe it ? Is not the 
whole tenor of my address in perfect accord with his opinion ? This whole effort is to 
control and harness intense zeal and help it to work along moderate and sensible lines. 
Does anyone discover any " intense zeal " in the personnel of the commission as named ? 
It may be that two or three of them might come under that description, but certainly wise 
moderation and good sense characterize every person named in that list. Not one of 
them would think of proposing radical changes now. But while even this association 
cannot of itself establish simplified spelling, it can do an immense deal toward spreading 
information and developing sentiment favorable to it. That is the purpose of this com- 
mission. In spite of all denials and explanations, Dr. Harris unaccountably persists in 
seeing in this commission only an agent for offensive and aggressive agitation. He does 
injustice to the men who have consented to act upon it. They all believe in the thin 
wedge just as much as he does. But of what service is even a thin wedge if no force 
whatever is applied to it ? One object of this commission, its great object, will be to 
watch the wedge and to apply force in just such degree and time as may be clearly wise. 
In that is there any danger of provoking reaction and stirring up resentful feelings 
among us ? It seems to me that the doctor has gone too far in his loss of faith in the 
common-sense of the people and in his timidity on this question. Some sinister influence 
seems to have hold of him. Twenty years ago he did not talk this way. 

One of the great results, if not the greatest, to be gained by the appointment of this 
commission would be the publishing of the important fact that Dr. Harris, the eminent, 
revered United States Commissioner of Education, and a host of scholars and educators 
with him, are in favor of simplifying our spelling. What proportion of our people today, 
outside of school circles, know that Dr. Harris is a spelling reformer ? The number is 
very small indeed. I wonder if a large proportion of this audience was not surprised 



Superintendence] WORK OF DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 43 

when they read the list of persons consenting to act on this commission. Information 
like this is potent in breaking down prejudice and in vitalizing reform sentiment. Bat this 
information cannot be spread by suppressing it I believe thoroly in discretion, and I 
feel that my proposition is wise and discreet. Am I mistaken ? The people need light 
on this subject and encouragement. How shall we get it to them without arousing 
antagonism ? Is not the plan under consideration a good one ? What bitterness could 
be created by any action which a majority of such a body of men would take ? 

It does not seem to me possible that the Board of Directors can take any such 
step next summer as the doctor -seems to anticipate. Nothing has been done to warrant 
it. It is clear that such action can prevail only by Dr. Harris' encouragement and sup- 
port. Some superintendents and some school boards have allowed their schools the 
option of using the long or the short form in the spelling of the twelve words. Is there 
anything harmful or unreasonable in this ? I sincerely trust the doctor will not encour- 
age any movement to reverse a step which has already produced such good results. 

I earnestly hope that this petition will be approved and sent to the Board of Directors. 
Its purpose is to remove this question wholly from the arena of debate in this body and 
put it where it will be wisely and purposefully cared for, and where the directing and 
promoting power of the educators of the land will be unequivocally behind it. It is the 
sacred duty of the educational body to take hold of this matter. I move the adoption of 
the resolution. 



THE PAST AND THE FUTURE WORK OF THE DEPART- 
MENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 

JAMES M. GREENWOOD, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, KANSAS CITY, MO. 

The National Superintendents' Department was organized in 1865, 
and it is the oldest of the eighteen departments, but it was followed 
immediately by the organization of the Normal Department. Prior to 
1870 all educational topics presented in these two departments were dis- 
cussed before the whole association. From 1857 to 1870 the name of the 
general association as an educational body was the National Teachers' 
Association. At the Cleveland meeting in 1870 it was changed to the 
National Educational Association. As at first constituted, it was an iron- 
clad organization. 

The first constitution of the National Teachers' Association, Art. II — 
Membership, reads as follows : 

Any gentleman who is regularly occupied in teaching in a public or private elemen- 
tary school, college, or university, or who is regularly employed as private tutor, as an 
editor of an educational journal, or as superintendent of schools, shall be eligible to 
membership. Ladies engaged in teaching may, upon recommendation of the Board of 
Directors, become honorary members, and shall possess the right to present in the form 
of written essays (to be read by the Secretary or any other member whom they may select) 
their views upon the subject assigned for discussion. 

In the amended constitution of 1870, Art. Ill — Membership, sec. 1 
begins : 

Any person in any way connected with the work of education shall be eligible to 
membership. Such person may become a member of this association by paying two 
dollars and signing this constitution. 



44 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The following list of subjects and the number of papers in each, omit- 
ting discussions, will give a good idea of the character and scope of work 
that has been done in this department : 

Papers 

1. American Education 4 

2. Civil Service in Public Schools 2 

3. Cost of Maintaining Schools 3 

4. Colleges and Universities 11 

5. County Supervision and Rural Schools 16 

6. Compulsory Education -- 5 

7. Criticisms of Public Schools 3. 

8. Child Study 6 

9. Courses of Study and Methods of Instruction 5 

10. Drawing and Art - 4 

11. Education and Census Reports - 3 

12. Education in Alaska and among the Indians .... 7 

13. Education in Foreign Countries 10 

14. Education of Dependent and Incorrigible Children - 3 

15. Elementary Schools - - - - 16 

16. Grading and Promoting Pupils 10 

17. High Schools 10 

18. Individualism in Mass Education 4 

19. Kindergarten Education 5 

20. Moral Education 4 

21. Manual Training 18 

22. National Bureau of Education 6 

23. National Aid to Education -.---...22 

24. National System of Schools 15 

25. Normal and Training Schools 11 

26. Primary Education 4 

27. Psychology and Pedagogy 5 

28. Qualifications of Principals and Teachers 6 

29. Reading Circles 5 

30. Supervision of City Schools 26 

31. School Organization and Territorial Units 7 

32. School Statistics 12 

33. Schoolhouses and School Sanitation - - - - - - 13 

34. School Boards, School Organization, and Administration - - 8 

35. The Alphabet, Spelling, and Reading 7 

36. Teachers and Teaching 9 

37. The South, and Her Educational Problems 15 

38. The World's Columbian Exposition 3 

39. Teaching English and Literature 7 

40. The Library and the Public Schools 2 

41. Technical and Special Lines of Education 12 

42. Withdrawal of Pupils from School 1 

Total 345 

Some of these subjects, it will be observed, never possessed any very 

great interest, either local or general, while others again have occupied 

a large sphere of the educational thought of this country. For instance, 
the discussion of manual training, which ran thru a period of eighteen 



Superintendence] WORK OF DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 45 

years, containing eighteen set papers, besides voluminous discussions and 
suggestions, forms one of the most complete treatises on that subject, 
from a pedagogical standpoint, that have appeared in print. 

Another very important subject that has received very full treatment 
is the supervision of city schools, beginning in 1868 and still continuing, 
having covered a period of thirty-one years. It is presented in twenty-six 
different papers, a number of them of very great value. Could these 
papers and discussions be bound into a volume for the use of town, 
county, and city superintendents, it would be an invaluable contribution 
to the pedagogic literature of this country. Such a treatise is greatly 
needed, since we have nothing approaching a standard work on this sub- 
ject. Nearly every imaginable phase of the subject is herein treated with 
great fullness. 

I hope the Board of Trustees of the National Educational Association 
will take action upon this matter at an early date, authorizing the publica- 
tion of such a volume. 

The discussion of elementary schools, covering a period of sixteen 
years, is another contribution well worthy of publication. It has received 
the attention its importance demanded, and yet the last word has not 
been spoken upon courses of study, methods of instruction, or the tax- 
paying power of a community. Sixteen papers have been formally pre- 
sented and discussed by a strong array of teaching talent. It is one of 
the subjects at present still requiring further consideration. In the 
words of President Garfield : " When an elementary course is # spread out 
too much it becomes exceedingly thin." The thickening and thinning 
processes are with us now. 

County supervision and rural schools first came on the program in 
1868, and continued till 1896. Sixteen different papers contain what has 
been advanced upon this topic. This field of work has been well mapped 
out, but leaving much to be done along the lines of modifying courses 
of study in rural schools, the consolidation of school districts, massing 
pupils in public schools in the sparsely settled communities by convey- 
ing them from remote distances to the schoolhouses at public expense, 
and the establishment of township high schools. While these questions 
have been thoughtfully considered in some localities, they are destined in 
the near future to come more prominently before the public for discussion 
and action. Already some of them have passed into the realm of business 
economy and common-sense. 

National aid to education from 1872 to 1890 was continually in the 
foreground. The subject was one of great historic interest, and occupied 
a much wider range in discussion than some other questions of more vital 
importance. As a matter of history, illustrating one phase of educational 
thought, the discussion possesses now a permanent value, owing to the 
legal issues involved. The condition which produced it having passed 



46 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

away, it may be assigned to the realm of dead issues, liable, however, to 
be resurrected under some other, and unlooked-for, form. 

Colleges and universities, by virtue of their character and great educa- 
tional value, have ever held a prominent place in the department. Some 
of the ablest men in the nation have contributed very scholarly articles, 
and the discussion now going on presents new and unexpected phases 
each year. The transformations have been so rapidly pushed forward 
during the last two decades in college and university work that, com- 
pared with the former conservatism which had prevailed, it seems almost 
revolutionary to many, particularly in regard to elective courses and 
major and minor subjects for graduation and degrees. A strong reaction 
in some quarters is beginning to set in, and further concessions in the 
direction of conservatism will probably be made. College work, however, 
has been more sharply cut out from university work, and yet the line is a 
wavy one even on paper. The indications now are that each kind of 
institution will settle down into its own legitimate sphere, and neither 
will do the work that belongs strictly to the other. The weakest spot in 
our universities today is the vast amount of instruction assigned to tutors. 
As a matter of fact, the students do not come into close enough mental 
contact with men of superior attainments. The universities will adjust 
themselves to their work in due time. True manhood is an element of 
such vital importance that it must not be neglected in the training of 
young men. 

The high-school question has called forth some of the best papers 
presented during the existence of the National Educational Association. 
While these contributions have not been so extensive, yet those presented 
possess great merit. There are many serious questions connected with 
high schools that remain to be solved. The legitimate function of the 
high school is certainly not in a state of stable equilibrium. There is a 
furious striving among too many of them to be more than high schools. 
A well-grounded feeling exists in many quarters that the sails are catching 
too much wind, and need shortening. One thing is certain : the high 
schools should teach some things well, and not attempt to have the 
pupils absorb a little something of everything without knowing any one 
thing well. Another grave question is the proper adjustment of the 
pupils to the courses of study, so that those who can complete the work 
in four years may do so, and those who require five years should not be 
rushed thru it in four years. Another adjustment should come at the 
end of the seventh year in the ward schools, at which time pupils of 
average attainments are prepared, or should be well enough prepared, to 
enter upon high-school work. Six years in ward schools, followed by six 
years in high schools, would prove poor economy in any community, and 
would be injurious to the pupils. 

The subject of high-school statistics is also in a chaotic condition, 



Superintendence] WORK OP DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 47 

altho I endeavored last year to initiate a movement which will give, if 
generally adopted, results more trustworthy than those heretofore pub- 
lished. 

Normal schools have been most fully treated in eleven articles, the 
first by Dr. Philbrick thirty years ago, and the last in 1898. The articles 
constitute a distinct and valuable treatise, notwithstanding what has been 
done in the Normal Department and in the National Council in this 
special line of work. 

Ten excellent articles, spread over a period of thirty-two years, have 
been presented before the department on education in foreign countries, 
two of these articles being by foreigners and the others by Americans. 
In recent years this subject has been most ably summarized by the present 
Commissioner of Education in his excellent annual reports. 

Another subject that has received generous treatment is that of 
schoolhouses and school sanitation, in twelve articles, some of which are 
by experts. Unless the subject shall be more completely worked out in 
the National Council, thru its present Committee on School Hygiene, it 
will admit of further elucidation. The present status of this subject is 
represented by the word "unfinished," and the same remark applies to 
several other topics that have been partially treated. 

The South and her educational problem, under different titles, has 
occupied much space, but not more than its importance demands. It 
was an absorbing educational topic for years, and one of deep interest. 
The heroic efforts of the southern people to work out the problem in 
their own way, and in harmony with their local conditions, is destined to 
constitute one of the most remarkable chapters in American history. 
The southern people are handling this complicated question successfully 
and much better than other people could do it for them. Thru indom- 
itable will-power, coupled with remarkable sagacity, they are accomplishi- 
ng a great deal educationally, religiously, and socially for millions of 
people who can help themselves but little. 

School boards, school units, school organization, and school adminis- 
tration, in this department as well as in the National Council, have 
engaged the best and most experienced thought of educators for nearly 
thirty years, and it is still a matter of very earnest and deep discussion. 
Every definite deliverance, to the present, is no more than a tentative 
experiment to hit upon a workable, satisfactory plan of adjustment to 
social and economic conditions. 

Ten papers have been published on grading and promoting pupils, and 
the subject is still undecided. 

It is pertinent to remark that in the general association, or in some 
of the other departments, several topics have been more fully discussed 
than in the Department of Superintendence, and in arranging programs 
this fact has been kept in view each year by the president. This accounts 



48 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

for the meager treatment of some phases of education in the scheme I 
have condensed. " "" 

In my opinion the following topics will admit of much fuller treat- 
ment: child study on a rational and scientific basis; moral education, 
especially of the feelings ; what school statistics ought to be collected ; a 
more satisfactory and rational method of teaching the English language 
in the rural and city schools ; an economic basis of conducting a system 
of public schools as dependent on the taxpaying power of a community; 
the relation of the superintendent to the board of education, with a view 
to avoiding useless and reckless expenditures and the exploitation of fads 
and frills; how to diffuse each year among the common-school teachers 
the best information published in the annual reports, of the Commissioner 
of Education ; at what hours should ward schools and high schools open 
and close each day, and what are the best periods for intermission? what 
effect does the change of teachers in the high schools have on the pupils 
in regard to the eighth commandment ? a clear deliverance in regard to 
the subjects that are purely informational and those that are culture 
studies, or the difference between form and content studies ; courses of 
study for elementary schools, including what subjects shall be in the 
course, and what shall be the aim and scope of the treatment ; how shall 
small graded schools be best supervised, and what kind of course of study 
is best adapted to the needs of such communities ? the ways and means 
to secure the best results in manual training in the grades so as not to 
detract from the efficiency of the regular work ; what, how much, when, 
and by whom shall this be done ? how much of domestic science and 
agriculture should be taught in the rural schools? what is the educational 
value of marking cadets at West Point and Annapolis? have examinations 
a legitimate place in the public schools ? 

Some of these subjects should be referred to committees for special 
investigation, and others assigned to individuals for additional discussion 
at future meetings of this department. 



DISCUSSION 



Superintendent Frank B. Cooper, Salt Lake City, Utah. — It seems to me that this 
body rests under much obligation to Superintendent Greenwood for the pains and labor 
taken by him in preparing a re*sume* of the work of this department, so concise and satis- 
factory. It would have been interesting and beneficial if one so conversant with the 
department and so long identified with its meetings could have included in his analysis 
an estimate of how far the discussion of these thirty-five years has affected the develop- 
ment of supervision. 

This department has three well-defined functions. It exercises thru its social fea- 
tures, as well as thru the medium of its programs, an inspirational influence especially 
valuable ; it has a didactic and instructive function afforded by addresses and dis- 
cussions; it also has a definitive function exercised thru its declarations. The first 



Superintendence] HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEPARTMENT 49 

two have always been fulfilled. The last has not been, in my opinion, sufficiently used. 
This body has not touched the highest point of its usefulness when it has merely fur- 
nished opportunity for social contact and for able discussions' of the problems connected 
with school supervision. All that is good and useful, but the effects are neither definite 
nor pervasive enough. Only once within the past few years has the department risen to 
this highest point That was at the Cleveland meeting, when the report of the Committee 
of Fifteen was rendered and discussed. 

Superintendent Greenwood suggested that there should be " a clear deliverance " by 
the department upon " those subjects that are purely informational and those that are cul- 
ture studies." There should be at intervals a succession of " clear deliverances " upon 
topics legitimately connected with the work of supervision. Such declarations, clearly 
defined, put forth as the well-digested conviction of this body, would be authoritative and 
would have inestimable value. 



DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE NA TIONAL 

EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

BRIEF SKETCH OF ITS EARLY HISTORY* 
EMERSON E. WHITE, LL.D., COLUMBUS, O. 

At the meeting of the National Teachers' Association held in Harris- 
burg, Pa., in August, 1865, the superintendents present had several 
conferences looking to the organization of a national association. A pre- 
liminary organization was effected, with Hon. B. G. Northrop, of Massa- 
chusetts, chairman, and Hon. L. Van Bokkelen, of Maryland, secretary. It 
was decided to call a meeting of state and city superintendents in Wash- 
ington, D. C, the following February for the organization of a national 
superintendents' association and the consideration of subjects related to 
school administration. The special purpose of holding the meeting in 
Washington was to interest Congress in the creation of a national bureau 
of education, and the writer was appointed to prepare a paper on the 
subject for the Washington meeting. 

The proposed meeting for organization was held in Washington, Feb- 
ruary 6, 7, and 8, 1866, Hon. B. G. Northrop, chairman, and Hon. L. Van 
Bokkelen, secretary. The constitution adopted named the organization 
the National Association of School Superintendents ; declared its pur- 
pose to be the consideration of subjects related to "school organization 
and management;" and limited membership in the association to "state, 
city, and county superintendents of schools" (Proceedings, 1868, p. 40), 
this provision being subsequently so modified as to make ex-superintend- 
ents, who were members when in office, eligible to membership. It pro- 
vided for the annual election of a president, three vice-presidents, a 
secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee of five members. 

At this meeting papers were read by Superintendent Charles R. 
Coburn, Pennsylvania, on " School Statistics ; " by Superintendent L. Van 

*The amended spellings adopted by the Board of Directors do not appear in this address. [See reso- 
lution of Board of Directors, Los Angeles meeting, July 13, 1899.] 



5° NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Bokkelen, Maryland, on "The Practicability of Greater Uniformity in 
State School Systems ; " by Superintendent C. M. Harrison, New Jersey, 
on "Defects in Our State School Systems;" by Superintendent Newton 
Bateman, Illinois, on "Leading Features of a Model State School Sys- 
tem ;" and by Commissioner E. E. White, Ohio, on "A National Bureau 
of Education." This last paper was adopted by the association, and a 
committee, consisting of E. E. White, Newton Bateman, and J. K. Adams, 
Vermont, was appointed to memorialize Congress on the establishment 
of a national bureau of education. 

The committee prepared a memorial and drafted a bill, and the next 
day the memorial and bill were introduced in the House of Representa- 
tives by General James A. Garfield, of Ohio. 

The importance of a national bureau of education had been presented 
to the National Teachers' Association on several occasions, first in 1859, 
and at the Harrisburg meeting it elicited very general interest, the estab- 
lishment of such a bureau being advocated by President Greene in his 
inaugural address; by J. P. Wickersham, Pennsylvania, in a paper on 
"Education and Reconstruction;" and by Andrew J. Rickoff, of Ohio, 
in a paper wholly devoted to the subject. Resolutions strongly favoring 
the movement were passed.- 

A second meeting of the association was held in Indianapolis, Ind., 
August 12 and 13, 1866, in connection with the annual meeting of the 
National Teachers' Association, Hon. B. G. Northrop, president, and 
Superintendent L. Van Bokkelen, secretary. A paper was presented by 
Superintendent J. W. Bulkley, Brooklyn, N. Y., on "The Cost of Educa- 
tion per capita in the Different States;" a report by Superintendent 
Charles R. Coburn, on "State School Statistics," which was referred to 
a committee of three to report back the next day, when the subject was 
thoroughly discussed by the most competent experts in the body ; and a 
report by the committee appointed at Washington on the national bureau 
of education, stating that an approved bill establishing a national 
department of education had passed the House of Representatives and 
was pending in the Senate. A committee, consisting of E. E. White, 
O. Hosford, Michigan, D. Stevenson, Kentucky, J. W. Bulkley, and L. Van 
Bokkelen, was appointed to bring the House bill to the attention of the 
Senate and urge its passage. Committees were appointed on state school 
statistics, city school statistics, and on the relation of education to crime 
and pauperism. 

The third meeting of the association (second annual) was held in 
Nashville, Tenn., August 17, 1868, in connection with the meeting of the 
National Teachers' Association, no meeting of the national association 
being held in 1867. E. E. White was president and L. Van Bokkelen 
secretary. The subjects considered at this meeting were: (1) "School 
Funds — How Best Raised, by State or Local Taxation, How Apportioned, 



Superintendence] HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEPARTMENT 5 1 

How Disbursed," the subject being introduced by a paper by General 
John Eaton, state school superintendent of Tennessee ; (2) " School Super- 
vision," introduced by Superintendent J. W. Bulkley, Brooklyn, N. Y.; and 
(3) " School Organization in Townships," introduced by Superintendent 
D. B. Hagar, Salem, Mass. At the evening session the president delivered 
an address on "The Family, the Community, and the State in Education." 
The sessions were attended by members of the legislature of Tennessee 
and other citizens interested in the organization of school systems. 

I have thus given somewhat fully the proceedings of the first three 
meetings of the association as evidencing concretely its aims as originally 
organized. The minutes of the subsequent meetings tp 1880, and later, 
show that the time of each meeting was largely devoted to the considera- 
tion of practical questions related to school organization and. manage- 
ment. Little effort was made to draw or entertain promiscuous audiences. 
The very few exceptions were due to a failure of the officers to recognize 
the main purpose of the association or duly to appreciate the vital prob- 
lems in school organization and management needing solution. The 
superintendents met to widen their knowledge and increase their efficiency 
in school administration. The subjects were not discussed in a series of 
formal papers, but in a free interchange of views, often in the so-called 
"round table" manner. 

The first seven meetings were held in the reconstruction period, 
in which nearly half of the states and many cities reorganized their 
school systems. 

In the first twenty years nearly half of the meetings were held in 
•Washington in February or March, the special purpose being first the 
organization and subsequently the defense and strengthening of the 
Bureau of Education, and also the securing of national aid to education 
in the South. 

At the Cleveland meeting, in 1870, the National Teachers' Association 
was reorganized with the title of the National Educational Association. 
The revised constitution provided for four departments, viz.: School 
Superintendence, Normal Schools, Elementary Schools, and Higher 
Instruction, with the provision (Art. Ill, sec. 2): 

Each department may prescribe its own conditions of membership, provided that no 
person shall be admitted to such membership who is not a member of the general 
association. 

This section was a part of the constitution for twenty -five years. 

The National Association of School Superintendents was organized as 
the Department of School Superintendence, and the only changes in its 
constitution were in the title (as above) and the condition of membership, 
only members of the general association being eligible. 

The minutes of the meetings from the organization in 1866 to 1890 
show that the election of officers took place at the meeting held in 



5« NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

connection with the annual meeting of the general association, and only 
superintendents and ex-superintendents were elected to office. At the 
Nashville meeting, in 1889, Professor Woodward, of St. Louis, was nomi- 
nated for president pro tern,, but he properly declined, and Mr. Rickoff 
was elected ; and, if the writer's memory is trustworthy, only those who 
were eligible to membership, as prescribed in 1866, voted in the election 
of officers. Since 1890 the department has held its annual meetings in 
February or March (no meeting being held in 1893), and the officers 
have been chosen at these meetings. 

Since 1890 the meetings of the department have assumed more and 
more the character of mid-year meetings of the general association, and 
their programs have increasingly attracted the attendance of persons not 
directly connected with school administration. Meanwhile important 
and even vital problems in school management are waiting for solution- 
It is true that superintendents are interested in nearly all departments of 
school work, but it is also true that school supervision has its special 
functions and duties. If the several departments of the National Educa- 
tional Association are to justify their existence, there must be a closer 
differentiation of function, and the special problems in each should 
receive the attention of experts of ability and experience. 

In the revision of the constitution of the general association in 1895 
the provision relating to membership in the departments (Art. Ill, sec. 2) 
was omitted, and under the constitution, as amended, each department 
has been free to prescribe its own conditions of membership, but only 
members of the general association have been eligible to office (Art. IV, 
sec. 4). The amendment adopted by the active members at the Charleston 
meeting, 1900, provides that only active members shall have the right to 
vote in the association or its departments. 

The Department of Superintendence has full authority under the 
constitution of the association to limit its membership to superintendents, 
supervising principals, and other officers directly connected with school 
administration, and by regulation it may restore the aim and purpose 
prescrfbed at the organization of the body. The way is clear for such 
action if the members of the department deem it advisable. The only 
limitation is that all members entitled to vote must be active members of 
the general association. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

DR. W. S. CHRISTOPHER, CHICAGO, ILL. 

[AN ABSTRACT] 1 

Medical inspection in the Chicago public schools had its origin in a 
local epidemic of diphtheria in the Aicott School. The principal 

* The author of this paper failed to furnish a copy for publication. 



Superintendence] MEDICAL INSPECTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 53 

reported five cases from that school in two days. I was appealed to for 
advice, but could do nothing. That condition indicated a necessity for 
some plan of* relief. Just four weeks from that day a system of medical 
inspection was started in the Chicago schools. 

The plan of medical inspection in Chicago is different from that 
employed in New York or Boston ; the teachers there being the channels 
by means of which attention of inspectors is called to suspicious cases. In 
Chicago the teacher is the instrument too, but we have advantage of the 
rule that when the pupils are out four consecutive days they are excluded 
until they have been inspected by the proper authorities. Such regulation 
is necessary, because scarlet fever in a mild form is not easily detected. It 
becomes extremely desirable to detect milder forms of contagious diseases, 
because children so infected become bearers of the disease in its more 
serious forms. We are not accustomed, in Chicago, to admit children 
upon certificate Of the attending physician, because such certificates are 
utterly valueless. 

I do not blame the physicians for giving certificates when one is 
demanded by the patient, because their livelihood is at stake in many 
cases. That being the case, they cannot be independent, and will often 
give a certificate without proper warrant, upon the demand of the patient. 
In the case of the medical inspector, he can be independent, because he 
has nothing at stake whether he issues the certificate or not. 

I deem it a very great advantage to have the medicaf inspector directly 
under the control of the board of education, and not under the control 
of the board of health. I believe it is much more efficacious when 
administered by inspectors who are directly responsible to the board of 
education, since only about one-seventh of the cases of contagious 
diseases in the public schools are reported by the health department. 

One of the difficulties that we meet is in disposing of the pupils who 
have been absent four days upon their return to school ; formerly they 
were required to report at the principal's office upon their return, and 
there wait until the arrival of the medical inspector. It often happens 
that the inspector cannot reach the office until 1 1 or 1 2 o'clock. Parents 
object, and not without reason, to having their children herded together 
in this way. We meet this objection by sending the pupils to the rooms 
to which they belong, there to await the arrival of the medical inspector, 
pupils awaiting inspection to report to him at once. 

Another objection which we have to overcome, and which still exists, 
arises from the opposition of parents to having their children examined 
by medical inspectors. Most parents fail to understand the object in 
view; a few, however, appreciate the benefits of the plan and heartily 
support it. Recently one of the patrons of the schools refused to have 
his child subjected to the examination of the medical inspector, claiming 
that the certificate of the family physician, which the child presented, 



54 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

was sufficient evidence for school authorities. Suit was brought to 
compel the board of education to receive the child upon the physician's 
certificate, but the judge held that the board of education had a right to 
require inspection. 

We ought to have in Chicago one hundred and fifty inspectors 
instead of fifty, so that inspection could be completed earlier, that is, 
within a half-hour after the opening of the schools in the morning. We 
spent last year $13,000 for medical inspection, but the appropriation has 
now been cut down to $9,000. If we could have more money and more 
inspectors, we could make the system much more efficacious. 

In the city of New York there were examined during the period of 
ten months 140,000 pupils; number excluded, 7,606. In Chicago, dur- 
ing a period of seven months, there were examined 115,000 pupils; the 
number of pupils excluded was 7,600. The number excluded in New 
York was .5410 per cent, of the number examined, while in Chicago dur- 
ing a shorter period .66 per cent, were excluded. Out of 7,606 pupils 
excluded in New York city, 3,500 pupils had parasitic disease in the head, 
as against 500 from the Chicago schools during seven months for the 
same reason. In Chicago we have done double the work that they have 
done in New York, with one-fourth the force, at one-half the cost. The 
medical inspectors in New York and Boston report once a month ; in 
Chicago they report once a day. In 1898 thirty -two cases of scarlet fever 
were reported as having been excluded from the New York schools ; in 
Chicago 501 pupils were excluded in seven months for the same reason. 
I do not offer this statement in criticism of our neighbors, but to com- 
pare the methods of the two systems used. 



DISCUSSION 



Superintendent Aaron Gove, Denver, Colo. — The objection raised this morning, 
that the question then under discussion was not legitimately a part of the work of this 
department, does not apply to this question. The question of medical inspection touches 
the work of the superintendents in a vital way. I do not know much about the compara- 
tive merits of the systems employed in different cities, and must refer to medical inspec- 
tion as I know it. This is a practical matter and one that I very heartily indorse. The 
regulation of contagious diseases is not the only subject of medical inspection. The eyes 
and ears should be tested, and I am not sure but the teeth are proper subjects for 
inspection. 

The use of the card catalog in keeping a record of the items of physical conditions 
deemed proper for inspection is a valuable help. This card should give the name of the 
pupil, state whether vaccinated, with the date, and give indication of bodily defect of any 
kind. This card goes with the pupil, whether he remains in the system or goes elsewhere. 

In Denver eight expert opticians have placed themselves at the disposal of the 
principals. No embarrassment arises from our use of this help, because when defective 
vision is discovered, the teacher merely informs the parent that the child's vision is 



Superintendence! MEDICAL INSPECTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 55 

seriously defective. We positively decline to give out information contained on the cards 
and deny access to them by speculative traveling doctors. 

Superintendent £. P. Seaver, Boston, Mass. — Chicago may have been able to 
establish a system of medical inspection in four weeks, but we have found it too great a 
task to perfect a system in so short a time. We have, however, had medical inspection 
for seven years, while Chicago has nad it in operation for two years. The medical 
inspectors of Boston visit the schools every morning, and inspect not only the pupils 
selected by the teachers, but also many others. 

The Boston inspectors have done more than inspect ; they have established pleasant 
relations with the boys and girls. The teachers have learned much from them about the 
symptoms of contagious diseases. The measures taken regarding scarlet fever, etc., are 
very thoro. It is true that this inspection occurs under authority of the board of health, 
but the relations of inspectors and school authorities have been pleasant and harmonious 
thruout. The physicians who constitute the board of medical inspectors do this work for 
the schools, not because they are adequately paid, but because it is a part of their duty 
to the public. 

One advantage our system has is that a large number of the medical inspectors are 
agents of the board of health, and they therefore have double authority. But they may 
not only inspect, but may also isolate cases in the homes. They may send pupils home 
from school who appear to be ill, and then later on in the day may visit the homes of 
such children, as agents of the board of health, investigate the illness, and isolate the 
pupil in case of contagious disease. Such a pupil may be kept at home by the authority 
of the inspector until the recovery is completed. Numbers of possible epidemics have 
been stamped out thru the agency of medical inspectors. 

Superintendent W. H. Maxwell, New York city. — I am prevented by considera- 
tions of good taste from noticing more than one or two points of the address of Dr. Chris- 
topher. I give attention to these only because of a possible reflection upon the fidelity of 
the inspectors of New York. Being in a position to know, I deny emphatically that the 
reports submitted by them are padded or represent conditions other than as they occur. 

An injustice appears in the comparison of the number of scarlet fever cases reported 
in Chicago and New York. The thirty-two cases reported in New York represent the 
cases found in the schools, and not the total number of cases excluded. 

Dr. W. O. Krohn, Chicago, 111. — The object of the American school is to develop 
the best type of citizenship, best physically, best mentally, best morally — a complete, 
well-rounded-out, well-developed personality. Such a type of citizenship is impossible 
without the soundest physical basis, a healthy body. 

Therefore the state owes two duties to children : first, the preservation of health ; 
second, education. In order to obtain the second we have compulsory attendance at 
school. It is not only illogical but unjust to maintain that we should have compulsory- 
education laws in the absence of good laws for the medical inspection of our schools. By 
what reasoning can we warrant ourselves in compelling children to go into the midst of 
danger, when we know that the school is frequently a focus for the spreading of disease ? 

There is greater difficulty in enforcing medical inspection in the smaller cities and 
towns than in our large cities, for in the smaller community the sense of individualism is 
more pronounced. The smaller community is more nearly a social democracy. In the 
city the administration is more impersonal ; enforcement is easier. 

The most important argument for medical inspection is, to my mind, the educational 
benefit to the community at large, because the direct and aggressive tendency in the 
operation of the medical inspection of the schools is to bring to the attention of the 
parents in particular, and the community in general, a knowledge of the common laws of 
health. This knowledge soon becomes universal in spite of the most lethargic conditions. 
A better, more intelligent citizenship results. 



56 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The cry of the objector to medical inspection is paternalism. There is no real 
argument in this sordid cry of paternalism. It is simply a cry. We have heard this 
campaign slogan of paternalism before. It is always voiced when any movement is 
undertaken for improving social conditions. We have heard it when factory and sweat- 
shop laws were proposed. We have heard it when we attempted to care for the step- 
children of the state, anywhere. If it be paternalism to care for the health of the children 
and of the community by providing medical inspection, then let us have more paternalism. 



THE USE AND CONTROL OF EXAM IN A TIONS 

PRESIDENT ARTHUR T. HADLEY, YALE UNIVERSITY 

• 

Every practical educator knows that an examination has two distinct 
aspects : one looking toward the past, the other toward the future. It is 
a means of proving the student's attainment in that which has gone before : 
it is also a means of testing his power for that which is to come. It sums 
up the result of previous work in such a way as to help us in meting out 
praise or blame for what he has already done. It at the same time indi- 
cates the degree of his mental advancement, and enables us to place him 
for the coming year in those classes from which he will gain most profit 
and for which his powers will be most fully adequate. It protects our 
schools against waste of time in the days which precede ft, by setting a 
mark which the student must reach. It protects our colleges against 
waste of time in the days that follow it, by giving us a basis on which to 
group our classes and arrange the tasks which are imposed. It is at once 
a measure of proficiency in what has been previously learned, and of 
power for what as yet remains unlearned. 

Unfortunately, these two qualities do not always coincide. We have 
all had experience with pupils who have been faithful in the performance 
of their duties, and have acquired that kind of knowledge which enables 
them to pass a well-conducted examination creditably, but who do not 
possess that degree of mental training which fits them to go on toward 
higher studies side by side with those whose acquirements may be less, but 
whose grasp of principles is stronger. Proficiency in subjects studied 
during the few months previous to the examination is at best largely a 
matter of memory; and it not infrequently happens that such memory is 
most highly developed in those very pupils who have done comparatively 
little real thinking for themselves. This difficulty may be lessened by 
skill in arranging the examination ; but, strive as we may, it can never be 
wholly eliminated. On the contrary, it is a thing which is increased by 
many of our modern changes, both in courses of study and in methods 
of examination. 

In many of the older subjects of study the difficulty hardly exists at 
all. Take mathematics, for instance. In this group of sciences pro- 
ficiency in one grade is almost synonymous with power to go on with the 



upcrintendencc] USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS 57 

next. There may be a few children with minds so peculiarly constructed 
that they are accurate " lightning calculators," and of very little use for 
anything else; but such children are the exception, and not the rule. In 
general, the boy or girl who has mastered the simple operations of arith- 
metic is competent to go on with the more complex ones ; while the boy 
or girl who fails in these simple matters shows corresponding unfitness for 
what is more advanced. Similarly, knowledge of arithmetic as a whole is 
a test of fitness to study algebra ; knowledge of algebra, a prerequisite' to 
analytical geometry; analytical geometry, a necessity for the student who 
would go on into the differential calculus. What is true of mathematics 
is true of grammar, -and of those older forms of linguistic study which 
were based upon grammatical drill as a foundation. With proficiency in 
the elements, advanced class- work was made possible and profitable ; 
without it, the pupil wasted his own time and that of his fellows. 

But with new subjects, and with new modes of teaching, this necessary 
sequence is less marked. In studying literature, or history, or descriptive 
science, by the methods which are now regarded as most modern, there is 
no such connection between attainment in what is past and power over 
what is to come. It is not certain that the pupil who remembers the 
answers to the questions which are asked in most of our literature exami- 
nations thereby proves his fitness to go on with the works which are to 
follow. It is not sure that powe,r to remember the facts of history which 
are taught in elementary classes connotes a corresponding power to use 
those facts in advanced studies. It is even less probable that the results 
of a course in descriptive science pursued at an early age show any indica- 
tion of power to pursue these subjects farther. I do not wish to be under- 
stood as objecting to modern methods of science study. For those who 
are not going to carry these matters to a point where power in scientific 
research is needed they are a very valuable means of general information. 
But for that minority who do need to develop power in research such 
premature acquirements are often a hindrance rather than a help. One 
of the few men in the country who combine high attainments in theo- 
retical and practical physics — a man eminent alike as an investigator, a 
teacher, and an inventor — is authority for the statement that you cannot 
make a really good physicist out of a boy who has been put thru a 
full course of descriptive science before he has studied the mathematical 
principles which underlie it. I do not know whether this broad generali- 
zation can be proved. I am inclined to think it an overstatement. But 
the fact that such a statement can be made by a responsible man shows 
that there is no necessary connection, but rather a conspicuous absence 
of connection, between acquirements in elementary science, as now taught, 
and power to. go on with that science into classes which do work of a 
really advanced character. 

Side by side with this change in subjects there has been a change of 



* 



/ 



^S NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

methods of examination. Two generations ago a large part of our tests 
were oral. Today the increased size of the classes has necessitated the 
use of written examinations. That the change has been on the whole a 
salutary as well as a necessary one I do not question. In an oral exami- 
nation the personal element is so strongly accentuated that it is almost 
impossible to have a guarantee of fairness in its administration. How- 
ever good may be the intentions of the examiner, he cannot always keep 
himself free from his own prejudgments; while the absence of any per- 
manent record to which appeal can be made prevents us from applying 
any corrective to the wrong impressions of the moment. But the effect 
of the change has been to make the examination more exclusively a test 
of proficiency in what is past and less available as a measure of power for 
what is to come. In the oral method, if it was well conducted, the 
examiner found some branch of the subject with which the pupil was 
familiar, and there proved or disproved the thoroness of his knowledge. 
By so doing, the examiner could find out what the pupil really thought 
about the subject, rather than what he more or less mechanically remem- 
bered. But the written examination, even in the best hands, is apt to be 
a test of the range of a student's proficiency rather than of its thoroness. 
In the majority of the subjects on which we have to examine it is almost 
impossible to construct a paper which will test the student's reasoning 
power as adequately as it tests his memory. It is apt to become a mere 
inquiry as to the extent of the pupil's knowledge. Whenever this is the 
case, it loses the major part of its value as a measure of fitness for any- 
thing which is to come. 

The evils thus far described are felt in all examinations, no mat- 
ter by whom they may be conducted. But they show themselves with 
peculiar force whenever the student passes out of one school or one stage 
of educational work and into another. In rising from class to class within 
the limits of a single institution, the pupil remains under the charge of a 
head master, who can, to a large degree, correct the evils inherent in the 
examination system. He can direct his subordinates to base their scheme 
of promotion on records of special work and other matters outside of the 
scope of the examination itself. He can so arrange the course of study 
that entrance to higher grades depends upon merit in particular lines, 
rather than on general proficiency or faithfulness. When, however, the 
student passes from the control of one authority to another independent 
one, it is very hard to carry any such policy into effect. The difficulty is 
seen at its worst in civil-service examinations, where a student's entrance 
into government employment is made to depend upon tests of past 
acquirement which can, at best, very imperfectly indicate his fitness to 
serve the country in the line which he has chosen. I would not for one 
moment undervalue the good which has been done by the adoption of 
the examination system as a basis for appointment in our civil service ; 



Superintendence] USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS 59 

but I believe it to be generally admitted, even among the friends of that 
system, that its value depends upon its effect in eliminating the grossly 
incompetent, who rely on political influence alone, rather than upon its 
accuracy in determining the candidate's probable usefulness as a public 
servant. 

The same difficulty exists, tho in less degree, in the transition from 
one grade of educational institution to another. It is felt in the pas- 
sage from grammar school to high school, from high school to college, 
and from college to professional school. In going from grammar school 
to high school, or from college to professional school, the difficulty is to 
some extent lessened by the fact that there is so often a common board 
of control which makes co-operation and consultation easy between the 
authorities of the two parts of the educational system. In the passage 
from high school to college, on the other hand, the evil is felt most seri- 
ously, because of the complete separation of control and the remoteness 
of location which so often makes a system of personal consultation impos- 
sible. 

It is in this application that the problem of examinations gives rise to 
the most acute controversy. How shall we arrange our tests of the stu- 
dent's proficiency in what is behind him in such a way as to assure our- 
selves of his power to go on with what is before him ; to give to the 
school the necessary freedom in its methods of instruction ; to give the 
college the assurance that its pupils will be well prepared for their work ; 
and to give the students themselves, as they pass from one grade to 
the other, the certainty of reasonably fair treatment ? This is the ques- 
tion which is before us. With so many conflicting requirements, it is no 
wonder that there is divergence of opinion with regard to the proper 
answer. 

Three distinct methods have been devised for meeting this difficulty : 

i. To make the range of examination questions wider, so that the 
student shall have every possible chance to show what he knows. 

2. To supplement the written examination paper by other tests, such 
as certified notebooks, objects produced by previous work, etc. 

3. To depend on certificates given- by the teachers who have pre- 
viously had the candidate in their charge; thus taking the work of 
entrance examination out of the hands of the college authorities and rele- 
gating it to the preparatory schools. 

The first of these methods has a certain amount of merit. A skilful 
examiner can make a paper so broad in its scope that a candidate who 
knows anything whatsoever about his subject will find some topic on 
which he is at home. He thus in some measure reduces the element of 
chance and renders real help to those candidates who understand one part 
of the subject better than another. But, unfortunately, this increased range 
of inquiries may prove almost as helpful to the undeserving candidate 



60 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION rchicago 

as it does to the deserving. The multiplicity of questions gives a great 
opportunity to the coach who makes a specialty of preparing can- 
didates for a particular series of tests, instead of educating them for their 
life-work. Knowing how wide a range of topics the examiner must cover, 
he can predict, with reasonable certainty, some specific things which the 
paper is likely to contain. The chances are that his pupils will do well on 
these questions for which they have been specially prepared ; and thus 
the deserving but unskillfully prepared candidate, tho he makes a bet- 
ter absolute showing under the system of long papers than he did with 
short ones, finds his relative position even worse than before. Moreover, 
the inevitable hurry and confusion incident to the attempt to deal with a 
long paper hurts the deserving student far more than it hurts his com- 
petitor who has been skillfully crammed for this particular trial. These 
evils are clearly exemplified in the English civil-service examinations. 
The amount of time and thought which has been spent on the preparation 
of papers for these examinations is very great indeed. There has been an 
honest effort on the part of those in charge to get the very best aspirants 
for the public service of the British empire. Yet, in spite of all these 
things, it has become proverbial that success depends upon skillful coach- 
ing far more than upon intellectual merit or good general training. 
What is true of the English civil-service examinations is true, in only less 
degree, of the English university examinations; and the same evils are 
making themselves felt in this country wherever we approximate the 
English practice. 

The system of accepting certified notebooks to supplement and correct 
the results of examinations is essentially a compromise. It has at once 
the merits and defects which are incident to a compromise system. It is, 
I believe, used with good effect at Harvard in some of the subjects which 
the faculty require on their entrance examinations. But the arguments 
which can be urged in its behalf can for the most part be urged even more 
strongly in favor of a frank adoption of a certificate system as a whole. 
There is something quite illogical in accepting the pupil's record of his 
own past work, and not accepting the master's judgment as to the effi- 
ciency of that work ; for, unless the master is a clear-headed and honest 
man, the record is practically worthless, and, if the master is thus clear- 
headed and honest, he can judge far better than any examining board 
the degree to which the pupil has profited by lectures and experiments. 
When once a subject presents such characteristics that the examiners 
confess their inability to judge of the student's work by the paper which 
he writes under their direction, it certainly seems a rather unnecessary 
waste of time and strength for them to insist on having any paper 
at all. 

The third method — admission to college on certificate instead of on 
examination — has many advocates. I shall not here attempt to discuss 



Superintendence] USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS 6 1 

its merits and demerits in full. It is a subject which would take for its 
full analysis more time than we now have at command. 

It is unquestionably true that a good preparatory-school teacher can, 
in nine cases out of ten, judge of the fitness of his pupils to enter college 
far better than any college examining board can possibly hope to do. It 
is also true that the right of admission by certificate allows such a teacher 
a freedom in the choice of methods which is of great advantage, both to 
him and to his pupils. In spite of these facts, it has disadvantages which 
have prevented some of our leading institutions from adopting it, and 
which cause the present trend of movement to be away from the certificate 
system rather than toward it. 

In the first place, to take the most obvious objection, by no means all 
of our secondary-school teachers are good ones. A large number cannot 
be trusted to give certificates. An equally large number — and a more 
difficult class to deal with — are not so good that we can safely trust 
them, nor so bad that we can safely refuse to trust them. Under these 
circumstances the colleges have only shifted the seat of their perplexities. 
Instead of selecting their students by an examination, they select the 
teachers whom they are to trust by a process less automatic and more 
invidious than any scheme of examinations. 

In the second place, the abandonment of an examination system by 
the colleges takes away an important stimulus for keeping up the stand- 
ard of admission requirements. The competition of men in different 
schools to prepare their pupils to pass examinations has the same sort of 
mixed effect that competition has in any other form of business. It 
causes methods to be adopted which are not always of the very highest 
type; but it at the sam£ time brings out an amount of initiative and 
energy in teachers and pupils which can be attained in no other way. 
Even the authorities who admit by certificate say frankly that they would 
be very reluctant to have that practice become universal. They are free 
to say that the influence of those colleges which require examinations is 
the thing which keeps our best schools up to that standard which enables 
other colleges safely to admit their students by certificate. 

Finally — and this is the decisive argument for the retention of the 
old plan — those colleges which insist on examinations think that they 
get a better class of students by that means than they would by any 
other. They get those boys who do not shrink from a trial of intellectual 
strength; boys who welcome the chance to measure their power with that 
of their fellows in entering college, as they will inevitably be called upon 
to measure it if they seek first-rate successes in later life. We all remem- 
ber the fable of the choice between the doors : on the one hand, " Who 
chooses me shall get what he deserves;" On the other, "Who chooses me 
must hazard all he has." The certificate system attracts those who would 
go to the former door; the examination system calls to those who are 



62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

willing to venture the latter. We all know the two types, and their rela- 
tive merits. 

If each of these alternatives thus proves unsatisfactory, is there not 
some possible combination which may be suggested ? 

I venture to believe that such a possibility exists, and that it may be 
found in a classification of collegiate requirements into different groups, 
susceptible of separate treatment. 

If we look at the requirements for admission into any of our larger 
colleges, we shall find that they naturally fall into three classes : first, 
those subjects which are required because the student must know them in 
order to have the power to go on with his subsequent studies ; second, 
those which are required because the college authorities believe them to 
be desirable means of attaining such power ; and, third, those which are 
required because the men in the secondary schools desire them and ask 
for the moral support of the colleges in promoting their study. As a 
notable example of the first class we may take mathematics. In our 
scientific schools, and to a less degree in all our colleges, some knowledge 
of mathematics is an absolute necessity for the successful pursuit of 
studies included in the course. The pupil must know a certain amount 
of algebra in order to study trigonometry ; he must know a certain 
amount of trigonometry in order to be able to pursue successfully the 
arts of railroad surveying or of bridge design. The same characteristic 
holds good of most of our language requirements. Every student what- 
soever needs to understand something of the use of the English language, 
because without such use all his communications of thought, if not his 
underlying thoughts themselves, are sure to lack precision. Any benefit 
which is expected from complex ideas by a man or woman who does not 
know how to express them is likely to prove illusory. And every student 
who is to pursue foreign literature in his college course must first have a 
knowledge of the elements of the language in which it is written, because 
without such knowledge he will waste his own time and that of his fellow-men. 

Side by side with these requirements which are indispensable come 
others of a more auxiliary character. Not content with requiring a 
knowledge of English expression, the colleges prescribe the reading of 
certain books in English literature. Not stopping with the test of power 
to read and parse individual passages in Latin, the colleges prescribe a 
certain quantity of Latin reading as essential to the purpose in hand. 
They also require with each year an increasing knowledge of modern 
languages, not because the student is necessarily going to use both 
French and German in his college studies, but because no man is 
regarded by them as fitted for higher education unless he has a certain 
reading knowledge of both these languages. 

There is also a third group of studies required, not as a necessary • 
basis for subsequent work, but as a part of the general scheme of 



• 



Superintendence] USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS 63 

secondary education in the country, to which it is desirable to give fair 
recognition. So many men in our schools desire to teach history, and 
can teach it well, that they wish this subject to be recognized in the 
college requirements, lest, by a failure to recognize it, its position in 
the schools should be degraded. What is true of history is true of a 
great deal of that descriptive science which has so large a part in our 
school courses at the present day. It is put in the scheme of require- 
ments for admission to college, not because of a direct need of the 
college student, nor even because of its indirect bearing on meeting such 
a need ; but because of a desire on the part of the colleges to co-operate 
with those who are engaged in the preparation of their pupils. 

It is obvious, however, that the attempt to put all these different 
classes of subjects on the same basis is quite illogical. The student who 
rightly and deservedly is found radically deficient in studies of the first 
class has no business to go on with his course. No pupil who is ignorant 
of arithmetic can study algebra without injuring himself and his fellow- 
students. No pupil who is ignorant of elementary algebra and geometry 
should be allowed to go on with the scientific school course, no matter 
what may be his attainments in other lines. In like manner, a knowledge 
of the essentials of English expression and of certain fundamental points 
in those other languages which the student is likely to use in his college 
course is a matter of vital necessity. No amount of acquirements and 
attainments in literature can logically be allowed to make up for a 
deficiency at this central point. It is on these subjects that the case 
for college examinations is strongest. This is the point at which any 
deficiency of preparation on the part of the candidates will hurt them 
most. It is also the point where an examination system is most feasible ; 
where cram counts for least and power for most ; where the school-teacher 
with high ideals of education has least reason to complain of the require- 
ment that his pupils should be examined by an independent authority, 
because no method of education which falls short of meeting this test 
can possibly be considered good. 

In the second group of studies — those which are auxiliary to the 
attainment of this power — greater latitude can be allowed. I should be 
in favor at once of putting all examinations on the extent of knowledge 
in these auxiliary subjects into the hands of a common examining board, 
in which different groups of educators were represented. Whether it 
would be wise to go one step farther, and introduce the certificate system 
in subjects of this group, is a matter which I should hardly like to pre- 
judge at present. 

In the third group of studies the certificate system could be allowed 
from the very outset. It is just here that the arguments for that system 
are strongest, for in this group the possible variety of methods is greatest, 
the difficulties of examination most unavoidable, and the reasons strongest 



64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

for preferring the teacher's judgment to that of an independent examiner 
or examining board. 

If a phrase is needed to describe the principle on which this whole 
system of division rests, I should formulate it as follows : Divide our 
requirements into three groups of subjects : (i) prerequisites for power 
to go on with collegiate study; (2) attainments auxiliary to such power; 
(3) attainments chiefly useful in the general scheme of education. Let 
the tests of power as to what is to follow be in the hands of those who are 
to have charge of the student in the years which are to follow. Let the 
tests of attainment on what is behind be in the hands of those who have 
had charge of the pupil in the years which are behind. 

This combination would have the advantage of reducing the number 
of our college examinations — in itself an extremely desirable thing — of 
preserving a standard of quality which schools would compete with one 
another to reach, and of allowing at the same time the utmost possible 
latitude in the methods employed by different teachers to bring their 
pupils up to that standard. On the other hand, it would be attended 
with certain dangers and difficulties. The chief objections which are 
likely to be thus raised may be stated as follows : 

1. The attempt, which has been more than once made, to lay special 
stress on tests of power rather than on knowledge — for instance, sight 
reading of Latin and Greek authors, translation of English into Latin, 
etc. — has disappointed the expectation of its advocates. 

2. In the inevitable uncertainty attending the results of entrance 
examinations — due partly to luck, partly to the personal equation of the 
examiner, and partly to the varying physical condition of the candidates 
— the substitution of a small number of decisive examinations for the 
very great number now existing will cause some candidates to be unjustly 
rejected who, under the present requirements, atone for their deficiencies 
in some lines by indication of ability in others. 

3. The necessary withdrawal from the examination scheme of subjects 
like history, descriptive botany, or parts of the English papers, will serve 
to give them an apparently inferior position, and will result in their 
neglect in those schools which desire to prove their success on the basis 
of the showing made by their candidates in college examinations. 

Let us take up these points in order. 

The first of these objections is, I believe, historically well founded. It 
is, however, based on the experience of a time when neither teachers nor 
examiners knew their business as well as they now do. Latin prose com- 
position, as taught in the schools of a generation ago, was simply a piece 
of mechanical drill on certain fixed phrases, without any infusion of the 
spirit of the language. The examiners, themselves trained, for the most 
part, in these same defective methods, set papers which were not real tests 
of power, and encouraged cramming of a bad sort. The same thing may 



Superintendence] USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS 65 

be said of most of the examinations in sight reading of classical authors. 
They furnished no measure of that kind of power which is required by the 
college student in his subsequent use of the Latin or Greek language. 
Many of these papers depend far more upon the quick command of a 
vocabulary, at times when the candidate is specially nervous, than upon 
knowledge of linguistic structure. In the easy Latin or Greek which is gen- 
erally given, the candidate who can remember the vocabulary can guess at 
the structure far better than the candidate who knows the structure can 
extemporize the vocabulary. Nor can this difficulty in the sight paper be 
wholly avoided by notes which give the meaning of a few words ; for those 
words which help one boy may prove useless to another. The partial fail- 
ure of sight papers to accomplish their end proves chiefly the defectiveness 
of the means, and little or nothing as to the unattainability of the end. 

• Of course, it may be freely admitted that it would require great ability 
to carry out the proposed plan by right methods instead of wrong ones. 
It would perhaps be a number of years before we should know what fur- 
nished, on the whole, the best means of testing the student's power. But 
I feel quite confident that nothing which has hitherto been done indicates 
that the question could not be fairly well solved within a reasonable time. 

The argument concerning the dangerous fewness of the papers under 
the proposed plan deserves careful consideration. Anyone who knows 
the uncertainty attending the results of examinations in general, and of 
written examinations in particular, will be reluctant to reduce the variety 
of chances given to the student to prove in different kinds of papers his 
probable fitness for any course which he desires to undertake. Yet I 
believe that the dangers which arise in this way would be more than 
offset by the safety due to an increased care of reading which the substi- 
tution of the few papers for the many would render possible. If we 
should further extend to teachers of proved ability the opportunity to 
recommend, at the risk of their own reputation, for provisional admission 
to our freshman classes, pupils to whom the new system seemed to have 
done injustice, we should have in our hands a check which would not be 
greatly liable to abuse, and which would help to protect deserving stu- 
dents from the consequences of ill luck. 

The objection regarding discrimination between studies is perhaps the 
one which will be most strongly urged. Yet I believe this objection to 
be based on what is in the long run not a fault, but a merit. 

It is natural enough that a master in a secondary school who has 
special ability in teaching science or history should wish for the oppor- 
tunity to prove what his pupils can do in collegiate examinations. He 
will urge that, if they are not given this opportunity to be examined, they 
will neglect the subjects in such a way as to do injustice to him and harm 
to themselves. It may seem hard to tell him that the apparent force of 
these arguments is based upon an overvaluation of the usefulness of his 



66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

work to boys and girls who are going to college. Yet I believe this to 
be the truth ; and if it is truth, it should be told plainly. 

I am not underrating the importance of these things in the scheme of 
secondary education. For the pupils who are going directly from the 
high school into practical life study of history and natural science is 
indispensable. Most of these pupils must get their knowledge of these 
subjects then, if they are to get it at all. For those who are going to 
pursue these studies afterward, on the other hand, such preliminary 
acquaintance with history and with science does not take, in any adequate 
degree, the place of language or of mathematics. History and natural 
science are studies which mark the culmination of an educational course, 
and which, if overdeveloped far before the close, have a tendency to 
weaken rather than to strengthen the student's powers of application. If 
by including these things in the examination system we give an artificial 
stimulus to their pursuit by boys or girls who are afterward going to col- 
lege, I believe that we delay the advent of a reform in our school system 
which is of vital importance to us all. That reform will consist in the 
separation of our classes, both in the grammar schools and in the high 
schools, into groups that are about to finish their school days and groups 
that are preparing to advance farther. 

In almost all our previous groupings we have tried to classify pupils 
on the lines of their different tastes, real or supposed. There is a great 
deal to be said in favor of a different system, which should classify them 
on the basis of the probable duration of the studies. It is a false idea to 
assume that those things which are taught to the students whose courses 
near their end are thereby cheapened or made inferior in value; and 
it is a yet worse mistake if, in the effort to avoid such cheapening, we 
put them into a place where they do not really belong. Our system of 
secondary education has reached a point of achievement where it can 
stand on its own merits. Those in charge of it recognize that they have 
outgrown the stage where their best usefulness was found in being mere 
preparatory schools. Let us emancipate ourselves from a set of ideas 
which are but the remnant of a state of things which we have now out- 
grown. Thus, and thus only, shall we obtain the best preparation for 
college, and the fullest development of the value and freedom of our 
secondary education. 

A REPORT ON MANUAL TRAINING IN THE DETR0I2 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, WITH A DISCUSSION ON THE 
DISCIPLINARY VALUE OF MANUAL TRAINING 

J. H. TRYBOM, SUPERVISOR OF MANUAL TRAINING, DETROIT, MICH. 

Among the many definitions of " education " that we find in current 
educational writings there is none that expresses one phase of the issue 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN DETROIT SCHOOLS 67 

more definitely to my mind than one by Professor James in which he 
says that "the aim of education is to make useful habits automatic. 1 ' 
Habits of action, habits of thought, and habits of feeling are all included 
in this definition, the highest powers as well as those usually considered 
on a lower level. In so far as we are able to develop vigorous, useful 
habits in our pupils, in so far are we able to make them happy, useful 
citizens. We are molded by our experiences to the extent that the habits 
formed practically control our whole conscious life ; or, to quote Dr. 
Carpenter : 

The importance of rightly directing the habits of thought and feeling during the 
whole stage of bodily growth comes to be still more apparent when we regard those 
habits as really shaping that mechanism whose subsequent action mainly determines our 
intellectual and moral character, and consequently the whole course of conscious life. 

The aim of every subject in school is the development of habits of 
reaction. Any particular bit of knowledge is simply a power to react in 
the proper manner in the presence of a certain stimulus. How does 
manual training, as an agent for the formation of these habits of reaction, 
differ from the more theoretical subjects, of the curriculum ? This differ- 
ence lies in the character of the reaction that takes place. There is no 
mental activity entirely void of the motor element, but the reactions may 
be of a more or less evident nature, or even entirely below the level of 
consciousness. It is this fact that will help us to distinguish a difference 
between manual training and the other studies of the curriculum. 

In studies where the object is chiefly the acquisition of particular 
knowledge the motor reactions are not in evidence. Take history, for 
instance. The accumulations of historical data imply no necessary reaction 
for the time being ; they prepare the student for possible reactions in the 
future. In arithmetic the process implies a motor reaction in the solving 
of the problem, but except in so far as the writing of the figures is con- 
cerned, it is a purely mental reaction, a reaction thru processes of associa- 
tion. This fact is characteristic of all the theoretical subjects taught in 
school. The reaction taking place is principally a purely mental process, 
anticipating similar reactions in the future. In other words, it is not 
learning by doing, but a storing-up of ideas by means of sensory impulses 
accompanied by processes of association. 

The group of subjects to which manual training belongs, on the other 
hand, is characterized by a result in the form of necessary immediate 
reactions appearing as contractions of various muscles or groups of mus- 
cles. These subjects, besides manual training, are physical training, art edu- 
cation, and penmanship. As far as the physical processes are concerned, 
each of these three latter subjects aims at some special results character- 
ized by the processes involved: gymnastics, the physical training of the 
organism ; art education, the inculcation of ideas pertaining to art, such 
as form, proportion, beauty, etc., besides the special training of the hand 



68 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



[Chicago 



in the elements of some of the decorative arts ; penmanship, the training 
of the hand in reproducing the letters of the alphabet. 

The specific purpose of manual training, on the other hand, is not the 
inculcation of some special power in using the scissors, the plane, or the 
saw. Our aim is not the development of technical skill as a preparation 
for a special trade, but we use these processes of construction with the 
broader aim of general training. The aim of manual training, expressed 
in a concise form, is the development of useful habits of a general nature. 

It is true that every subject has in the same sense a disciplinary value, 
but as this is the characteristic feature of manual training, it should be 
particularly emphasized in relation to this subject. 

The fact of repetition is admitted to be the cornerstone of all theories 
of development. Repeated processes in any one particular field are sure 
to lead to the development of habits. 

In every good manual-training lesson the following processes are 
repeated: (i) objectifying of mental images; (2) muscular activity of 
the hands and arms; (3) exercises implying order and neatness; (4) 
attainment of accurate results ; (5) prolonged concentration of attention ; 
and (6) final success in accomplishing the task in hand. The repetition 
of these processes must lead to the development of the following habits : 

(1) thought-expression, giving unity and definiteness of mental content; 

(2) muscular control ; (3) habits of order and neatness ; (4) habits of 
accuracy or truth ; (5) habits of perseverance; and (6) habits of confi- 
dence or self-reliance. Another result of the lessons in manual training 
is habits of an ethical content. 

I have tried to summarize the aims of manual training and the con- 
ditions for reaching these aims in the following synopsis : 

A SYNOPSIS OF THE AIMS OF MANUAL TRAINING 



Processes 


Resulting Habits 


Conditions for their Develop- 
ment by Means op Con- 
structive Work 


Objectifying of mental im- 
ages. 


Thought-expression giving 
unity and definiteness to 
mental content. 


A resulting product repre- 
senting the mental image. 
Variety of material. 


Acts of service. 


Habits of an ethical con- 
tent. 


A useful article the product 
of the constructive exer- 
cises. 


Exercises involving muscu- 
lar activity. 


Muscular control, skill. 


Variety and repetition of 
technical difficulties. 


Occupations giving oppor- 
tunity for actions involv- 
ing the elements of order 
and neatness. 


Order and neatness. 


A place for everything and 
everything in its place. 


Prolonged efforts crowned 
by success. 


Perseverance. 


Attractive models, interest, 
accurate work. 


Successful efforts in reach- 
ing accurate results. 


Accuracy or truth. 

• 


Careful progression of the 
exercises. 


Final success in various ex- 
ercises. 


Self-reliance 


Never to ask a class to do 
what it cannot do well. 



Superintendence! MANUAL TRAINING IN DETROIT SCHOOLS 69 

Let us now consider more in detail the conditions for the develop- 
ment of these habits : 

1. Thought-expression. — Manual training is of vital significance as a 
means of expression. Such materials of construction should be used as 
will facilitate the objectification of the pupils 1 thoughts. Thought and 
expression are practically one in the mind of the young child ; hence the 
importance, at this stage, of furnishing every possible means of expression. 

2. Habits of an ethical content. — Manual training should be instru- 
mental to acts of an ethical nature. A little boy in his manual-training 
lesson has succeeded in making a calendar-stand. He is happy because 
he has accomplished something which now becomes his own. The next 
question with him may be: "To whom shall I give it?" Who is nearer 
than his father ? Observe this child when he reaches home. His happy 
countenance tells us what pleasure he finds in giving this product of his 
own activity to his father. Acts of this kind must be the raw material out 
of which the habit of service is developed. He is happy in doing the 
act. It may be very insignificant in itself, but it is of the right sort. He 
derives pleasure from right doing, and this pleasure, this interest, this 
desire, when leading to action, is our moral will. By using as models 
articles of apparent use to the pupils, manual training may prove very 
effective in this respect. 

3. Habits of muscular control. — We should use models requiring for 
their construction a variety of muscular movements, with sufficient repe- 
tition of each, in order to make them a. permanent content in the form of 
a habit. 

4. Habits of order and neatness. — The manual-training teacher should 
insist that the pupils take the work seriously, use the tools and instru- 
ments with care and appreciation, and leave them at the end of the les- 
son in an orderly condition. 

5. Habits of prolonged concentration , of attention, or perseverance. — The 
condition for the development of this habit is the proper progression of 
the exercises, so that they at every stage call into action the very best 
effort that the pupil is capable of. In the interest of the best results in 
this respect, the pupil's motive for this extended effort should be interest 
in the activity itself or its results. 

6. Habits of accuracy or truth. — Never to ask a class of pupils to do 
what they cannot do well, together with insistence upon accurate work, 
are the conditions for the development of these habits. A pupil is 
accustomed thru the manifold exercises in cardboard construction and 
wood-work to reach a certain degree of accuracy in his efforts on the dif- 
ferent models. What influence is this discipline* likely to have upon the 
pupil ? In the first place, he is taught that four inches is four inches, and 
not a sixteenth more or less. This consciousness that only what is right 
is right, and that something only approximately true is wrong, will influ- 
ence his work in every line of activity. 



7© NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

Why should not this clear consciousness of what is right and wrong 
in the material world be carried over into the moral and ethical field ? 
Is not a pupil who has been accustomed never to hand to his teacher a 
model as true that is not true, after several years of similar experiences, 
likely to insist upon truth in other relations also ? 

7. Habits of self-reliance or confidence. — Condition : Never ask a class 
of pupils to do what they cannot do well. Every individual effort which 
succeeds in a certain field will add to the consciousness of power in that 
field. By a certain arrangement of the exercises a boy is able to get high 
credit for his work. He gets the approbation of the teacher, and, further- 
more — this is the stronger factor — he sees for himself that he has been 
able to do a certain task well. These experiences are repeated time after 
time. Every one of these successful efforts will add to his consciousness 
of power in the field in question ; in other words, it will add strength to 
a habit under formation, the moral habit of confidence, based upon 
power. 

Manual training is well adapted to further the development of this 
habit, because the success of the effort is apparent to the pupil himself. 
He will not have to be told by the teacher, as the case is in most other 
subjects. I look upon the development of this habit as one of the chief 
ends of manual training. 

It is evident, however, that this habit of confidence is as many-sided 
as there are fields of activity. Manual training will arouse confidence in 
one's power in anything where similar difficulties are present. Success in 
arithmetic will develop confidence in one's power in solving arithmetical 
problems, etc., but we can claim for manual training, however, a wide 
range of application in this respect, on the ground that there are com- 
mon elements in all fields of manual activity. And in so far as these 
common elements exist, the confidence gained thru a systematically 
arranged course of manual training can be carried over into other, related 
fields of activity. 

This qualification applies to all the other habits mentioned above. 
We do not by any means claim general training as the result of manual 
training, except in so far as related elements exist in the different fields 
of activity. 

The aim of an educational subject decides the methods to be employed. 
On the basis of the previous discussion we may now arrive at some gen- 
eral conclusions in regard to the teaching of manual training, the pro- 
gression of the exercises, etc. 

The progression of the exercises in a course of manual training should 
be such as to manifest to the pupil a constantly growing power, this 
being the condition for a growing interest. We should never ask a pupil 
to do what he cannot do well. 

His work in manual training should be a line of continuous victories 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN DETROIT SCHOOLS 7 l 

over difficulties gradually increasing, but not surpassing his power at any 
stage. Continued failure is worse than no attempt. Success is a greater 
factor in the educational value of manual training than in any other sub- 
ject. If we ask a pupil to make a box of cardboard of a certain size, he 
should be prepared for that model thru previous simpler exercises. The 
remark that a child cannot read perfectly the first time a book is put into 
his hand, or make a perfect sketch at his first trial, has no application to 
manual training. Our aim is not the development of technical skill, but 
the development of habits. The fact that a boy cannot read well the first 
time he opens a book is no excuse for accepting an imperfect model as 
the earlier results in manual training. If a boy does not succeed in cut- 
ting his card to accurate dimensions, in the fourth grade for instance, he 
has lost the vital educational results of the exercise. Continued failure 
in this respect will have injurious effects upon the child's development. 
The habits we have enumerated above will fail to develop, and in place of 
them he will acquire habits of carelessness, inaccuracy in its moral and 
actual significance ; moreover, he will lose confidence in the use of his 
hands. Manual training under such conditions becomes a farce. The 
very fact that pupils are making certain articles out of wood or cardboard 
does not make their activity manual training. Above all other things I 
look upon thoroness as the vital end of our instruction in manual training. 

Accuracy, as we have noticed, is an element that enters as a condition 
for the development of the most important habits resulting from manual 
training. It is therefore of importance to illustrate what this term " accu- 
racy " implies during the different school periods. 

In the previous discussion the word "accuracy" has been applied to 
two different aspects of manual training, namely: (i) accuracy of expres- 
sion ; (2) accuracy of measurements. 

If a primary class in studying the baker's trade is making, as a matter 
of illustration, a baking- pan of paper, we expect this model to give a com- 
paratively exact illustration of the shape of this utensil, so that a clear and 
exact idea remains as the result of the constructive exercise. This kind 
of accuracy does not include measurements; it is simply accuracy in 
expression. On the other hand, if the pupils in a grammar class are mak- 
ing a box, the drawing of which calls for a certain length, we expect the 
pupils to make a model of the length called for by the drawing. This I 
have called accuracy of dimensions. 

It is only accuracy of expression that we should strive for in the first 
three years in school. This, besides neatness in arranging and planning 
patterns and carefulness in cutting, should be the only requirements of 
the work in the first three grades in regard to accuracy. 

In the fourth grade another element enters ; that is, accuracy of dimen- 
sions. The idea of measurements should there be introduced. In this 
grade the pupils are perfectly able to use the rule with absolute accuracy, 



72 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



[Chicago 



and I believe it should be insisted upon. That is, if a model is to be 4% 
inches long, there is no reason why not 85 per cent, of the pupils should 
get it this dimension, and not T y inch more or less. We should never, 
however, ask for accuracy before the pupils are properly prepared for such 
exercises as imply this element ; but at the age of nine it does not seem 
too extravagant to expect a pupil to locate a point a certain distance from 
another point, when the process simply means putting the pencil point 
opposite a certain figure. Neither are the cutting exercises beyond the 
pupil's power, if cardboard is used as the material of construction. 

Just as we insisted upon the accuracy of expression during the first 
three years in school, we should thereafter insist upon accuracy of dimen- 
sions or measurements. Later in school life we introduce accuracy of a 
higher grade or nature which will call into action the aesthetic ideas of 
proportion and beauty. Accuracy in one sense or the other is the keynote 
to the disciplinary significance of manual training. 

This discussion on accuracy will again emphasize the necessity of care- 
ful progression of the exercises. At no stage of the work should we ask 
a class of pupils to do what they cannot do well. 

I look upon it as unfortunate that this principle is being often 
violated. 

TABLE OF STATISTICS OF MANUAL TRAINING IN THE DETROIT 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



Grade 


u 

K 



O 

•D 
2 


w 

X 


UMBER OF 

Models 


(O 

J 

M 

a. 

D 


1 

B*l 

Ego 


BRIOD OF 
BACH 

Teacher 


Pupils in each 
Class 


xpense of 
Equipment 


early Ex- 
pense PER 
Pupil 


y m < 




u 


H 


fc 


eu 


*-* 


A« 


W 


> 


en 


Fourth 


Cardboard 
construction 


Grade 
teacher 


40 


Boys 
and 


I 


I 


SO 


*35 


• 

$0.06 


$0.06 


- 








girls 














Fifth 


Cardboard 
construction 


Grade 
teacher 


35 


Boys 


I 


I 


25 


None 


$0.08 


$0.08 


Sixth 


Knife-work 

in cardboard 

and wood 


Grade 
teacher 


25 


Boys 


I 


I 


25 


$15 


5o.l2 


$0.12 


Seventh 


Wood 
construction 


Special 
teacher 


IS 


Boys 


i* 


15 


25 


$400 


$0.35 


52.92 


Eighth 


Wood 
construction 


Special 
teacher 


12 


Boys 


1* 


IS 


25 


None 


$0.45 


53-02 



What has been said above in regard to accuracy of dimensions applies 
especially to the regular series of models that is followed by all the pupils 



Superintendence! DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN CHICAGO SCHOOLS 73 

in the class. More freedom should be given to the pupils in their work 
on models of their own invention. Independent activity of this nature 
should be encouraged, and, if accuracy has been attained on the regular 
models, the pupils will be guided by the habits thus formed in this inde- 
pendent work. 

In the chart of the statistics of manual training in the Detroit public 
schools you will notice that we have special teachers for the boys only in 
the seventh and eighth grades. 

In the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades the work is in charge of the 
regular grade teachers, each class of boys receiving their instructions in 
manual training while the girls have their lesson in sewing from special 
teachers. The course, as you notice, is cardboard construction in the 
fourth and fifth grades, and knife-work in cardboard and in wood in the 
sixth grade. I instruct the grade teachers in the different exercises and 
illustrate the method of teaching the different models, besides emphasiz- 
ing the aim of the lesson. 

In my first talk to new teachers I spend quite a good deal of time 
defining the aim of manual training as definitely as possible, besides giv- 
ing as many lessons as my time permits to the different classes in the 
presence of the teachers. With this assistance I believe the grade teachers 
can teach the boys manual training just as well as, or better than, special 
instructors. In the first place, they know their pupils ; secondly, they can 
correlate the instruction in manual training with that of other, related sub- 
jects, thus helping to make this new subject an integral part of the curricu- 
lum ; and, thirdly, they have had extensive experience in teaching. These 
three conditions are not so easily fulfilled by a special teacher, and they 
are vital conditions for the success in teaching manual training. 



THE PROGRESS AND AIMS OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO 

HENRY S. TIBBITS, PRINCIPAL SPRY SCHOOL, CHICAGO, ILL. 

The teaching of cooking and sewing, for local reasons called " house- 
hold arts," was introduced into the Chicago public schools two and a half 
years ago. A special committee of five members of the board of educa- 
tion inspected at the Hammond School the teaching of these subjects 
which they had permitted at private expense. Twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars was appropriated for providing equipment and initiating the work 
for its first year. Of this but $18,500 was used. Equipments for cooking 
were placed in eleven schools, and have been placed in the new Dewey 
School. Each of these has been a center to which several neighboring 
schools have sent the girls of the seventh and eighth grades for cooking 
lessons, one period of an hour and a half each week. The number of 



74 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

pupils taught at a center averages 450. In other schools, not contiguous 
to cooking centers, eleven teachers of sewing have given lessons of an 
hour and a half each week to the girls of the seventh and eighth grades, 
the teachers being peripatetic. 

November 1, 1900, 4,372 pupils were receiving instruction in cooking 
and 4,853 pupils in sewing, or 9,225 out of a total of 13,000 girls of those 
grades. 

The teachers are required to be high-school graduates who have taken 
a course in domestic science in some secondary institution. This secures 
an able corps of teachers, several of whom have been called to more 
lucrative positions in other cities. 

The courses of lessons in both cooking and sewing are eclectic, having 
been arranged by the respective associations of teachers. They have been 
revised and modified as experience has dictated. The cooking lessons 
are distinctly a plain-food course — lobster salad and charlotte russe being 
omitted. Each pupil cooks the prescribed food, and either eats it or 
carries it home. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The success 
or failure of a lesson is immediately apparent. Much effort has been 
given to securing the practical helpfulness of the lessons of the day in the 
home, where a failure is analyzed and perplexities are dissolved. The 
grade teachers have often wisely correlated with cooking, physiology, 
nature study, and some topics of practical arithmetic. 

Instruction in sewing is practical in a similar way. A study of the 
nature of cloth is succeeded by the various processes of its adaptation to 
clothing. Finally, simple garments are made by the pupil for her own 
use. The related subjects of invention, growth, and manufacture of 
cloth materials, fibers and fabrics, good taste in dressing, shopping, and 
laundering, are developed. 

Sociologically considered, the church industrial schools have been 
vastly improved upon in the public school, where not simply the poor, 
good girl is taught sewing, but every girl in the schoolroom, rich or poor, 
open-minded or clam-like. 

The cost of domestic science is $1.81 per pupil per year; the cost of 
manual training is $3.34; the cost of German is {4.86. This is based 
upon the average for the past year. These figures are significant for com- 
parison either with other studies or with domestic science in other cities. 
The salaries of teachers of cooking and sewing in Chicago are the same 
as those of grade teachers, ranging from {500 the first year to $900 for 
the tenth year. Much of the success of the teaching of cooking depends, 
of course, upon the # method. It is distinctly a laboratory subject, and, 
like all other laboratory work, is vastly superior when individual equip- 
ment is supplied. Hence we have the individual sets of dishes and a 
stove for each pupil. By using small portions, when they suffice, the 
expense for material is inconsiderable, even with individual instruction. 



Superintendence] DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN CHICAGO SCHOOLS 75 

One and one-fourth cents per pupil per week is the allowance in Chicago. 
While individual desires will ever increase the cost of equipment, it is 
possible and wise to equip for the teaching of cooking upon just as 
accurate and scientific principles and practical use at the expense of $150 
for a class of twenty- four as at the rate of $500. 

One of the noblest movements of the present day is that which would 
magnify the home. The chair, bright light, and gorgeous embellish- 
ments are a more harmful element in the saloon than its alcohol. If the 
honest arts of the home may be made less irksome because they are 
better understood, and more attractive because they are more artistic, we 
shall have come to the root of this matter. The evening meal of the 
factory hand may be made more tempting than the lunch counter, and 
the clothing of the family, as well as the arrangement and tidiness of the 
living-room at home, may be as attractive as the gilded home of vice. 
Domestic science may become the unsuspected, and yet not the least 
efficient, enemy of the saloon. 

Instruction in cooking in Chicago is well amplified in its scientific 
relations. The simple biology of yeast and vinegar is developed. A 
careful classification of food values as fats, proteids, carbohydrates, 
mineral matter, etc., accompanies the study of the composition of the 
human body and its food requisites. The dietetic principles of suitable 
proportions of these food elements are given, and the complementary 
nature of certain foods is shown! The reasons for the use of hot or cold 
water; the relative merits of boiling or baking, of the raw and cooked 
states, of acid and base — such scientific data, adapted to the age and 
knowledge of pupils, enter into cooking lessons and furnish the science to 
enrich the household arts. The dealing w.ith material things introduces 
elements of accuracy and order not found in the strictly intellectual sub- 
jects. Just as in all forms of manual training, small groups of muscles 
are co-ordinated and deft manipulations mastered, thus realizing complete 
and extended reactions. 

The useful hints, skilled methods, and adept ways acquired by the 
teachers in their special training are imparted in turn to the pupils, and, 
as in all education, the experience of the race is placed at the disposal of 
the child. The girl accustomed to black bread and beer for dinner, to 
poorly cooked food wastefully used, learns to prepare palatable dishes 
from economical materials. It is difficult to measure the beneficent 
practical value of domestic science in these humble homes. It is a theme 
for eloquence, and insures permanency to the subject of study, no 
matter how much it may be temporarily buffeted about as a fad. To 
the girl of luxury, with servants at home, whose life may be distinctly 
social, frivolous, and gay, domestic science yields an appropriate sense of 
the importance of the human body, its nourishment and clothing — thus 
introducing a more harmonious and reasonable life. In the wealthier 



76 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

school districts of Chicago domestic science has been as welcome to the 
girls as in the districts of humbler homes. 

It has never been seriously charged or believed that domestic science 
demeans the course of study, oris a preparation for domestics. We 
teach cooking and sewing at the age when pupils unconsciously learn that 
honest toil is not disgraceful. Mrs. Richards found ' in Boston that 
fourth-grade girls gladly received lessons in scrubbing and cleaning 
which older girls disdained. 

The impotency of the woman who says she cannot sew on a button 
or mend a rent is a disease peculiar to modern urban life. The young 
bridegroom may profess to the wife who forgets to salt her first oatmeal 
that he likes the oatmeal very much better that way; but sentiment does 
not blossom freely from a ground of indigestion. 

Aside from the general effects of domestic-science training, its specific 
effect, upon every third or fourth girl of distinctly motor predominance, 
is marked and extremely salutary. Every teacher of manual training, 
cooking, or sewing will bear witness to the aptitude of certain otherwise 
backward pupils in these studies which involve the more extended motor 
reactions. The course of study is thus flexibly adapted to the pre- 
dominant activity of the pupil. 

The teaching of sewing and cooking may be considered again in the 
light of school occupations. While they train hand and eye, there is ever 
present a directing mind having in vietf a distinct end. " I made this 
loaf of bread." "I planned and sewed my own dress." The peculiar 
advantage of cooking and sewing as school occupations is that they each 
parallel practical arts at home. The home is the practice department for 
the lessons of domestic science. No need can be more evident than that 
of food and clothing. It springs from a fundamental instinct. Few 
desires are more strong than to be well fed and well clothed. Reason 
gives as a secondary basis the desire for long life and a life of bodily 
comfort. Theoretically this gives us a most substantial basis for interest. 
Practically it proves a true basis, for pupils of cooking and sewing in 
Chicago never ask to be excused from the studies because they dislike 
them. There is increasing call for the introduction of the studies in the 
schools which do not now have them. Despite the disadvantages of 
being compelled to walk a long distance from the home school once a 
week in variable weather, the girls who study cooking are enthusias- 
tic and regular in their attendance, altho the subject is quasi-optional 
and no other subject compels such travel. The interest is sufficient to 
overcome all reluctance to preparing material and cleaning utensils. An 
interest in digestion becomes an all-around satisfied interest when the 
pupil actually cooks and eats and comfortably assimilates the food of 
which she has just been studying in her physiology. 

Domestic science is an integral part of any scheme of sound correlation. 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING TN MENOMONIE SCHOOLS 7 7 

If the school of the future does not bend all subjects into a mechani- 
cal circle of correlation, it will certainly harmonize subjects, multiply 
interrelations, and remove many of the present partitions. It will find 
its basis of interest largely in the occupations. Cooking and sewing 
are occupations closely related to the life of woman. 

The educational commission of the city of Chicago in 1899 indorsed 
domestic science, sewing, and cooking for the curriculum of the Chicago 
public schools. 

The objection . to special teachers for special subjects, so called, 
whether German or Latin, manual training *or cooking, singing or draw- 
ing, is overcome in the face of the diversity of modern life. With the 
great variety of specialists in the medical profession, for example, can it 
be reasonably demanded that there shall be but one kind of teacher ? 

A very considerable portion of the business world is occupied in sup- 
plying the food and clothing for mankind. Hence the relation of 
domestic science to the economics of the world. Scientists inform us that 
man does not live as long as he might in comparison with the life of 
animals. The relation of malnutrition and indigestion to the harmful 
effects of foods and to the shortness of human life is clear. The theory 
may be boldly stated that, if man ate wisely appropriate food, he would 
live longer and more happily. It is the aim of teachers of domestic 
science to teach and bring into practical use knowledge of proper food 
and the best methods of preparation. 

Domestic science has been styled a fad by a certain portion of the 
public, along with drawing, music, physical culture, manual training, and 
German, and has endured with them the storm and stress period in 
, Chicago. One week ago the board of education raised the salaries of 
teachers of Chicago, as one expressed it, "scraping together " all the 
money they could for the teachers. At the same time they scraped off 
two months of the term of domestic science, providing this year for only 
eight months' instruction. This will be restored ; but shows the neces- 
sary nursing which the subject requires. The most helpful sign of the 
progress of domestic science in Chicago is the increasing interest in the 
subject among teachers and principals, and especially among the pupils. 
It is easy to predict that another generation will take a more generous 
interest and largely increase the teaching of this subject." 



MANUAL TRAINING IN THE MENOMONIE PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS 

SUPERINTENDENT JUDSON E. HOYT, MENOMONIE, WIS. 

I am requested by the president of this department to present a brief 
paper which shall constitute a " Report of Work in Manual Training in 
the Menomonie Public Schools." 



78 . NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION (.Chicago 

Following the interesting and instructive papers from two cities which 
nobody has difficulty in locating on the map, the only excuse which a 
somewhat obscure town of less than six thousand inhabitants has for 
occupying time in this important session is that it has been the fortunate 
subject of a rare opportunity and the scene of a relatively extraordinary 
educational development. 

In this attempt at exposition there is room for grave doubt as to 
whether by mere brief statement of the nature, aims, and extent of the 
general scheme, and by outlines of the manual -training courses, unaided 
by pictures of appliances, or exhibits of pupils' products, showing subject- 
matter and quality of work, we shall be able to convey such a true and 
adequate conception as will seem to justify the prominence that is gener- 
ously accorded to this enterprise. 

Menomonie is the county seat of Dunn county in the northwestern 
part of Wisconsin, and is on the main line of the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railway between Chicago and St. Paul, sixty-five miles southeast of the 
latter city. In 1846 Mr. John H. Knapp and Captain William Wilson, 
who with their families were the first permanent settlers, laid here the 
foundations of a lumber-manufacturing enterprise which has grown into 
the now extensive, wealthy, and widely known corporation, the firm of 
Knapp, Stout & Co. This business establishment was the nucleus of the 
town, and still remains its leading industry, tho others of considerable 
proportions have in recent years sprung up, which will insure for the 
town permanence and growth beyond the time of inevitable extinction of 
the forest wealth. 

Over a period of thirty-eight years, from 1852 to 1890, the school sys- 
tem of Menomonie had a gradual growth from a one-room school, which 
was established and for five years supported by or under the management 
of the company, to a city system occupying five buildings in different 
parts of the town, having twenty-four separate schools and employing 
twenty-seven teachers. In 1890, the year of the introduction of manual 
training, there was a total population in the city of 5,500, a school popu- 
lation (ages between four and twenty years) of 1,750, and an enrollment 
in the schools of 1,350, of which 109 were in the high-school department. 
In this earlier period only an organization and curriculum of the usual 
type were aimed at. Free-hand drawing and music were the only special 
branches. 

At the present time the population of the city is 5,650 ; the school 
population, 2,250; the total enrollment of pupils, 1,650, of which 148 are 
in the high school. Nine buildings, providing for twenty-nine separate 
schools, are occupied and forty-seven teachers employed, of whom five are 
teachers of special subjects. 

While in this ten- year period little change has taken place in the total 
population, and the ratio of school population to school enrollment 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN MENOMONIE SCHOOLS 79 

remains practically the same, great and fundamental changes, amounting 
to a complete revolution, have taken place in the aims and character of 
the instruction thru the enlargement of facilities and teaching force, and 
the incorporation of the ideas of the new education as these are embodied 
in the kindergarten and the manual-training school. 

The school system now consists of a kindergarten system of three 
kindergartens, which, with the primary schools of the city, is under 
the immediate care of a supervisor, who also is head of the kinder- 
garten and primary training school ; of twenty-five lower-grade schools ; 
of a high school which offers four four- year courses; and of the manual- 
training school which, having, as now conducted, no separate student 
body, belongs to the school system as a whole and is an aggrega- 
tion in one building of the rooms, appliances, and instructional force 
for the teaching of the purely manual, industrial, and art phases of 
the manual-training courses, together with the special knowledge-matter 
on which these are based. 

To Hon. James H. Stout, a resident member of the firm of Knapp, 
Stout & Co., a gentleman of large means, philanthropic disposition, and 
deep interest in all forms of educational effort, the city of Menomonie is 
indebted for its initial prompting, as well as the provision of the material 
means for the introduction of both manual training and the kindergarten 
work into the public schools. We have here an instance of a people being 
led out into a way which they knew not, which they did not choose origi- 
nally for themselves, by the deeper insight, strong purpose, and wise leader- 
ship of a single public-spirited individual, supported by a liberal use of 
private funds. 

The first step toward manual training was taken when in October, 
1890, Mr. Stout made to the board of education the following proposi- 
tion : 

I will place upon the school grounds, in a place to be designated by the board of 
education, a building of proper size and kind, furnished with all the equipments necessary 
for the instruction of classes of boys and girls in the subjects included in the first-year 
course in manual training. I will also pay the salaries of the necessary teachers, the cost 
of all necessary materials and supplies, and all the contingent expenses for three terms, 
or for a time equivalent to three school terms, except such a part thereof as shall be paid 
by five hundred dollars which is to be provided by the board of education. 

The 1 proposition was of course accepted, and the building and equip- 
ments were provided. The work of instruction was begun, in high-school 
classes, in January of the following year. 

So successful and popular did the manual-training work, in all its 
phases, soon become, and so cordially was it supported by the people, by 
whom, after the first year, funds were supplied for the running expenses, 
that Mr. Stout was encouraged to provide the school with a more ample 
and convenient building and a whole complement of furniture and equip- 
ments, which should enable the extension in due time of manual-training 



8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

courses, for both boys and girls, over the entire lower grades and high- 
school period. 

The test of the popular appreciation, as well as of Mr. Stout's devo- 
tion to the enterprise, came when, after four years of the use of this second 
building, it, together with the large central school building on the same 
grounds, was destroyed by fire. There was no wavering on the part of 
the people. They appropriately indicated to Mr. Stout, by a memorial 
numerously signed, their recognition and appreciation of the benefactions 
already received, their wish that the provisions for manual training might 
be restored, and their ready willingness to carry still, as they had hitherto 
done, the increased taxation necessary to provide for the running expenses 
of the work. Mr. Stout, on his part, awaited only an unmistakable assurance 
of this wish and attitude. 

The great opportunity was now at hand for planning two buildings, 
each the counterpart of the other, which together should embody the 
material arrangements and appliances corresponding to a broad scheme 
of elementary and secondary education in accordance with approved 
modern conceptions. One of these buildings was to house a gymnasium, 
a kindergarten, nine lower-grade schools, and the high school, providing 
the latter amply with library, recitation rooms, and laboratories. The 
other was to afford facilities, as its forerunner had done, for extensive 
courses in manual training, including, for boys, free-hand and mechani- 
cal drawing, sloyd, cabinet work, wood-turning, pattern-making, molding 
and casting, forge-work, and machine-shop practice ; and, for girls, draw- 
ing and art work, sewing and dressmaking, cooking and serving, house- 
keeping and laundry work. 

Liberal plans were amply realized, and the buildings, with their furni- 
ture and equipments, stand today the wonder and delight of every intelli- 
gent visitor, and a model for progressive schoolmen. Detailed description 
would not be in place here, but some idea of their extent <and quality may 
be obtained from their cost. Upon the central school building the city 
has expended $60,000, and Mr. Stout has made additions in various forms 
amounting to fully $25,000, while the manual-training building, with its 
furniture and equipments, represents a cost of over $100,000, which was, 
of course, provided wholly by Mr. Stout. 

The aim of the undertaking in the Menomonie schools has been from 
the outset to provide manual training and art education in suitable courses 
to all pupils, in and from the kindergarten thru the high school, as a 
collateral and complement to the usual oral and text-book instruction, to 
the extent of making some exercise in doing a part of the daily experience 
of every pupil, and for the purpose of securing to the pupil all the various 
advantages which these courses are adapted to give. 

Both boys and girls are provided for. The artistic and educational 
conceptions of manual training have been kept in ascendency over the 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN MENOMONIE SCHOOLS 8 1 

utilitarian and technical, tho the claims of the latter have not been ignored. 
In the lower grades the work is required. In the high school it is pro- 
fessedly optional ; but, with only an occasional exception, the associated 
manual-training branch is elected. Three academic subjects and one 
fifty-five minute manual-training period per day constitute the standard 
amount of work. While it is possible for a pupil in a regular high-school 
course to get, within school hours, more than this allotment, still the 
manual-training subjects are held quite strictly as collaterals to academic 
work. However, separate arrangements are made for pupils who for any 
reason have abandoned their academic studies, and for young men and 
women from within or without the city, by which they are enabled to 
devote their time quite exclusively to manual-training subjects, and so 
get a more specialized and technical training. 

The courses in the several manual-training subjects have from the first 
undergone a progressive development, and at some important points are 
still in transition. But the place of each process, and the kind and 
amount of work to be expected of the pupil under the particular condi- 
tions which obtain at our school, have been approximately settled. No 
claim of originality is made ; no presumption is indulged in that a pace 
has been set which any other school should follow. We have simply 
selected from the common stock of manual-training knowledge and usage 
the kinds and amounts of work that are adapted to our needs. 

Time will not permit such a detailed statement of our courses as will 
reveal whatever may be distinctive, but the following outlines may be of 
interest : 

THE MANUAL-TRAINING COURSES 
I. IN GRADES BELOW THE HIGH SCHOOL 

A course in free-hand drawing, for boys and girls alike, extending 
over the entire period from the kindergarten to the high school, is taught 
by the regular teachers in the several schoolrooms, under the supervision 
of the art teacher of the manual-training school. It is based on the art 
idea, and has little direct reference to construction, except that in the first 
four years, before other forms of manual work begin, it is made especially 
full in exercises involving manipulation of materials, such as stick-laying, 
paper-cutting, clay-modeling, paper-folding, cardboard construction, 
brush-drawing, color-painting, and basket- weaving. In the later years 
this course gives itself wide latitude in the choice of mediums, processes, 
and subjects ; uses pencil, charcoal, pen-and-ink, and brush, in sepia and 
in color. It concerns itself in regular sequence, frequent recurrence, and 
in due degree with nature study, model- and object-drawing, illustration, 
measurements and working drawings, light and shade, historic ornament, 
the planning of ornament, conventionalizing of natural forms, water-color 
painting, design, and perspective. 

This may seem an ambitious and too varied program, but in the test 



82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

III M-l 

of use under good teaching it yields a very considerable insight and 
skill, and develops interest and real artistic feeling. 

The course in plain sewing, for girls, begins in the fourth grade and 
runs, at two periods of thirty to fifty minutes a week, thru the fourth, fifth, 
sixth, and seventh grades. All pupils above the fourth grade, except those 
of one remote school, come to the manual-training building for this work. 
The usual course in plain sewing, in which each new exercise isolated for 
the purpose of teaching is followed more or less closely by application in 
a completed whole, is taught with much insistence on accuracy and neat- 
ness. This practice is accompanied by the presentation of much informa- 
tion matter about fabrics — their raw materials, manufacture, characteristics, 
and utilities. The seventh year is given almost wholly to garment- 
making. 

The sewing work is interrupted at this stage in order that the eighth- 
grade year may be given to the introductory stage of a three-year course 
in cooking, serving, housekeeping, hygiene, and sanitation. 

The aim of the instruction in this year is to give to all girls, especially 
to those who will not go on into the high school, the requisite knowledge 
of food-stuffs and food classes, of fundamental processes, and a degree of 
skill in their use, which will enable the successful preparation of the 
common foods. 

For boys, the work in the grades consists of a course of bench- work 
based on the sloyd idea. This begins in the fifth grade with a series of 
exercises in whittling and the making of surface forms in thin, wood. It 
passes on to the use, by gradual introduction, of all the usual tools, in 
the execution of a graded series of exercises as represented in models, 
involving form-work and joinery, in increasingly complicated, completed 
products. 

The lay-out of the model to be made is placed before the pupil in 
blue-prints or blackboard sketches, and the work demonstrated when 
desirable. The reading and making of working drawings are taught in 
this connection, but little of the pupil's time is applied to the making of 
those which he actually uses. In addition to the standard series of 
models, which is not held to as a sine qua non, the boy is given large 
opportunity to make things in which he is himself interested, and to 
express himself in plan and style of work. 

The time allotment of this course is two fifty-five minute periods per 
week thru the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. 

II. CONTINUATION OF THE MANUAL-TRAINING COURSES IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 

The drawing courses. — Drawing has thus far been taught in the several 
schoolrooms, substantially the same work being given to both boys and 
girls. When the high school is reached, mechanical drawing comes into 
prominence as a separate subject, and claims the time of the boys, and 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN MENOMONIE SCHOOLS 83 

such of the girls as are specially interested. The girls as a rule continue 
in the line of free-hand drawing and art study. All pupils henceforth 
come to the manual -training building for their exercises. 

The general aim of the art work is to educate to an appreciation of 
the beautiful, to stimulate the artistic and inventive faculties, and to train 
the eye and hand to become the ready servants of the mind in the expres- 
sion of ideas. These aims are sought to be realized by surrounding the 
pupil with an environment of beauty in the schoolrooms, and especially 
in the several rooms of the art department, by a study, in connection 
with practice, of the principles involved in the several forms of art 
essayed, and of examples in curios, pictures, and casts of historic and 
present-day art. Relatively speaking, the school is well provided for in 
these directions. A rich and varied, but well systematized, course is given, 
which cannot be adequately represented in a brief outline. 

Mechanical drawing is taught as a mental discipline, as concrete math- 
ematics, as training of eye and hand, as the language of construction, and 
as technical training. That the course may be more systematic and thoro, 
little attempt is made at correlations with the shop- work. Exercises to 
give command of the instruments, lettering, geometrical problems, pro- 
jections, intersections, development of surface, mechanical perspective, 
line and wash shading, conventional colors, are each laid under contri- 
bution, and together give a fair degree of mastery of mechanical drawing 
as a method and means. 

Two years having been thus occupied, the remaining two years are 
given to applications in either of the two lines, machine or architectural 
drawing, with a view to the acquirement of something like technical 
knowledge and skill. This course is held by graduates of the school to 
be a most valuable general discipline, apart from the use of the attain- 
ment in practical ways. Two fifty-five minute periods a week are given to 
this course for four years. 

The work in domestic arts in the. high school consists in the continua- 
tion of the course in cooking which was begun in the eighth grade, and a 
course in dressmaking. Three fifty-five minute periods per week are the 
allotment of time in each of these subjects. 

In the first high-school year a review and extension of the study of 
food-stuffs, of their composition, dietetic values, and proper combination, 
are accompanied by practice in the preparation, cooking, and serving of 
all the usual foods. Marketing, housekeeping, and care of laundry are 
engaged in, both for training and in the service of the school. 

What may be regarded the refinements of cooking receive atten- 
tion in the second high-school year. In addition, study and practice in 
planning, marketing for, and serving of meals and lunches to invited 
guests, and assistance in preparation of, and serving at, occasional ban- 
quets, afford attractive and valuable experience. Hygiene and home 



84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

sanitation, invalid cookery, and the care of the sick and injured receive 
a liberal allotment of time proportioned to their importance. 

The course in dressmaking runs thru the third high-school year. 
In this instruction effort is made to base the work on principles, and to 
give a mastery of processes which will be available beyond the limited 
amount of practice that can be had under the eye of the teacher. Plan- 
ning, selecting of materials, measuring, the making and use of patterns, 
use of models, fitting, trimming, and other like means, receive careful 
teaching. Discussions of the characteristics and suitableness of materials 
for various uses, of comparative cost, of hygiene and good taste in dress, 
and other relevant topics, accompany the work as* occasion requires. 

The domestic-arts courses are well taught, are attractive to pupils, and 
command the confidence and cordial support of the mothers and all 
patrons of the school. 

The mechanic-arts courses are, with the exception of one sloyd class, 
all taught in the manual-training building. Each has a time allotment 
of three fifty-five minute periods per week. 

The boy having thru his lower-grade work been confined to one 
shop and to a series of processes upon wood, involving the use of com- 
paratively few tools, now upon entering the high school has opened to 
him quite rapidly the range of the mechanic-arts shops. He is intro- 
duced to machinery, and is subjected to the necessity of bringing his own 
action into correspondence with the motion of the machine. 

Wood-turning is the first machine process, and upon this he spends 
the first high-school year. 

Pattern-making, molding, and casting, in a series of alternations, fill 
the second year, and give the boy a practical introduction to foundry 
work. Casting is done in iron and brass. 

The third year is passed in the blacksmith shop, where an especially 
well-planned course in the common processes of forging, welding, and 
tool construction is taught. No course in the series is more attractive to 
the boys or more effective as training than this. 

The machine shop, into which the pupil passes for the wo*k of the 
fourth year, is a model in its completeness, and in the grade of the 
machine tools and the thoroness of their installment. The meager time 
which pupils in the regular courses can give to the work of this shop 
prevents full realization of the opportunities here afforded. 

A period of bench-work in chipping and filing is followed by the sys- 
tematic working of a series of exercises in iron and steel, involving use of 
the engine lathe, the speed lathe, the drill press, and the shaper. Inci- 
dentally, knowledge of the utilities and insight into the working of several 
other more special and complicated machines are acquired, but practice 
with these is left to an advanced course after high -school graduation. 

The foregoing review of courses is necessarily incomplete, but it errs 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING IN MENOMONIE SCHOOLS 85 

on the side of omission rather than overstatement. Classes are now 
fully differentiated, and all the lines of work enumerated are in actual 
operation. 

A committee of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Edu- 
cation is now investigating the assigned subject, "American Industrial 
Education — What Shall it Be?" The preliminary report of this com- 
mittee, presented in New York last July, having mentioned by name the 
school which is the subject of this paper, makes this strong statement : 

"Both the appliances and the instruction in this school are of the 
highest order, and the results are well calculated to astonish anyone who 
has never seen this system of public instruction in successful operation 
from the kindergarten through the high school." 



DISCUSSION 



President F. W. Parker, Chicago Institute. — In 1883, in a basement of the Cook 
County Normal School, with a few rude benches and a good teacher, we introduced 
manual training. That was probably the first, attempt to put manual training into 
elementary schools in this country. Manual training is not for external uses, but for 
internal development. In its earlier history it was begun in the high schools. Things 
nearly always begin at the wrong end. It is better and will be better for the children 
when the youngest of them can have the benefit of the right kind of manual training. 

It has not been so very long since this subject was not very favorably considered by an 
educational body. Manual training was demolished by a number of educational gentle- 
men in Washington in 1884, but since that demolition nothing has flourished like manual 
training. 

I never saw a child that did not like manual training. Boys and girls love it alike. 
The fundamental error (Dr. G. Stanley Hall suggested this a number of years ago, and I 
saw it) lies in logical sequence. This is the fundamental error in all education. What 
we have learned is that the child is full of activity. When children go into the shops and 
find that they have to do something themselves, delight seizes their souls. They take the 
school home with them. When education penetrates the home and when home penetrates 
the school, then things move on. 

Mr. J. H. Stout, Menomonie, Wis. — We are not facing the conditions of today in 
our school-work. We are looking too much to the past. We need to look to the con- 
ditions that are confronting us now in providing measures and methods in education. 
Among the adjuncts of the public schools there is one especially valuable, and that is the 
library. The traveling-library plan is an excellent one. Wisconsin has spent a million 
and a quarter dollars for libraries in the last year or two. 

Mr. Bevans, Aurora, 111. — I wish to speak in favor of employing useful objects in 
manual-training work. The boy's interest in manual training is increased if the object 
which he makes has a use to which he may wish to put it. 

In Aurora a boy failed on a simple piece involving a principle given him by his 
teacher. The same boy wanted to make a bookcase. His teacher let him try, and he 
turned out a creditable product. 

Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111. — There is danger now in our 
smaller towns, after the experience at Menomonie, of the prevalence of the feeling that, 
unless some rich man will do something toward manual training, one cannot do anything. 



86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 



» 



It has been my fortune to serve as superintendent in the schools of two towns, neither 
of which could be said to be especially well-to-do. In both of these towns something in 
the way of manual training was undertaken. We would teach the use of a few common 
tools — of the saw and the needle — and this without very much cost. I honor rich men 
who make manual training in the schools possible. I honor more a community which 
says that it ought to do these things for the children and proceeds to do them. 

Professor C. M. Woodward, St. Louis, Mo. — I experience a deep feeling of 
satisfaction that the department is in such excellent temper as I find it in today. It has 
not always been so well disposed toward manual training. Some years ago there was a 
good deal of opposition to it, but now all are looking one way. 

There is much more in manual training than in making carpenters and blacksmiths. 
It develops capability in more than one direction. Manual training has brought in a 
good deal. It has grown down until it meets the young children and answers their needs. 
One of the bugbears as to expense has been done away with. In St. Louis it costs I 
cent per day per pupil. Domestic science has taken on a systematic educational method, 
so that there is a chance of its blossoming into something of a larger shape. 

I wish to testify to the interest of the children in domestic economy. In a certain 
colored school in St. Louis, where this subject is taught, it costs pupils 10 cents a day to 
get there, but the attendance in that school is the best in the city. It is easy in any 
community to establish manual training, if you have faith in yourself, faith in your cause, 
and faith in the community. 

Superintendent George Griffith, Utica, N. Y. — I have thought that some 
figures as to the expense of conducting manual training might be interesting. For the 
instruction of 2,800 pupils the cost is as follows : 

For five teachers $4»aoo 

For supplies 540 

For additional equipment 99 

Making a total cost of $1.73 per pupil. The original and total cost of equipment is 
as follows : for two kitchens, one manual-training room, and equipment in each of four- 
teen ward schools, in fifth and sixth grades, $1,744. 

Professor J. H. Trybom, Detroit, Mich. — Both sewing and cooking may be made 
to serve the ends of manual training — sewing in particular. Altho the same variety 
of tools and materials as in wood construction, for instance, may not be possible, it can 
not be said by any means that the girls have not the advantages of manual training. In 
regarding the value of manual training, the economic side is worth some consideration. 
With due emphasis upon the educational side in teaching sewing, with careful progression 
of the exercises, and with models suitable to the age of the pupils, the aims of manual 
training can well be realized thru this subject. 



POSSIBILITIES OF MANUAL TRAINING FOR MORAL ENDS 

R. CHARLES BATES, SUPERVISOR OF MANUAL TRAINING, TOME INSTITUTE, 

PORT DEPOSIT, MD. 

I have been asked by our president to give some observations upon 
my work at Elmira, N. Y., covering five years as director of manual 
training at the New York State Reformatory, and I have consented to do 
so, altho my relations with that institution terminated over a year ago. 

The characteristics of manual training at the reformatory, as compared 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING FOR MORAL ENDS 87 

with manual training in our public-school system, arise from the fact that 
it was organized and operated for the special purpose of treating forms of 
mental and moral diseases, much as hospitals and sanitariums exist for 
the treatment of special maladies ; and, next, that it was of value as a 
stimulus toward reformation for many who were not susceptible to other 
agencies. Manual training as a reformative agent became acceptable 
only after searching investigation covering numbers of inmates of varying 
ages, nationalities, and degrees of intelligence, and after extended observa- 
tion covering a long period of time. 

In order that you may fully appreciate what influence manual training 
had upon these specially abnormal pupils, I shall define somewhat the 
characteristics of the subject, his environment before and during con- 
finement, and his relation to society after his release. Investigation 
shows that of all persons committed to reformatories about 85 per cent, 
have not had the advantages of good home training during the formative 
period, or of even respectable parents. These spores of society have been 
left to roam ad libitum; many could not read or write. Before conviction 
for felony they have figured in juvenile crimes cataloged as misde- 
meanors ; many have spent the larger part of their lives in houses of 
refuge, homes for boys, boys' farm schools, or like institutions. In time 
these boys have grown into young manhood without that training which 
should fit them for the duties of American citizenship. As a result of 
their environment they have learned to be deceptive, to misrepresent, to 
dissemble, to be defiant, and, what is worse, to feel that they have been 
segregated because of their heroism ; for it is a peculiar trait in the 
character of the criminally abnormal classes to feel that all society is 
wrong ; that they are sufferers at the hands of scheming speculators in 
human will and sovereign freedom. The state of New York maintains 
juvenile reform schools. Catholic and Protestant societies are sponsors 
for similar schools. Into these places the spores of infected humanity are 
crowded ; but these schools do not change criminal habits or supply new 
motives thru well-directed self -activity. In short, they are not fitted to 
deal with this abnormal element; they have neither the personnel in their 
teaching force nor the apparatus ; they are for the most part officered by 
men who have not been trained for this work ; neither are these officers 
sufficiently interested in the problems of social regeneration to fit them- 
selves for their onerous task. So these reform schools and protectorates 
become houses of detention rather than schools for training in the duties 
of citizenship. In many cases they are simply treadmills of useless 
routine without appliances for stimulating to strength of purpose or for 
developing active intelligence thru profitable industry; neither do they 
appeal thru the physical sensory organs to the higher self, to the end that 
each individual may adjust himself to the existing social laws. The real 
purpose of reform schools, protectorates, and reformatories should be tQ 



88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

suppress the disposition toward criminal habits by supplying new 
motives, by teaching frugality and industry, and by cultivating ideals 
worthy of a pure manhood. 

At the Elmira Reformatory these ideals have been wisely wrought out 
under the direction of that seer, Hon. Z. R. Brockway. For a large 
number of inmates the usual industrial, literary, and civic regulations 
were sufficient to inspire to a more perfect manhood, and in almost all 
cases there has been sufficient response to these reformative agencies to 
show that the discharged inmate has complied with recognized legal 
standards of correct living. There were, however, a number of inmates 
who did not respond to these agencies, and for such manual training 
was established, the results of which lead us to the subject of this paper, 
" Possibilities of Manual Training for Moral Ends." 

With the knowledge gained from a wide experience with manual 
training in public schools,* and its value as related to the problems in 
education, we have a basis for operation. Manual training for defectives 
is based on this psychological fact, namely, that for every important part 
of the body under control of the will there is a region of the brain from 
which these parts are controlled ; these are known as motor centers. 
For instance, what we commonly call muscular paralysis is but the result 
of a suspension of the motor function of that part of the brain control- 
ling that set of muscles ; or conversely, if these sources of stimuli are 
undeveloped or have become diseased, it is possible that they may become 
accelerated in functioning thru a development of the muscle or muscles 
which they control. This fact has been quite largely developed under 
the direction of Professor Scripture, of Yale University; many of his 
experiments have been based upon data furnished by me while at 
Elmira. 

The influence of manual training upon the life of any pupil depends 
upon two things : first, the nature of the tool-activities ; and, secondly, the 
relation of these tool-activities to the life' of the pupil thru the things 
furnished as a project. These are further modified by the* personality of 
the teacher and his special fitness for the work. 

At Elmira the selection of tool projects and the processes for the 
performance of these ends were designed to meet and overcome the 
special defect in particular, groups by using materials of paper, wood, 
metal, and clay. From these materials and carefully designed models we 
could illustrate a principle in mathematics or enforce a moral law ; thus, 
a force may be set in motion which shall act upon the mind, the brain, 
and the body to produce healthy beneficial thought and action. If this 
manual work is intelligently maintained, new interests are awakened, well- 
ordered habits lead to active discrimination, and earnest concentration 
and decisions are formed which lead to increased mental and moral 
enlargement. 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING FOR MORAL ENDS 89 

By careful selection of these non- responsive prisoners, based on 
closely tabulated daily observations, we discovered that these inmates 
could be properly grouped under one of three general classifications 
of recognized defectives. Our duty now lay in adapting manual training 
to overcome these defects and to restore the individual to a more normal 
condition, wherein he would become susceptible to reformative influences 
affecting his release, and thereby fit himself for his return to society as a 
contributive citizen rather than a parasitic individual. 

To speak analytically on these classifications, I must name the groups 
and show causes for classification : 

Group /, mathematical defectives. — These pupils fail specially in arith- 
metic, likewise in trades classes where the demand for mathematical acute- 
ness and manual expression therefrom make it difficult for these defectives 
to comprehend or intelligently pursue the outlines. This defect, if 
allowed to continue or await its eradication under the usual school 
instruction and trades teaching, would mean much incumbrance to the 
class organization, and thus deprive those fitted to advance of that share 
of active intellectual work which they need to qualify for parole release. 

As soon as this arithmetical defect is recognized, the pupils are 
assigned to the manual-training school, and retained there for treatment 
until such time as we feel they are capable of pursuing the routine work 
of the school of letters and the mathematics involved in the projects of 
the technological class to which they are assigned for trades teaching. 

The manual subjects selected for this class of defectives are as follows : 
first term —35 hours a week for 17 weeks: mechanical drawing, sloyd, 
wood-work, athletics and calisthenics, clay-modeling, and mental arith- 
metic; second term — same as above, except cardboard constructions 
substituted for clay-modeling; third term — same as above, except wood- 
turning substituted for cardboard constructions. 

The time at my disposal does not permit giving a detailed description 
of methods and showing the relation of the several tool processes to the 
development of mathematical acquisitiveness, or of showing quantita- 
tively the moral improvement among those pupils whom I shall later 
designate as "control defectives," or even the third group, designated as 
"mentally deficient. ,, You must accept the statements of results as I 
know them, and as they are attested by such eminent authorities as 
Professor Scripture, of Yale University ; Professor Richards, of Teachers 
College, Columbia University ; Dr. Henderson, of the department of 
sociology, University of Chicago ; the late Charles Dudley Warner ; 
Edward Atkinson; Hon. Frederick Wines, of the Census Department, 
Washington, D. C, and others who might be named. 

It is difficult to express degrees of human intelligence or moral predi- 
cation in terms of percentages ; yet it is the accepted method for compari- 
son, and I follow it for want of a better. So I give briefly these statistics : 



90 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

total, number assigned during one year for treatment as mathematical 
defectives, 120; those improved, 46 per cent.; those unimproved, 53 per 
cent.; average time of attendance, 9 months, 3 days. 

Group 2, control defectives, — These are persons who in the reformatory 
community are anti-social. Their indifference to the rules governing 
free society, with added antipathy to all forms of regulation which mean 
the subordination of depraved tastes and vicious habits to well-ordered 
habits, follows in the social organization of the reformatory ; this depravity 
is yet a part of their organism as they enter into this new life of enforced 
observance of those necessary qualifications for citizenship ; so they do 
not easily adjust themselves to the regulations of the new environment 
which requires that their habits shall be such as will develop self-respect, 
recognize authority, and become self-sustaining thru well-directed indus- 
try, thereby forming a part of a well-adjusted fraternity. That these spores 
of humanity do not conform to regulations approximating those in free 
society is evidence to us of a defect in character. This is a defect in 
self-control, and it exhibits itself in many ways. These improper physi- 
cal and mental manifestations indicate certain other mental and moral 
lesions ; these must be met and overcome before the subject is amenable 
to his environment, which so nearly approaches that of organized 
society. 

As soon as this control defect is recognized, the pupils are assigned 
for treatment in the manual-training school for the purpose of supply- 
ing a more intensive atmosphere. Our object is to secure a conscious 
self-activity in right directions by doing the things which make for self- 
respect ; to secure thru manual performances a more earnest expression of 
permanent change of habits ; to habituate them to do definite, 'honorable 
acts thru honest tool performances, and thru good designs, paintings, etc., 
to suggest enjoyment for the beautiful in life ; in short, to lead them to 
higher motives and more noble purposes. 

We follow out this idea of manual occupation by securing projects 
which subordinate the physical nature, projects which tend to lift the 
mind above the ignominy of its confinement and thru regularity of tool 
performances secure a habitual orderly employment of all the many forces 
which these active but badly adjusted individuals have at their command. 

The tool processes selected for these control defectives are as follows : 
first term — 35 hours a week for 17 weeks: athletics and calisthenics, 
geometric constructions, wood-turning, pattern-making, mechanical and 
free-hand drawing, wood-carving ; second term — same as above, except 
substitution of molding for wood-turning; third term — same as second 
term, except chipping and filing for molding. 

Statistical data of results in the case of control defectives : total number 
assigned and under treatment, 257 ; those improved, 30 per cent.; unim- 
proved, 70 per cent. 



Superintendence] MANUAL TRAINING FOR MORAL ENDS 9 1 

Group j, general defectives. — This class of pupils are among the low- 
est order, intellectually and physically, in prison society ; men in whom 
hereditary influences for generations show a legacy of diseased bodies, 
disordered minds, enervated brains ; and these organs have been further 
weakened by unnatural sexual practices. These pupils are between the 
densely ignorant and the imbecile ; many of them should not have been 
sent to the reformatory, but to some permanent home for imbeciles. 

For many of them we can, thru manual processes, physical training, 
baths, dietary, and special elementary-school work correlated to manual 
training, develop sufficient mental expression to cause them to respond to 
the general demands of school and demeanor regulations, and thus fit 
them for some kind of honest labor after release. 

The manual processes for these defectives are as follows : athletics and 
calisthenics, free-hand drawing, elementary wood-work, mental arithmetic, 
and sentence-building. 

Total number assigned for treatment, 61; those improved, 30 per 
cent.; those unimproved, 70 per cent.; average time in attendance, 11 
months, 18 days. 

From the foregoing remarks we have seen that manual training is not 
only of value as an educational factor leading to self-activity and mental 
development, but it becomes, in the hands of the scientist — one conversant 
with pedagogy, physiology, psychology, and applied mechanics — a potent 
factor for moral ends. It opens up avenues for activities which are in 
direct consonance with the laws governing moral expression. All morality 
is but a harmonious adjustment of one's higher nature with known ele- 
ments in human character, which elements are the vital forces in society 
that lift it above license, above conspiracy, above abuse. It is that force 
in human affairs which removes the disposition to riotousness, to self- 
abasement, and puts one in an atmosphere of conscious relation to divine 
law. It is clear to my mind that the presence of manual training in our 
public-school system will have a far-reaching influence upon human activi- 
ties, because it gives that delightful balance in mental growth which indi- 
cates the wisely educated person. For defectives in public institutions 
it is possible thru manual training to awaken dormant consciousness of 
creative force; and, further, it brings into use the neglected motor areas 
of the brain thru the enforced functioning of their corresponding muscu- 
lar agents. 

I cannot close this paper on the " Possibilities of Manual Training for 
Moral Ends " without reference to the pertinent remark of Ruskin made 
long before the science of teaching was as well understood as at the pres- 
ent : " A boy cannot learn to take a straight shaving or drive a fine curve 
without learning a multitude of other matters which the life of man could 
not teach him." 



94 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

school after one year of apprentice teaching. They meet every second Saturday 
during that apprentice year for the purpose of receiving instruction or for observing 
a model lesson given by a teacher of some class that has demonstrated the excellence 
of its work. A pedagogical society was organized in 1869, with membership dues of 
|ia year. Membership at present is 900. Thru this organization professional spirit is 
enhanced. 

Superintendent Z. H. Brown, Nashville, Tenn., never criticises a teacher until 
the principal has been consulted. The superintendent may sometimes be mistaken, ilis 
visits to teachers last from five minutes to thirty minutes. His teachers meet by groups 
to study certain subjects, each teacher being required to attend one of two possible meet- 
ings every two weeks. A large majority of them attend both meetings. These meetings 
occur at 3 : 30 in the afternoon, and last forty-five minutes. When a subject occurs in 
the grades, extending up into the high school, ^he high-school teacher of that subject is 
the leader of the class. 

Superintendent William J. M. Cox, Moline, 111. — Criticism, when it must be 
given, had better be given in the presence of the teacher alone. Mr. Brown never criti- 
cises a teacher in the presence of a third person. He expects the principal to request the 
teacher to correct such faults as he himself may discover, or as the superintendent may 
point out. 

District Superintendent Miss M. Elizabeth Farson, Chicago, considers it 
just as wrong for the superintendent to be continually talking about poor teachers as 
it is for the teacher to be continually talking about bad children. Show the teachers 
how to become better teachers. Superintendents of Chicago, Miss Farson believes, are 
visiting their schools largely for the sake of learning. Superintendents can learn far 
more than they teach. Their function is to find commendable things and extend them. 
On taking charge in her district, in the first four days she visited each principal in her 
district. Before making suggestions she heard what each had to say. This was also her 
course with the teachers. What the teachers need is more courage. No superintendent 
has a right to go into a schoolroom except as an expert. He must be able to do every- 
thing that he expects his teachers to do. Everything in the room is a sign of the teacher. 
Everything in a building is a sign of the principal. All meetings of teachers are 
voluntary. In closing she said: "Test the atmosphere of the schoolroom, look for 
the strong things, show the principals and teachers that you are there to help them. 
Try to create an atmosphere in which the teacher can work out her own salvation with 
freedom." 

Superintendent T. M. Balliet, Springfield, Mass., called attention to the danger 
confronting the superintendent of losing himself in a mass of petty details. The tend- 
ency in college administration and in school supervision is to make so prominent the 
business side as to consume all the time at command in the mechanism of the work, to 
leave no time for personal growth, on which all effective leadership depends. The super- 
intendent must secure time for study. Unless he is a student, he will find it absolutely 
impossible to get his teachers to study. 

The things we have to do should be classified. Some of them are so comparatively 
unimportant that we should put them off until the next day and then forget to do them 
at all. It is more important with another class of duties to make a decision promptly 
rather than carefully. Any decision is better than delay. Then there is a third class of 
duties that must be performed only after the most careful consideration and after consul- 
tation with principals and teachers of special ability. 

Set apart sacredly one half -day each week for study. Go where no one can find 
you. Mr. Balliet stated that his own practice had been to devote the month of April 
mainly to study ; in that month visiting schools only occasionally and not with any defi- 
nite purpose. He emphasized the value of §craps of time for reading. If we let our 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 93 

Mr. Soldan quoted one of Lincoln's sayings, " One drop of honey catches more 
flies than a gallon of vinegar/' and another from the Talmud, " There is a soul of good- 
ness in things evil." He then raised the question of how to avoid collision of authority 
in making suggestions to teachers. 

Mr. Lewis answered that he makes such suggestions in the presence of the prin- 
cipals. 

Mr. Siefert advised telling the teacher, " Do as the principal told you," and then 
working with the principal to make the correction. 

Mr. Jones recommended such an understanding with supervising officers that such 
difficulties will rarely occur. 

Superintendent W.N. Hailmann, Dayton, O. — The superintendent must deal 
directly with the principal, conferring with Jiim before making criticisms of teachers. Let 
the principal deal with the matter without help, unless he wishes it. Kindness and ben- 
evolence should be exercised, but, in some instances, a time comes when a teacher must 
be asked to resign. The principal must be made to feel his responsibility as well as his 
power. Organizations help. The superintendent should seek the advice of his princi- 
pals, should encourage free discussion, should give credit for assistance. He should not 
require things done in this way or that way, but should aim only at the accomplish- 
ment of certain results. Thru teachers' meetings teachers realize their own shortcom- 
ings. Teachers may sometimes be transferred to a more appreciative principal. Both 
principals and teachers should be led to understand that they, not the superintendent, 
make the school. 

Teachers in Dayton are divided into chapters for the study of certain lines of work, 
as literature, history, geography, etc. Those deficient in any direction are advised to join 
the chapter devoted to the study of that subject. The superintendent calls attention to 
sources of information. He places the stress of supervision upon the attitude of the 
teacher toward the children. 

Ex-Superintendent Anderson, Milwaukee, Wis., holds that the superintendent's 
services are more effective in speaking to the entire body of teachers about meritorious as 
well as about faulty methods, since he can select those which are typical. He does not 
approve of meetings presided over by elected officers. He would appoint the officers. 

Superintendent Hailmann has three times a year what he calls a house-cleaning 
day. The good things observed are summed up, and errors pointed out. Teachers of 
recognized ability are invariably selected by the teachers to lead the chapters ; high- 
school teachers often being among them. 

Superintendent Soldan explained the character of the teachers' meetings held in 
St. Louis. At the opening of school each year the 1,700 teachers are invited to come 
together to hear an address given by the superintendent. Attendance is voluntary, yet 
more teachers attend than when attendance was required. The opening lecture is a con- 
densation of the experience of the previous year. There are weekly meetings of teachers 
in various departments, all of which are voluntary. These meetings occur usually at 
3 : 30 in the afternoon, with permission to those who wish to attend to close their schools in 
time to reach the place of meeting. Principals' meetings occur as often as once in six 
weeks. The superintendent formulates certain broad principles as a basis for discussion. 
Teachers are encouraged to criticise the administration. Thanks are always returned to 
the teachers for such criticisms. Tho anonymous criticisms deserve nothing better 
than the wastebasket, yet, on the ground that no principal should be kept in ignorance of 
any statement affecting the work, such communications are sent to the principal to whom 
they refer, with an explanation of the superintendent's low estimation of their value and 
with the request that they be returned. 

Teachers in St. Louis are appointed from among the graduates of the city normal 



96 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION | Chicago 

ROUND TABLES OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF SMALL CITIES 

SECTION A 
LEADER — SUPERINTENDENT L. E. WOLFE, KANSAS CITY, KAN. 

General topic: The Work of the Superintendent in Small Cities in 
Developing Greater Efficiency in the Teaching Force. 

Sub •topics: 

i. What must the superintendent do to insure the advancement of pupils thru the grades along a straight, 
rather than a broken, line of progress ? 

a. Necessity for grade teachers knowing the purpose, scope, and plan of work in grades higher and 
lower than their own. 

3. What knowledge of the grade work should high-school teachers have ? 

4. Means for increasing power of individual teachers in testing, teaching, drilling, and in the proper 
assignment of the lesson. 

Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass. — " What must the superintend- 
ent do to insure the advancement of pupils thru the grades along a straight, rather 
than a broken, line of progress ? " 

I question whether there should be uniform progress thru the grades. I take the 
question to mean uniform opportunity. I believe in allowing teachers the largest possible 
liberty. In Lowell the teachers are made sufficiently uniform in method by being intro- 
duced into the corps thru a year's work in the training school. 1 commend teachers' 
meetings. I also give examinations for promotion of pupils, having as one object the 
showing of teachers what work it is expected to accomplish, and the power which 
pupils are expected to possess in passing from the grade. 

Superintendent J. H. Glotfelter, Atchison, Kan. — Some teachers will not 
keep their work up to the general level of excellence required. If the superintendent 
has realized his aims in any degree, he has, thru his teachers' meetings and personal 
work, developed the varied excellencies of his corps. The new teacher will get the 
inspiration needed in the teachers' meetings, from contact with other teachers, and from 
conference with the superintendent. The superintendent may also direct the professional 
reading in part, and thus give direction to their methods. The teachers' grade meeting, 
visiting other teachers in their rooms, conversation with other teachers, and personal 
visitation, with sympathetic criticism, directing of the professional reading, are the means 
a superintendent may employ in unifying the work of his teachers, so that each may 
offer inspiring, interesting work. 

Superintendent W. F. Selleck, Austin, Minn. — The visiting days are excellent 
means of acquainting new teachers with the work of the schools. 

Superintendent Joseph Carter, Champaign, 111. — In Champaign the teachers 
of each grade hold teachers' meetings at the room of one of their number while school is 
in session. The work of the room is discussed, and the supplies are examined. Each 
teacher is allowed a sum of money to purchase such materials as she wants. The super- 
intendent leaves the teachers together to discuss their work, and feels that their discussion 
will be freer in his absence. The teachers are also sent to other cities to visit. 

Superintendent Darius Steward, Stillwater, Minn. — An institute of one week, 
conducted by the superintendent, held just before the opening of school, is an excellent 
means of unifying the work of the various teachers. The superintendent should hold 
examinations for the purpose of getting acquainted with teachers ; he should also do 
illustrative teaching in their presence. 

President I. C. McNeil, West Superior Normal School, Wis. — "What must the 
superintendent do to insure the advancement of pupils thru the grades along a straight, 
rather than a broken, line of progress, with experienced teachers ? " is a question that 
should claim the attention of superintendents of small cities, and the attention of others 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 97 

who are interested in the problems of education. As I look at the question, the super- 
intendent must know what a straight line of progress is, and how it may be estab- 
lished. In order that this knowledge may be his, the superintendent should be a man 
of liberal culture, of active sympathies, of wide experience with the affairs of the world, 
and of methodical professional training. The fact that a person has graduated from a 
university is but a small element in the qualifications he should possess in order to have 
a true knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of a superintendent. 

The superintendent needs all the help that may come from courses in normal schools, 
or from pedagogical courses in universities that are equipped to invite the attention of 
men and women to the problem of instruction or of school management. It is true that 
many of the most capable and distinguished superintendents in this country today have 
learned thru failures — thru harm done to pupils and teachers — what to do and what to 
avoid. It is quite true that many of the things that are harmful, and that draw attention 
away from the straight line of progress, may be overcome by a proper study of super- 
vision and its allied problems, in properly conducted professional institutions. . It is 
equally true that there must be something in the aptitude of the individual for the work 
attempted, for many never can become apt, tactful, forceful superintendents. The super- 
intendent with insight and adjustability must learn, somehow and somewhere, what the 
straight line of progress is, and how to establish it. 

Again, the superintendent should, thru personal contact, by observation of class- 
room work, and by noting the development of pupils, have an intimate knowledge of the 
working power, scholarship, educational philosophy, habits, and abilities of his teachers 
to stimulate the advancement of pupils thru the grades in a straight line. Knowing, as 
the superintendent should, what ideals are right and what are wrong ; knowing what 
methods are wasteful and what methods are helpful ; knowing what philosophy tends to 
movement along straight lines and what brings little returns ; knowing what character is 
steady and what character is vacillating; and knowing how to adjust means to ends, he 
will find the problem partly solved by being factored. 

When the teacher's qualifications, methods, character, and aims are understood, the 
superintendent must put himself in such relations with each teacher as will cause her to 
keep on doing well the things that are now done well, and to change ideals and 
philosophy in those items of work that are done poorly. In the final summing up it 
will be found that occasionally a person cannot be led or persuaded to approach a 
straight line of progress because of deficiency in character, in scholarship, or in educa- 
tional ideals. 

The next step in solving the problem is to determine what is best to be done after 
the causes of waste, friction, or demoralization are known. Occasional removals of 
teachers who do not strive to approach a straight line of progress and to make growth 
will stimulate to better endeavor others who are weak on the character side. Teachers 
of right character, but weak in scholarship, should be induced to seek sufficient academic 
training in good professional schools, and they should find their positions open to them 
again when they have had the training which results in sound scholarship. It is a 
wonderful help to schools to have teachers leave for a year or two to study. Example is 
contagious ; many superintendents in Wisconsin have found the plan outlined a good one. 
Scholarship and professional investigation will raise educational ideals as nothing else 
can. Agitation of educational questions, leading to personal introspection and conse- 
quent assimilation, will help to keep the teachers of experience in the grades along the 
straight line of progress ; provided the superintendent, because of natural and acquired 
powers, is able to guide his own activity, and that of others, to direct and purposeful ends. 

Superintendent Arthur Powell, Marion, O. — A good course of instruction, 
correlation of work by teachers, and large common-sense on the part of the superintend- 
ent are the essentials. 



98 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION fChia*© 

Superintendent R. A. Ogg, Kokomo, Ind. — There is clanger of placing too much 
emphasis on the course of study — danger that the teacher will become " professional," 
and that the influence of her personality will be lost 

Superintendent F. Treudley, Youngstown, O. — There is danger of becoming so 
entangled in the school machinery that the womanliness of the woman or the manliness 
of the man will be lost. Men and women of rare culture and great spirit should be 
brought before the teachers. They should be led to study something besides the course 
of instruction, in order to liberate themselves from their own whims. 

President John R. Kirk, State Normal School, Kirksville, Mo. — Lectures by the 
superintendent the day or week before school opens in the fall are not likely to be very 
profitable. They are usually full of abstractions and platitudes which the superintendent 
has collected during the summer. Most of them are difficult to digest and impossible to 
assimilate. To the superintendent himself they may be very satisfying. To the teachers 
at large they are often nauseating in the extreme. The teachers sometimes listen respect- 
fully, because they cannot help themselves. Of course, I may be mistaken, but it does 
seem to me that the superintendents who have spoken here today do enormously exagger- 
ate the importance of their official dogmatizing before their teachers. 

Certainly all teachers should know what is taught in the grades above and below 
theirs, but the whole tendency of our time is against such knowledge. Each college 
professor devotes his life to his specialty and usually has little sympathy with anything 
outside of it. He is engaged in plowing out for himself grooves which sometimes hide 
him from the eyes of men. 

Teaching in one grade for several years has a strong tendency to circumscribe the 
horizon and destroy the versatility and the adaptability of the mind. We are all more or 
less creatures of habit. The longer we work in a single department or with a single grade, 
the more completely automatic we become, and the more largely our mental action passes 
below the plane of consciousness. So great is the tendency to specialize in the high 
schools and in specific grades that a great many excellent people become useless for any 
purpose excepting the work of their department or their grade. They therefore become 
almost as mechanical as the wheels in any other machine. In too many cases the chief 
business of the superintendent seems to be to make the machine as perfect as possible, 
regardless of the effect on the wheels. 

The summer school is the salvation of many souls that are pedagogically and academ- 
ically dying. The teacher in the grades should spend at least each alternate summer in 
such a school, refreshing and expanding the soul by actually studying out and reciting 
something in advance of former studies. It is sheer folly to suppose that anyone is hurt 
by summer work. The healthiest people are those who work in summer. 

Teachers in the grades usually suffer from an excess of stuff alleged to be pedagogy. 
They need the emancipation which comes from the habit of delving in fresh new knowl- 
edge. They need to be transferred from one grade to another about once every three 
years or oftener. Otherwise they are likely to become little more than automatons. 

Superintendent M. A. Whitney, Elgin, 111. — Teachers of grades should know 
the work of every grade. Specialization is detrimental to harmonious development thru- 
out grades. 

Superintendent F.'V. Hubbard, Redwing, Minn. — The Redwing schools are 
leaning toward specialization in the seventh and eighth grades. The teachers should 
vifcit other schools to get better views on their special lines. 

Superintendent John Richeson, East St. Louis, 111.— So much emphasis of the 
course of study tends to a loss of the feeling of personal responsibility on the part of the 
teachers. They want to shift it upon the superintendent. Specialization is a curse in 
the grammar schools. The teachers should be specialists only in boy study and girl 
study. Every teacher should be able intellectually to take any grade. 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 99 

Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass. — Many schools do not have 
supervising principals to unify the work of the teachers. How shall teachers be made to 
appreciate the work of grades above and below their own ? 

Superintendent G. V. Buchanan, Sedalia, Mo. — Teachers ought to know, and do 
know, each year's work. Teachers' meetings in the buildings in which the problems of 
all the grades are discussed keep teachers posted on the entire work. Revisions of the 
course of study are made with the assistance of a committee of teachers from all grades. 
Teachers visit all grades ; thus they keep in touch with the entire work. 

Superintendent McDonald, Henderson, Ky. — I secure courses of instruction from 
other superintendents and place them in the hands of my teachers for study. Teachers' 
meetings at which the methods of teaching single subjects are discussed are excellent 
for keeping teachers posted on the entire grade work. Teachers will benefit by being 
required to plan work for all the grades. 

Professor C. M. Woodward, St. Louis. — It takes more than a year to complete 
each year's work. Teachers sin tremendously in keeping children back who ought to go 
on. The ages of pupils in each grade ought to be published in our reports. 

Superintendent Aaron Gove, Denver, Colo. — Teachers ought to be very familiar 
with the work of all the grades. This discussion has dealt too largely with the machine. 
Temperament, beauty of character, and adaptability should be made the basis of assign- 
ment. The teacher with the temperament, character, and spiritual power adapted to small 
children ought to be teaching them, and her salary for such work should be no less than 
for a more advanced grade. Let us have less worry over the mechanical side and more 
attention to the spiritual side — the character side. 

Superintendent P. R. Walker, Rockford, 111. — Teachers should know the grade 
work fully. High -school teachers who do not understand what is done in the grades 
misjudge pupils entering their classes. Better results will be secured in every grade when 
the teacher knows the work of the preceding grades. 

Superintendent . George Griffith, Utica, N. Y., in discussing sub -topic No. 4 
said : I shall assume that my sub-topic covers all that we are wont to include under the 
expression good teaching, I exclude from special consideration the items of discipline, 
personal influence, loyalty, etc. The question thus becomes : " How shall we secure better 
teaching from those under our supervision ? " Next to that of selecting good teachers, 
this is the most important of a superintendent's duties. 

I shall presuppose that the superintendent is competent, is absolutely honest in his 
work and dealings with the teachers, has sympathy with the teachers and with the chil- 
dren in all he does, and has to some extent the power of inspiration. 

In order that we may bring, not simply a few, but all, of our teachers to a higher 
efficiency, three mediate results must be accomplished : (1) The right spirit must be gener- 
ated among the teachers collectively and individually. We must secure the wish to grow 
and the willingness to work for that growth. (2) Our teachers must be given the opportun- 
ity to know what better work is and how to do it. (3) Those not reached in other ways 
must be compelled to improve, or resign. The means for accomplishing these three 
results are as well known to you as they are to me. We differ mainly in the relative 
importance we attach to some of them. Allow me briefly to classify these means with 
reference to the above-mentioned three results, and to place my personal emphasis upon 
some of them. 

To bring into our teaching corps the desire to grow and the willingness to work, we 
need teachers' meetings of various kinds ; a professional library and some way to get the 
teachers to read it ; a chance for teachers to see, either in their own schoolrooms or in 
schools where they may be visiting, some really skillful" teaching ; and, lastly, the certain 
knowledge that improvement and superior work will be rewarded by promotion. 



IOO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION |Chicago 

Teachers' meetings are of various kinds and for various purposes. The kind to which I 
refer in this connection is for the entire body of teachers, is not too frequently called, and 
is addressed by some inspiring educational leader, like Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Dr. £. £. 
White, Colonel Parker, or President Draper (I speak of those we have had), or, on rare 
occasions, may be addressed by the superintendent himself when he has some living mes- 
sage to deliver. 

Visitation by the teachers to other schools is very important. If I were asked to 
name the one thing that, more than anything else, brought a new spirit of progress into 
our Utica schools, I would say that it was the visitation, by different teachers, of schools 
in other cities. It is cfae of the very best antidotes to the poison sure to come into any 
city school system by the policy of training and employing only local teachers. It 
endangers the complacency almost certain to creep into any system long continued under 
one management. Leave of absence without loss of pay should be freely granted teachers 
who will visit schools in other places. In some way the inspiration they thus catch, and 
what they thus learn, should be communicated, upon their return, to their fellow-teachers. 

Most of us and most of our teachers are human, and if there is to be a universal 
desire and determination to improve, there must be certainty of reward for the superior 
teacher. We should help our teachers to the better positions in our own city. We should 
help our best teachers to better positions in other cities. Do you say this course will 
lose to us our best teachers ? True. We lost eleven one year, and I am happy to say I helped 
nine of them to get these better positions. Our board of education knew I did it. I say 
to the board and to my teachers that I shall continue to do this. The board says that it is 
right, and immediately releases a teacher, or raises his salary, whenever he can do better 
elsewhere. Altho by this policy we lose some of our teachers every year, our belief 
is now well established that it puts all teachers on their best endeavors, pays in all 
respects, and is just. 

Among the means a superintendent may use for bringing to the knowledge of his 
teachers what better work is and how to do it, I mention teachers' meetings, study classes, 
professional reading, summer schools or institutes* illustrative teaching before the teacher, 
and visitation of other schools. I emphasize study classes and illustrative reading. With 
few exceptions, we have under our supervision a large number of teachers who have never 
had an opportunity for systematic scientific study of education, and many of them are 
anxious to do that kind of work. Now, if we as superintendents can unite such teachers 
into a class to take hold of the subject and study it week after week thru a year, we can 
do an incalculable amount of good. All these classes should be elective to the teachers. 
They join on their own option ; but when they have once joined, they are enrolled, the roll 
is called, attendance is expected so long as they belong to the class, and the preparation 
of lessons is expected. Such classes I have carried on in psychology, in child study, in 
methods in two or three common branches, and in the study of valuable educational 
books. I know my teachers have been helped by them. Let me emphasize that these 
are not the regular teachers' meetings, that they are not lectures, but that they are regular 
classes for study. 

There is a power and there is a danger in the use of illustrative or model teaching 
before a teacher as a means of increasing her skill. Nothing makes a direction or sug- 
gestion so well understood by the average teacher as to see it put into concrete form then 
and there. This should also be followed by discussion of what was done. This illustra- 
tive teaching may be done by the superintendent or principal in a teacher's room for her 
individual benefit, or by the superintendent or some teacher before a body of teachers as 
an illustration of principles or as a basis of discussion. Wherever it is done it has the 
power always attaching to the concrete. The attendant danger against which we must 
guard is that it may be done or received simply for imitation. Deliver me from the 
superintendent who sets a pattern when he should illustrate a principle, and from the 
teacher who adopts when she should adapt what she may have seen. 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS IOI 

What I shall say under my third head belongs, perhaps, more to the general topic of 
this round table than to my special sub-topic ; still I think it has legitimate bearing upon 
the lesser topic. Those teachers not reached in other ways must be compelled to improve 
or resign. We should deal with them frankly, in a straightforward manner, and with no 
shifting about at all. We should have plain talks with them. We should offer criticism, 
favorable and encouraging, wherever there is any work upon which to base such com- 
mendation. We should look for such things as we can justly praise ; but when the sum 
total of a teacher's work is decidedly bad, honesty to ourselves, fairness to her, and justice 
to the children should preclude us from leaving the impression upon the teacher that she 
is doing as well as she should. There will be some times with some teachers when we 
shall be obliged to say with all soberness : " That was poor work ; " or, " You are doing 
poor work. I want you to go home and think about it and then come and see me again ; " 
or, " You are doing no better than when I talked with you before, and I am forced now 
to the position of saying to you frankly that, unless there is improvement within a certain 
reasonable time, I shall be obliged to report you to the teachers' committee for dismissal." 
If this, added to all other possible efforts, does not bring the desired result, the time has 
come when I, as a superintendent, must realize my responsibility and save the little 
children who are helpless and almost hopeless in the hands of such teachers. How shall 
I do it ? I will tell you what I believe in doing, and what I have done time and again. 
I have put a recommendation in writing — in black and white — directed to the teachers' 
committee, recommending that such and such teachers' resignations be asked for, and if 
they are not forthcoming, that their places be declared vacant, for reasons which are 
definitely stated. " Now, gentlemen," I say, " the responsibility is no longer mine." I tell 
you, fellow-superintendents, that there are not many teachers' committees which will not 
feel, under such conditions, that your recommendation is based upon the right in the matter. 
They will take that written recommendation and will act upon it. I can talk to them and 
suggest, and even urge, such action, but frequently there is no action taken ; but when I 
put that recommendation into black and white, it will accomplish something. Such a 
course has definitely placed the responsibility, and there are few boards that will not take 
action. 

* 

A word in closing. I want to say that I would never dictate to teachers. I want to 
give the greatest possible freedom to my teachers. I wish them to study and think. So 
far as possible I wish them to be original in their methods. I do not want uniformity 
in my schools. The highest tribute I ever received to my work was when an able super- 
intendent said to me, after a day or two spent in my schools : " I have not found two 
schools alike." 

From this somewhat long, and I fear tiresome, inventory of ways of working to 
improve teachers in service, we must select and modify according to the conditions under 
which we work or the ends we would attain. Over and above all ways of working are 
the clear recognition by the superintendent of high ideals, well-digested plans for attain- 
ing the desired ends, and a never-failing determination to "get there.' 1 

SECTION B. 
LEADER — SUPERINTENDENT WILLIAM J. SHEARER, ELIZABETH, N. J. 

General topic: Grading for Efficient Organization in the Interests 
of Pupils. 

Superintendent Shearer, the leader, stated that the need of greater elasticity 
in grading and promoting was generally conceded. He quoted from data collected 
by Dr. Harris in confirmation of his position. He also called attention to the fre- 
quency of this general topic on the programs of the Department of Superintendence 
for a number of years back, as showing the deep interest in the 'question. He said that 



102 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

no single scheme should be adopted to the exclusion of all other plans, but insisted 
that, in all schemes, the individuality of the pupils should be given that freedom essen- 
tial under our American ideals. He stated the three essentials of a good plan of grading 
and promoting to be : first, accurate classification of pupils ; second, proper provision 
for reclassification ; third, a proper apportionment of work, with no specific assignment 
of a given quantity of work to be done in a given time. In closing, he urged that 
written examinations should not be made the basis of promotions. 

Superintendent E. M. Coleman, Fort Dodge, la., in opening the discussion stated 
that he had been requested to present the plan of grading and classifying that he had 
been using for the past nine years. In doing this, he wished to be understood as not 
claiming his plan as the only one, or as a perfect one ; but said that he had found it well 
adapted to the conditions under which it had been used. He also took occasion to give 
the credit to Dr. Harris, as it was essentially the plan of short intervals between classes 
used by the doctor in St. Louis some years ago. He recommended the plan for any 
school having eight grades below the high school. In the lower four of these grades 
three classes should be given to each teacher, and in each of the other four grades, only 
two classes. As the work of the grades is generally considered to consist of eight years' 
work, of thirty-six weeks each, or 288 weeks in all, these twenty classes would make the 
class interval about fourteen weeks, if the rate of progress of the slower or average 
pupils be taken as the standard. But the rate of advancement should be determined by 
the needs of the best and of the poorest in the class. That is, the work should be given 
as rapidly as the best of the class can maintain a strong standing in it, and not rapidly 
enough to prevent the slowest members of the class from getting a fair hold on the work 
being passed over. In actual practice this rate is found to be about twice as fast as 
when the effort is to have all, or most, of the class master the work the first time over. 
From this it appears that the rate of progress over the course reduces the class interval 
from about fourteen weeks, as given above, to about seven weeks. 

In order to protect the pupils who do not master the work the first time over, each 
class is turned back to the place in the course of study just reached by the next lower 
class,- at intervals varying in practice from six to ten weeks, and the work is again passed 
over at about the same rate as before. Tbis gives to the pupils who did not at first 
master the work the chance to take it a second time, while it is still fresh in their memo- 
ries ; and experience has shown that they profit greatly by this opportunity, as very few 
pupils under this plan are in a discouraged or indifferent attitude of mind. On the other 
hand, it is urged that the habit thus engendered of trying to do the best they are capable 
of doing changes many a so-called dull pupil into a strong pupil. 

As each class turns back to the place reached in the course of study by the class next 
below it, and then takes the work at the pace suited to the needs of the best and of the 
poorest, as explained above, it is an easy matter to provide for the very strong members 
of each class at the time of these reviews, by simply advancing them into the class that 
has reviewed back to meet their class. In other words, these strong pupils merely omit 
the review, and go on without omission of any of the work. The only difference that 
has been made with them is that they are now reciting with another set of pupils, where 
it may not be so easy for them to stand at once at the head of the class. In practice 
most pupils pass over the work at least twice. A great many of the pupils who 
were in the lower class of a room remain with the same teacher a whole ' year, while 
it is seldom that a pupil changes teachers more than once in a given year, if he starts in 
the lower class of a room. It is possible for a pupil to change teachers twice in the year, 
if he is in the higher class of his room at the opening of the year, but the number so 
doing is not as large as might be imagined, nor has it seemed to be seriously to their dis- 
advantage when it has occurred. 

The basis for determining the fitnes of pupils to advance is the judgment of the 
teacher in charge of the work. Written work may be given by her as often as desired, 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 103 

but it is never to be made the sole basis of promotion. It is not only what a child has 
done, but also what he can do, that should determine this question ; and it is sometimes 
simply a question as to where he will get the most good, even tho he has not attained to a 
satisfactory standard of work passed over. Some children should be promoted to the 
next work simply because they have done all they are able to do with the work already 
passed over. 

In closing, Superintendent Coleman said that he valued the plan more for the interest 
it develops in a school, and for the influence it exerts toward bringing out the best that is 
in a child, than he does for any capacity it may have for getting children rapidly over a 
given amount of work in a given time. 

Great interest was manifested in the discussion which followed, an*d the expression of 
approval of the principles presented was practically unanimous. A number of superin- 
tendents explained how they were reaching a similar result by plans varying more or less 
from the one outlined by Superintendent Coleman. 

SECTION C 
LEADER — SUPERINTENDENT T. A. MOTT, RICHMOND, IND. 

General topic: Correlation of High -School and Grammar-Grade 
Work. 

Superintendent F. D. Boynton, Ithaca, N. Y., emphasized the following points : 

1. By such correlation one year of time can be saved for advance work without 
increasing the burden of either teacher or pupil. This can be done by correlating the 
work of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. 

2. A better secondary program can be offered. The question is : Are we giving 
value received in our high-school work ? High schools should be distributed geographi- 
cally over the city and thereby brought nearer the masses. 

3. Pupils will come under the teaching of both men and women. He would advo- 
cate the employment of more men as teachers in the higher grades. Boys at this age 
should have the advantage of being taught by both sexes. 

4. The grammar-school program will thereby be truly enriched with the essentials 
of knowledge — Latin, French, German, English, with history. Enrichment of the 
grammar-school course has taken the form of additions instead of correlations. The 
problem before us is : How can we induce our pupils to continue their work into the 
high school ? He would give only a usable knowledge of geography ; would stop the 
study of English grammar early, and give an option in the seventh and eighth years in 
Latin, French, German, or literature. No subject in the public-school course is so impor- 
tant and so essential as history, and especially civil government. These should be put so 
low down in the course that the pupil will stay there until he gets them. They should be 
given him before he reaches the age at which he escapes the truant law. Manual-training 
and commercial courses should be continued into the high school. 

5. The financial problem outside the great cities does not present insurmountable 
difficulties. In the large cities the present grammar-school buildings may be used. 

Professor A. F. Smith, Kansas City, Mo., showed that seven years covered time 
spent in the elementary schools of that city, and eleven years the time spent in both ele- 
mentary and high school. 

Professor Daniel E. Phillips, Denver University, had canvassed various systems 
of schools, and strongly indorsed the position taken by Superintendent Boynton. 

Principal George H. Rockwood, Chicago, would look at a subject from the 
standpoint of the child and would not scatter the high schools. The question is, after all, a 
financial one. He spoke of a reaction in some schools against algebra and Latin in the 



104 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION r/Chicago 

eighth grade. He did not think that Latin in the seventh and eighth grades had accom- 
plished all that had been expected from it. 

Superintendent T. A. Mott, Richmond, Ind., described the working of the system 
in his schools. All seventh and eighth grades in the city are collected in one building, and 
work is done on a departmental plan. In one and one-half years pupils do a strong* 
high-school year's work in Latin and German. Parents elect whether pupils shall take 
Latin and German. Subjects such as algebra, etc., are well fitted for eighth-grade 
children. 

Superintendent Smith, Danville, 111., gave it as his observation and experience 
that pupils taking algebra in the eighth grade were not better prepared for high-school 
work. v 

Superintendent J. F. Keating, Pueblo, Colo., gave as his judgment that the 
work in algebra was not applicable to grade pupils, and could not be taken in grammar 
grades without anticipating the work of the high school. 

Superintendent Justin N. Study, Fort Wayne, Ind., gave his experience in 
two cities. The algebra work of the grades introduces the student to the work of the 
high school. He would have pupils get technicalities out of the way as early as possible; 
The testimony of high-school teachers is that algebra work well done in the grades is 
advantageous to high-school work. 

Superintendent Edward Ayres, La Fayette, Ind., stated that algebra is a sub- 
ject adapted to eighth-grade pupils. This is evidenced by the intense interest manifested 
in its study. It encourages pupils to enter the high school. 

Superintendent J. W. Carr, Anderson, Ind., said that courses of study must not 
be enriched by adding on. We must take out some of the things already in the course, 
if we wish to enrich it. Work in reading and language must be strengthened. All work 
must be done well, and children must have time to grow. 

Superintendent B. F. Moore, Marion, Ind., advocated the introduction of depart- 
mental work in the higher grammar grades. High-school and grammar-grade methods 
might be correlated as well as subjects. 

SECTION D 

LEADER — AUGUSTUS S. DOWNING, TEACHERS* TRAINING SCHOOL, 

NEW YORK, N. Y. 

General topic: Literature in Grades below the High School. 

Sub-topics: 

x. What knowledge of literature should pupils have before completing eighth-grade work? 

a. When should the teaching of literature be begun in the grades, and how organized so as to make it 
continuous, systematic, and valuable for knowledge; for power in appreciation, thought, and expression; and 
for the development of ideals, taste, and love for good literature? 

3. What material is needed, and how can it be made available? 

MISS MAE E. SCHREIBER, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, MADISON, WIS. 

The pupil who has studied literature in our public schools should leave the grades 
with a taste for good literature developed and the habit of reading formed. He should 
know and practice a method of reading which is right, natural, and practical, and which 
he can use after he leaves school. He ought to know how to handle a book, how to use 
an index, how to read to a topic, i. e., to read by skipping, taking only that which he may 
wish at any particular time. He should have some idea of the entirety of literature, 
because he has read a good part of the best literature. He should have a large body of 
information gained from literature ; not only that which has been used to vivify and 



Superintendence] ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 105 

illume his other school-work, but that which has thrown light on human life and experi- 
ence. His mind should have been awakened, his imagination quickened, and his 
interests so aroused that he is in touch with life around him. He should have been 
broadened by emotional experience, and have received a deeper insight and inspiration 
and uplift. Above all, he should feel that literature is not a thing apart from bis life, but 
that it has a message and a meaning for him. 

Does literature, as generally taught in our schools, do this for the pupil ? It does 
not. And the chief reason for the failure is due to the mistaken idea of what studying 
literature means. 

It is a mistake to believe that the study of literature is the study of the history of 
literature. To stuff the mind with biographies of authors and to memorize lists of 
books they have written is not to know the masters. To learn what others have said of 
literature will never cultivate the taste and judgment. 

The analyzing of a piece of literature till it degenerates into parsing and word- 
analysis is. not experiencing literature. It is taking the very life out of it. For, as 
Bates says : " The study of literature is neither less nor more than experiencing litera- 
ture, the taking it to heart and the getting to its heart." 

The study of literature must begin with the first day of school, and it must be 
followed broadly and intelligently during the entire school years. It must be a course 
which shall, first of all and always, recognize literature as a revelation of life, and that 
the study of literature should be the interpretation of the things of life. It must be a 
course which recognizes the child as a living human being, with a heart as well as a 
mind, and a certain limited body of knowledge, experience, and feeling with which to 
interpret life. This is the most vital consideration in any course, and is oftenest ignored. 
It must be a course which recognizes the joy of reading, and does everything possible to 
enhance that joy. It must be a course which recognizes interest as a determining basis 
for what shall be read, and which aims to develop certain interests which shall persist 
and shape the child's reading after he leaves school. It must be a course which recog- 
nizes the individual — that each child has many interests and many moods, and that all 
children have not the same tastes and interests. 

It cannot be a course in the accepted sense of the term as used in teaching today. 
There can be no laying out of so many pieces of literature to be read in so much time by 
each child, no regular examinations of the typical form. Under such conditions the study 
of literature will become rigid and lifeless — a name only. 

WHAT MATERIAL IS NEEDED? 

Examine courses in literature, and one cannot help but feel that in most cases they 
have been made out with no thought of the child. This is especially true in courses 
where only certain of the great classics are to be read. The great pieces of literature are 
those which have endured for all time, because they express the deepest insight into the 
realities of human life ; because they express the greatest emotional experience ; because 
they express the supreme triumphs of the imagination ; because they are the most beauti- 
ful. But that insight is lost upon him who has not had a broad experience with which to 
comprehend. That emotional stress does not thrill him who has not felt deeply and 
whose emotional nature has not been cultivated. That divine power of the imagination 
stirs not him whose imagination has not been trained'. And he is blind to that beauty 
whose sense of the beautiful has not been cultivated. That which a master has 
conceived only a master can completely comprehend. It took so much of thought, 
experience, imagination, and feeling to write the classics ; it takes just so much thought, 
experience, imagination, and feeling to fully comprehend. 

And yet we bring these classics to the child with his little world of thought, experi- 
ence, and feeling, and expect him to understand. The child gets very little out of the 
book that he does not bring to it — or, rather, it is not what he gets out of the book, but 



106 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION LChicgo 

what the book gets out of him. The child lives in the now. He demands the specific 
and the concrete. The literature of today is the expression of the life of today. The 
literature of today is filled with his life, and is quick with his blood ; and, because he is 
of it, it is easiest understood by him, and he must read this life into the literature. I am 
making no plea for the namby-pamby so-called juvenile literature, or, worst of all, the 
classics written down to children — I am not shutting out those of the great classics 
which in their simplicity and directness do appeal to the child-heart ; but I do say that a 
piece of literature shall be placed in any course of literature, not because it is the best, 
but because it is the best for the child. 

First on every list should stand books of inspiration — books which uplift the child 
by presenting higher ideals ; books which teach the love of the beautiful and of truth ; 
books which arouse sympathy, which teach the common brotherhood of mankind, and 
which draw him closer to the Father. 

There must be many books, on many subjects, and in many lines of reading, so that 
each child may find his own. There is no one piece of literature which will touch the 
lives and meet the needs of all children. He is to learn truth, not by one impression, 
but by many, each deeper and wider than the one before. Every new relation of the 
truth helps to correct, clear, and extend the meaning. Instead of trying to get the whole 
meaning at one time, and in any one piece of literature, read on, getting at truth in its 
different relations and deepening and enriching experience at the same time. 

The varied interests of our complex civilization demand that the man shall have 
many interests, and that he shall read widely. If our common school is to be a factor in 
this civilization, it must meet this condition. 

The teacher must have in mind that the children's reading must be well balanced. 
Fiction will always hold the first place, and rightly; but there must be poetry, essays, 
readings in science, travel, history, and biography. A child will not read profitably 
unless he is interested, and he can best be guided and led in his reading by means of his 
interests. The teacher must lead the child from the interests of today to higher and 
wider interests. Tho each pupil in a grade reads as his interests lead him, still at the 
end of the year he ought to have completed the circle of subjects. 

In all grades the teacher should read much to the children. It gives variety to the 
work, is often a joy shared, and enables her to bring to them literature they are not able 
to read for themselves. Memorizing choice selections should constitute a part of every 
course. 

HOW CAN THIS MATERIAL BE MADE AVAILABLE? 

The work in literature should be carried on in such a way as to teach the child how 
to read — how to interpret life. At the same time there must be a quickening and 
inspiring of the higher forces as we lead him into this world of imagination, of truth, and 
of beauty. 

Each form of literature has its special place in the expression of life, and each must 
be studied for the essentials. Poetry portrays the emotional side of life. It breathes the 
joys, hopes, fears, sorrows, strivings, and aspirations of humanity. It gives us the divine 
fire of genius, teaches us the love of the beautiful, swings us into the world of imagination, 
and encourages us to do and to be. Fiction portrays life on the social side as no other 
form of literature does. Social conditions, standards, forces, and conventions are 
revealed, and the problem of the individual life is worked out with full recognition of 
countless social influences. Essays and prose composition reveal the thought of mankind. 

The work will be essentially the same in character in all the grades, differing only 
in amount and degree as the children grow and develop. We study life in its social 
aspect, whether in real life or in books, by studying the things which make up life — the 
individuals as types, their appearance and dress, food, homes, occupations, amusements, 
education, and religion. And the work is the same, whether it be a little girl in the 
second grade reading to find how Agoonack lived in the cold countries, or you and I 



Superintendence! ROUND TABLES OF CITY SUPERINTENDENTS 107 

reading to get the life of the Eskimo in Nansen's latest book. We judge the character 
of a person by his appearance, what he says, what he does, what others say of him, how 
others feel toward him, and how he feels toward others, whether he be in real life or live 
only in the story-book. Thus the child makes his judgments on little Jarvis as we must 
on Abraham Lincoln. Actions in real life are judged by the results for good or evil ; it 
is the same in the story-book. 

There must be a gradual growth and development in the work thruout the grades in 
the demand for appreciation, and the power to discriminate and to judge. At first only 
recognition and appreciation, then comparison and discrimination, and finally certain 
judgments. 

Read first of all for the pleasure ; at the same time we wish the child to read thru his 
book into life. Try to make the great characters in literature real by dwelling on how 
they look, what they love, what they hate, what they say, what they do. Make them so 
real that bright, jolly Joe; sweet, suffering Beth; brave, loyal little Jarvis; generous, 
loving Timothy; and a host of others will come into the schoolroom and sit with the 
children and teach them and preach to them as the teacher never could. Bring to them 
children who will comfort them because of bitter experience shared — children whose 
weakness and suffering will make them sorry and leave them with hearts longing to help. 
Make real to the pupils men, women, and children whose experience they will share, 
whose nobility and sweetness will go into their lives, and who will fill them with a desire 
to be and a courage to do. Make human to them the dwellers in distant lands and times 
by studying the things which go to make up their lives. Ask for judgments on certain 
acts, and, as the children grow older and gain in reasoning power, consequences of 
certain acts may be traced, motives discovered, and generalizations made. 

A poem is a work of art to be admired, enjoyed, and felt. Music, beauty, imagina- 
tion, passion, insight, inspiration, and faith are the essential characteristics %i poetry. 
With children we cannot do much more than to get them to feel these. Our work must 
be to get them to give themselves up to these influences. Then often all we have to do is to 
get out from between the child and the master and let the child feel the divine fire of 
genius. Ask for passages, or poems, that the children love best, and almost always they 
will select those expressing passion, inspiration, insight, truth, and faith. Because they 
select these, be sure they appreciate in some degree. 

One of the greatest charms of poetry is the rhythm or music. Read it to them. Let 
them feel the music, and after a time they will find it varied — sometimes smooth and 
flowing, and again rough and broken ; sometimes light and quick, and again heavy and 
slow-moving. Reading a number of poems by a single poet, they will find there is 
a sameness about his way of singing; that Tennyson's music is varied, polished, and 
exquisite; that Bryant's music is deep, full, and resounding; that Riley's is dainty and 
light. 

That the children shall see beauty in the world around them, bring to them the beau- 
tiful pictures of nature which the poet has painted, so that they may learn to see with his 
eyes and love with his love — for who is so sure of the beauty of the world as the poet ? 
We can learn beauty only by seeing beauty. Not one beautiful picture, but many pictures. 
As the children look at picture after picture, comparing them with each other, and find- 
ing their counterparts in nature, they are learning to know the beautiful, and, because 
they know, to love the beautiful. Finally, after much reading and a grouping of the 
paintings about the poet, they will know him as a painter and share with him his love for 
the beautiful. They will learn that Tennyson sees only the beautiful in nature, and paints 
exquisite landscapes filled with detail ; that Scott's pictures are highly colored ; that 
Byron paints nature in her grandeur. 

In reading for thought it must be remembered that there are not only the mental 
processes necessary to the understanding of the facts, but there are further mental pro- 
cesses of relating and organizing. The aim should be to cultivate the power to grasp a 



108 - NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

piece of literature as a unit. That unit should be small with the young children, and larger 
and more complex as the child grows in thinking and reasoning powers. 

The first step is to get the general idea of the piece of literature — it may be a para- 
graph, a chapter, or an entire book; then the parts upon which the general idea is 
based. If descriptive, the things which go to make up the picture ; if narrative, the events 
which form the narration ; if argumentative, the points on which the author has based his 
arguments ; etc., etc. In seeing the relation of these parts to each other and to the gen- 
eral idea — discriminating, comparing, judging — the pupil is thinking with the author. 
The pupil has been using the knowledge he already has to interpret the new knowledge, 
but he ought consciously to bring up what he already knows on the subject, gained thru 
experience or previous reading. For instance, he has just read Carlyle's idea of a great 
man ; he compares with Emerson's idea as gained in previous reading ; also with Lowell's 
idea. These ideas, together with his own knowledge of great men, constitute his body 
of knowledge of great men, which he will use in gaining new knowledge on the subject, 
which new knowledge will in turn be compared with the old. 

Much of this reading will be cursory. Cursory reading does not mean skimming 
thru a book and throwing it aside with no future thought. It means rapid reading to 
get the pith and point, which implies skill in the right way of reading and in the u&e 
of books. 

As the pupil reads under our direction, selecting that which he enjoys, that which 
uplifts him, that which gives him new ideas of truth and beauty, comparing, judging, his 
taste is being cultivated. 

More and more writings may be grouped about an author till the pupils learn to know 
him as an individual thru his work : as the poet who looks at and paints nature so and 
so; as the man who sees men and women and understands human motives this way; as 
the man who loves that and hates this ; as the man they love because he touches their lives 
and has a sympathy and a message for them. 

The recitations should consist of reports on what has been read, and these reports 
should be mainly oral. It is not necessary that all read and report on the same piece of 
literature or on different books in the same subject. The recitation ought to be an exchange 
of impressions and feelings, a talking over of what has been found enjoyable, good, beau- 
tiful, and helpful. The pupil makes his report as a contribution to the whole, and stands 
ready to answer questions by his classmates and teachers ; to discuss with them what he 
has found ; and to compare his judgments with theirs. 

Thus all take part in the recitation, and attention is secured. Do not ask the pupils 
to report on everything they read. Many times the best report has been given with never 
a word spoken. The kindling eye, the tear, the laughter, the tense absorption, have told 
the teacher more than words ever could. 

This work cannot be done except by a living teacher ; one who reads life into litera- 
ture, and literature into life. 

Many a teacher is afraid of cursory reading. 'Tis something new in school. The 
"good old way" is so easy to examine and mark; the lesson can be exact. She feels 
more sure of herself, for that is the way she was taught. But how about the busy men 
and women, in their rush for a living ? What are they reading ? Those children with 
whom she spent ten weeks on Snow Bound? Do they read in the " good old way " ? 
They never imagined even then that it was reading — it was " literature." And when the 
last poem was analyzed and the last examination passed, they were thru with" literature." 
And the pity of it is, because it was so thoroly done, they have never opened their book 
since, and have a distaste for what they imagine is literature. 

But all men and women and children, no matter how busy, are interested in life — 
they are living it ; and with literature taught as an interpretation of life, skill gained in 
getting life out of books quickly and readily, a habit formed of reading, men, women, and 
children will turn to books for knowledge, recreation, and uplift. 



Superintendence] STATE AND COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS 109 

ROUND TABLE OF STATE AND COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS 
LEADER — STATE SUPERINTENDENT L. D. BONEBRAKE, OHIO 

General topic: The Consolidation of Schools and the Transporta- 
tion of Pupils. 

State Superintendent Alfred Bayliss of Illinois gave an account of the 
growth of the graded schools, and the decrease in number and attendance of ungraded 
schools. There are three hundred schools in Illinois reported as having fewer than ten 
pupils enrolled, and many of these have fewer than five pupils. He then reported on his 
visit to the centralized schools of northeastern Ohio. In Gustavus township, Trumbull 
county, 0., nine districts are consolidated. The actual cost for a year is #265 more than 
under the old plan. But the increase in attendance is so great that the per capita cost, 
$1.29, is less than the per capita cost of the separate schools. The increase in attendance 
was mostly of the older boys and girls, who usually leave the rural school for want of com- 
panionship. Green township had been in doubt in regard to the consolidation plan, so she 
watched and criticised her neighbor, Gustavus township, for two years, then changed her 
mind, and eight districts were united and a substantial six-room brick building was 
erected. There are now in Ohio twenty-three whole townships centralized, and many 
more partly centralized. 

County Superintendent O. J. Kern, Rockford, 111., was the second speaker. He 
had accompauifd'Superintendent Bayliss on his Ohio trip. He gave additional information 
concerning those achobls. Mr. Kern also gave the meeting the following list for further 
study of the subject: Bulletin 71, entitled "The Consolidation of Rural Schools and 
Transportation of Pupils," issued by the Department of Agriculture of Pennsylvania — 
address John Hamilton, Harrisburg, Pa.; report of County Superintendent O. J. Kern, 
Rockford, 111., on his visit to the centralized schools of northeastern Ohio ; report of 
Superintendent O. T. Bright of Cook county; report of the Committee of Twelve of the 
National Educational Association; Bulletin of Information No. 5, sent out by State 
Superintendent L. D. Harvey of Wisconsin. 

Mr. Gross, of D.e Kalb county, 111., presented some figures which showed the 
estimates that farmers were making of the cost of this plan. The cost, in general, is 
greatly overestimated, for in no case where it has been tried has the cost been materially 
increased. 

State Superintendent Frank L. Jones of Indiana gave an account of the 
results in his state, where centralization has been tried for eleven years. He gave as an 
illustratidn Webster township, where two wagons are used for transportation, and a high- 
school course of three years is maintained. The actual cost is one-third less than that of 
the separate schools. There are now in Indiana forty-four counties where pupils are 
transported. There are in that state 115 schools of five pupils or less. 

Professor A. J. Hutton, of the Whitewater Normal School, said that it is only a 
question of time until this plan will supersede our present system for rural schools. 
Educators can help by agitating the question and leading people to consider it. In 
Wisconsin the state superintendent of public instruction sent seven men thru the state 
to conduct institutes, and particular effort was made to bring this subject to the favorable 
attention of the farmers. The schools were visited, and many were found with only five 
to ten pupils present. Such schools were deadening to Jhe teacher as well as to the 
pupil. 

Superintendent A. B. Graham, of Ohio, who has had several years' experience 
in the practical working of his plan, showed how the sentiment of a board of thirteen 
men, who opposed the plan, gradually changed until all were united in its support. 



I IO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

State Superintendent J. W. Olsen of Minnesota wished to know the effect of 
this plan upon the character of the men chosen to act as boards of education. The 
common testimony from the states where the plan has been in operation for some time 
is that better-qualified officers are chosen. 

State Superintendent Barrett of Iowa reported that in his state there were 
forty-seven districts in twenty-five counties where the children were transported at public 
expense. 

State Superintendent Skinner of New York said that the rural -school prob- 
lem is the greatest educational problem of the time. In New York there are 3,500 
districts with an attendance of ten or less. In that state one district may contract with 
another for the education of its children. Last year 250 districts contracted in this way, 
and had better school facilities in many cases. The uselessness of the school of five or 
ten pupils was again emphasized. 

County Superintendent Nattrass of Lafayette county, Wis., told of a visit of 
an institute conductor to his county. He found sixty-four schools, each with less than 
twenty-one pupils. Superintendent Nattrass thought the people would generally favor 
the centralization plan if they thoroly understood it, and that the county superintendent 
should take the lead in presenting it to the people. 

County Superintendent Fanny G. Gies of Mower county, Minn., thought that 
the small village schools could often be used as a nucleus around which several rural 
districts might centralize. Other states are trying this plan. 

County Superintendent Bright of Cook county, 111., suggested that the county 
superintendent might give talks illustrated by stereopticon views, Showing conditions of 
various schoolhouses, good and bad, and introducing pictures of the centralized schools. 

Statk Superintendent W. T. Carrington of Missouri said that in his state 
the rural districts were centralizing around the village and city schools. 

State Superintendent T. T. Tynan of Wyoming showed that his state was 
still too sparsely settled to make centralization a practical plan. 

Division Superintendent M. S. Stone, of the Philippine Islands, was then intro- 
duced by the chairman. He, in a few words, interested his hearers in his work, and made a 
request for help in obtaining for the Philippines teachers who represent what is purest 
and best here. The following are the requirements necessary for those desiring to teach 
there : they must be normal or college graduates ; they must now be engaged in educa- 
tional work ; they must be physically sound and able to withstand the tropical climate ; 
they must be willing to take whatever position is given them ; they must expect to teach 
three years in that country. 



ROUND TABLE OF TRAINING TEACHERS 
LEADER — MISS ISABEL LAWRENCE, ST. CLOUD, MINN. 

General topic: Observation of Experts as a Means of Training — Its 

Value and Limitations. 

Miss Sarah C. Brooks, St. Paul, Minn., opened the discussion by saying that a 
young, undirected teacher is apt to observe merely the superficial aspects of a lesson — 
chiefly discipline and success or non-success. 

Professor J. S. Gaylord, State Normal School, Winona, Minn., argued that under 
certain circumstances observation may be very helpful, and gave his plan for conducting 
the same. This led to a discussion of the various plans for conducting observation. 

The general opinion seemed to prevail that observation without careful direction by 






Superintendence] NEED OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION 1 1 1 

the training teacher is in the main wasteful of time. Observation by outlines was criti- 
cised as being somewhat too mechanical. On the other hand, it was argued that definite 
directions are necessary, but that these outlines should be varied in character to suit the 
needs of the student observing. 

Mr. Gaylord suggested a plan of sending a student to observe a lesson with the pur- 
pose in view of telling or dramatizing in the psychology class what takes place on the 
part of both child and teacher. This report is to induce careful, concrete observation 
and a sympathetic attitude on the part of the observer. Objections were made to his 
plan on the ground that the teacher observed may be displeased with such a method. 

Miss Hughes, London, England, spoke of the necessity of observation of children 
as well as of teaching. Speaking of her training school in England, she said that the 
student teacher was required to give a party to her class before beginning to teach it. 
" Unless she is fit to play with her class, she is not fit to teach it." 

The relative amount and time of observation and practice was thought to depend 
upon conditions. A teacher may observe so poorly that she needs to teach in order to 
know what to look for in a lesson, and a student may teach so poorly that her class must 
be taken from her and observation required. 

Dean James E. Russell of Teachers College, Columbia University, said that he had 
no use for a perfect model school ; that student teachers learn to teach in a practice 
school ; and that experienced teachers are incapable of getting good from the observation 
of perfect teaching. 

Professor Dimon Roberts, of the Normal School at Ypsilanti, Mich., suggested 
that at least half of the teaching in a normal training school should be done by the 
regular critic. 



THE NEED OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION 

SUPERINTENDENT JOHN KENNEDY, BATAVIA, N. Y. 

In our little town of ten thousand inhabitants we have been for two 
years and a half carrying on an experiment in individual instruction 
which has interested us very much, and which I hope may interest you. 
The value of the experiment is minimized much by the shortness of the 
time and the narrowness of the scope. Possibly your wider experience and 
trained discernment will detect at once weak spots that have hitherto 
escaped our observation, and destroy the illusion under which we have 
been laboring. But we shall part with the illusion with some regret, for I 
assure you that it has been a very pleasant one. The pathway of experi- 
ment is not usually thru flowery meadows and vocal groves and by purling 
crystal streams. It is more likely to be suggestive of burning deserts and 
flinty heights and polar snows. 

We have been experimenting with individual instruction, not as a 
substitute for class recitation, but as a supplement to it. No one can 
appreciate more fully than we do the value and benefit of recitations. 
The fundamental and vital defect of mere tutoring is that it fails to give 
the many-sided stimulus supplied by a class. The very existence of 
schools argues that that mode of education has failed. The salient 
weakness of the district school is its inability to form and maintain classes. 
But we are beginning to recognize in the district school a very favorable 






112 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

feature in the opportunity which it affords for getting directly at the 
individual child and teaching him from the standpoint of his immediate 
personal needs. The tribute which we are all constantly paying to this 
feature of the district school is a virtual concession on our part that some 
teaching needs to be done at close range. Our experiment seems to be 
driving us to the conclusion that these are not necessarily distinct and 
contrasted forms of education, that they are not two kinds of education, 
but that they are two necessary phases of one sound, productive form of 
education. We have not been led to regard any part of our educational 
machinery as obsolete. On the contrary, we are more grateful than ever 
for the entire framework of education made ready to our hands. 

We drifted into our experiment. We began it because we could not 
well help ourselves. We continue it on the ground that when a good 
thing comes to us it is folly to throw it away. We will drop it when we 
are convinced that it is wrong ; when we find that it is a delusion and a 
snare. We will drop it when we cease to feel that it is bringing health 
and happiness to our children, our teachers, and our homes. We will 
drop it when we cease to feel that it is doubling the most desirable results, 
and at the same time taking all the killing pinch and strain out of education. 

But you doubtless wish to know what it is that I am talking about, 
and I will hasten to tell you. Prior to two and a half years ago we 
always divided an overcrowded room. We then had a room that we 
could not conveniently divide. We were compelled to handle all those 
children in that one room. It is perhaps needless to say that no com- 
pulsion would have induced us to commit the crime of keeping the 
children together if the room had been a small one. We made our 
experiment because our rooms were large enough to justify it. But for 
the spaciousness of the rooms, I doubt whether the experiment would ever 
have occurred to our minds. If any general or permanent good is to 
come from the experiment, the credit will be due to the broad-gauge men 
who planned our central school building nearly thirty years ago. 

We put into our overflowing room an extra teacher, and then, with 
clear consciences, bade it flow on. We wanted neither a Babel nor a 
silence produced by two conflicting sound-waves, so we directed the 
second teacher to do only a silent work, and to do it with individuals in 
accordance with their needs. Her instructions were quite as laconic as 
those which sent Dewey to Manila Bay. Her instructions were to find 
the weak spots in the room and make them the strong spots, and to do 
this in such a way as not to disturb the established work of the room. 
We were vaguely conscious of doing a good thing. But it was largely 
an arrow shot at a venture ; it was a mode of escape from a cul-de-sac. 

We passed thru much perplexity before we saw how to use two teachers 
in one room. Plan after plan was brought forward and successively 
demolished by the strong practical judgment of the board of education. 



Superintendence] NEED OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION 1 13 

When the present plan was suggested it was unanimously hailed with 
delight and voted in at once, accompanied by this epigrammatic remark 
from the president of the board: "That is not only a revelation, but a 
revolution." He saw at a flash a form of educational work that is abso- 
lutely free from every fierce criticism that has been discharged at the 
graded-school system. No charge of overpressure and overstrain could 
be made against such a system, and no charge could be made against it 
of riding children down. No charge of cruelty to the slower minds 
could be made against a system that had made such ample provision for 
rescuing them from their difficulties, their perplexities, their sorrows, their 
despair. No charge of keeping bright children marking time and losing 
their interest in education could be made against a system that provides 
systematically for getting all the drags moved forward on to the most 
advanced line. No charge of overstraining teachers could be made 
against a system that brought special relief to the very points where the 
killing strain came in. No charge of destroying the health of teachers 
and children could be brought against a system that provided systemati- 
cally for the elimination of worry and despair. A system that could send 
the children home to sleep and let their parents sleep was not to be 
attacked on sanitary grounds. And I am informed by some of our 
medical men that our revolution came just in time to ward off such an 
attack. We got out of a practical difficulty by thinking our way out. 
We felt that we were right, and anticipated great things. But what we 
anticipated was but a small part of what we have realized. 

I do not know how it may strike the general educational world, but 
with us it is a revolution. I doubt whether we shall ever again divide an 
overflowing room. We have not done so up to the present time, at least, 
tho no less than five rooms have in the interim required relief. We 
thought we learned many things from putting that individual-instruction 
teacher into that first room, and they all seem good things — blessed 
things. When the Roman Campagna is made as salubrious as the shore 
of Lake Lucerne, the transformation will not be greater nor more aston- 
ishing than seemed to us the change in the whole' atmosphere of that 
room.' Sweetness and light will scarcely express the influence dissemi- 
nated by that teacher who came in there to minister to the exact needs of 
those identical little children. And, before she knew it, the other teacher 
was transformed into a ministering angel -also. There came over her fea- 
tures an unwonted serenity ; her voice took on an unaccustomed note of 
sweetness ; we actually found her beaming on the children that she had 
been hitherto nagging and scolding. The room flowed on, and the very 
woman that had been an the verge of hysterics with forty -nine was throw- 
ing the broad mantle of a mother's love over seventy-eight. And they 
were all precious in her sight. Nor was her case singular. It was quite 
typical of the tendencies of the old work and the blessedness of the new. 



H4 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION [Chicae* 

We have had no occasion to be stern or exacting, or to make fierce 
demands on the children and their parents, since we could not divide that 
room and start another storm-center. 

The irate parent is now almost a thing unknown. Indeed, the bene- 
diction of the parents was one of our earliest, and continues to be one of 
our sweetest, rewards. They say that the change in our work has brought 
sunshine into their homes; and in saying this I report to you their 
language, not mine. No more wretched children bringing home their 
arrears of school-work to worry them into illness and to disseminate 
wretchedness and illness thruout the household. No more sharp col- 
lisions on the question of discipline where the overwrought teacher 
has gone just a little too far, and where the overwrought parent was 
keenly sensitive to what seemed at least unkindness, if not manifest 
injustice. All is now serene. Every teacher's presence is now a bene- 
diction ; and no couch at home is any longer the reclining place of rest- 
less or feverish sorrow. m 

But we got at once something else from our experiment besides hap- 
piness. And it is wonderful what capacity for happiness children do 
reveal. But when they are warmed up, it is wonderful what a capacity 
they show for other things besides happiness. We found that happy chil- 
dren have a capacity for thinking and learning. " Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings cometh instruction ; " that room of little people, 
when apparently properly organized and conducted, taught us to put on 
sackcloth and ashes for some of our past misdeeds. We have all heard of 
the father who directed the boarding-school authorities to buy his daugh- 
ter a capacity when informed that she lacked it. But we think we 
have found a better way than that. Just put her into the incubator of a 
room supplied with individual instruction, and ere long you are likely to 
find that you have on your hands a Sappho, a Cornelia, or a Vittoria 
Colonna, instead of a Nicholas Nickleby's child-wife. We think that we 
have learned that a slow mind is likely to be merely a chilled mind. It 
just needs warming up a little. If we read our experiment aright, you 
don't need any special promotions nor short grade intervals to keep the 
brighter pupils from marking time. Just warm up the slow ones, and 
they will put the quick ones onto the "double-quick." 

We have seen this done in scores of instances. And it is so satisfac- 
tory to be able to keep your little troops and companies and regiments 
together. We are not ready yet to assert that absolute uniformity of prog- 
ress and attainment may be secured in the children of a grade. But we 
are ready to say that such an approach to it may be secured as to render 
reclassification almost unnecessary. We are prepared to say that very 
many apparently hopelessly dull pupils may be intellectualized, and that 
a school may find its master-minds coming up out of that class. - And 
where master-mind comes up out of that class, it is almost Sure to come 



Superintendence] NEED OF IN DIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION Ii5 

with a pre-endowment of master- character. We have seen the most 
astonishing awakenings where there had been the most hopeless drag- 
ging. We are now moving our grades forward in something like solid 
phalanx, and we think that marking time has almost ceased. Our former 
grade lines were very much askew, and we used to keep snipping off the 
leaders and slipping them into the grade beyond. We still find individ- 
uals who need to be replaced, but they are becoming rare exceptions. 
The lines have become tolerably well rectified ; there are no longer the 
extremes of irksome waiting or crushed despair. 

Our experiment in the two-teacher rooms has left us nothing to be 
desired. The arrangement seems ideal, and the effects and results seem 
to us marvelous. We have yet many rooms in which there is but a single 
teacher, because there are in those rooms pupils enough for only one 
teacher. We are not so rich nor so foolish as to put two persons to doing 
the work of one. Each of our rooms will doubtless have a second teacher 
when the number of pupils will make a second teacher necessary. Mean- 
while we varied our experiment so as to introduce individual instruction 
into our one-teacher rooms and into the classes of our high school. This 
we have done by stopping half the recitations and devoting half the reci- 
tation periods to individual instruction. And the results compare very 
favorably with those obtained in the two-teacher rooms. 

It will be maintained, no doubt, that the power is in the teacher rather 
than in the method. And in a measure this is true. It was David who 
struck down Goliath, and not the sling. It was the Theban formation, 
however, that struck down the hegemony of Sparta. Epaminondas won 
by creating and perfecting his instrument. It was the Macedonian devel- 
opment of the Theban phalanx that changed the history of the world. 

The work of the needle-gun and the ironclad battleship is fresli in our 
mind. The whole military world is watching with feverish interest for the 
appearance of the next empire-maker. The "whole commercial world 
stands ready to abandon all its machinery. Competition must have the 
latest instruments. And so will the mere necessities of competition com- 
pel new moves in education. 

Aside from the great matters of life, health, character, and happiness 
that are involved, I do not think that pure class-teaching or mass-teach- 
ing can reach educational results at all comparable with those reached by 
the due combination of class and individual instruction ; and this I say 
after experience with both forms of school -work. Teachers wear out only 
where they are doing the inferior form of work. We have not had time yet 
to see what percentage of a primary class may be carried to the threshhold of 
the high school and to the door of the college under the combined stimu- 
lus of class and individual instruction. We have had time, however, to 
ascertain what percentage have desires and hopes, and even expectations, of 
reaching the high school, and it is a very large one. We have had time 



1 1 6 NA T10NAL EDUCA T10NAL ASSOC! A T10N [Chicago 

to see even now a most remarkable congestion taking place in our high 
school. Our high school has increased 30 per cent, in the past year, 
whereas one-fifth of that rate would more than cover the increase* in the 
first primary grade. Of course, there is a limit to such disparity of 
increase ; but it would seem to show that we are restoring some normal 
conditions that had been previously disturbed. It makes us believe now 
that, if education is to be a pyramid, it will be like that of Cestius by the 
Ostian gate of Rome, not all on the ground, but shooting its sharp and 
shapely and nearly vertical triangles far into the upper air. But even 
more noticeable than the increase in numbers is the improvement in the 
work of the students and in the general esprit de corps We have less and 
less demand for easy courses ; and every test shows the advancing stand- 
ard of scholarship. 

This increase and rehabilitation of our upper stories must be in 
response to some beneficent law; and " How far can it go on ? " is the inter- 
esting question now before our minds. How do we keep our children ? 
Partly by keeping them well ; partly by encouraging them ; partly by 
training them to put forth the shrinking effort of latent powers. We no 
longer nag them ; we no longer mortify them ; we no longer pile upon 
their poor discouraged hearts the intolerable mountain of our impatience. 
We no longer punish misfortune ; we go down to it, take it kindly by the 
hand, and bring it forward. And we reap the reward of a school system 
flowing at the top ; we reap the reward of wholesome labor free from all 
violence, pinch, or strain ; we reap the reward of a new lease of life ; we 
reap the reward of a conscience void of offense ; we reap the reward of 
comfort, growth, and popularity; we reap the reward of seeing our school 
the fountain of happiness, vigor, and enterprise. 

It might seem at first glance that individual instruction would produce 
dependence. In fact, it produces the very reverse, and tends constantly 
to its own elimination. It is only the equity of education, not its law; 
it is but a special means of relief wherein class- teaching, by reason of its 
universality, is deficient. It is my opinion that this equity of teaching 
should be provided for the whole period of youth and adolescence, 
extending into the second year in college. 

It is one thing to promote a movement ; it is quite another thing to 
force it. Force is always ready for violence. Nor can we successfully 
force our ends against the Creator's laws. We can force catastrophe and 
mark our pathway with ruin. Davy Crockett's advice would save us all 
from a great deal of worse than wasted force : "Be sure you are right, and 
then go ahead." 

From an experience of three years with individual instruction as the 
supplement and corrective of class -teaching, I am compelled to look upon 
it not only as a great educational departure, but as an imperative humani- 
tarian reform. 



Superintendence] NEED OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION 1 1 7 

DISCUSSION 

President J. F. Millspaugh, State Normal School, Winona, Minn. — I am inter- 
ested in this very attractive movement. My attitude, however, is one of questioning. 
The reader of the paper has fallen into the danger of presenting extremes ; he has given 
2 view of the very best in one system and the very poorest in the other. 

The many excellencies in the system presented may come from good supervision and 
a strong teaching force. They may be due in large part to the spirit of the teachers and 
to their desire to contribute to the welfare of the children. The presentation just made is 
strong because it does not seek to destroy the present class system, but to supplement it. 

I think the scheme, however, not the wisest that could be devised. It proposes that 
the amount of individual instruction should be equal in amount to class instruction. 
There is danger of loss here, danger that the teacher will give instruction when it is not 
needed. One of the evils of our public-school system is that our pupils are overtaught. 
There is so much of development of topics, so much of explanation, that pupils are weak- 
ened. What is most needed by pupils is habituation to industry — a disposition to 
overco.me difficulty. Children should not fall into the habit of neglecting even difficult 
duty, nor be deprived of those experiences which put iron into the blood. If instruction 
is given where it is not needed, it is vicious in its tendency. 

Another objection to the system proposed is that special buildings must be con- 
structed for this purpose. Few towns have buildings with rooms fit for this scheme. 

I believe also that that is a most fortunate district which finds teachers of such tem- 
perament that two can be placed in the same room without incurring some danger of 
friction. From these and other considerations it would seem that some modification of 
the plan would be advisable. If, for example, a small number of pupils of the. same 
grade were placed under one teacher, she could alternate class instruction and individual 
instruction, with the result that each would reinforce and not subvert the other. 

The methods and the system set forth in the paper have much in them to admire. 
It is a misfortune that many of the attempts to remedy evils in the public-school systems 
have taken the form of attacks. Mr. Kennedy has been wise in refraining from such an 
attitude. 

President G. Stanley Hall of Clark University. — This is the most important 
question that has been discussed at this session, and the most important of the questions 
now before the educational public. I have recently read the manuscript of a new book 
by Superintendent Search, of Holyoke, Mass., in which he sets forth his views on indi- 
vidual instruction, with which you are somewhat familiar. Years of experience have 
seasoned the views of Mr. Search, and his present discussion is not without merit. It is 
utterly impossible to interest anybody in the feasibility of that scheme who is interested 
in the mechanics of our school system. Our mechanism is well-nigh perfect, and many 
give much time to still further perfecting it. We have reached a standpoint in our 
knowledge of the child where we can say that a change in the mechanics of our schools 
must be made to suit his needs. 

The question of individuality is a vastly important thing, and we need to realize 
more the misfortune of retarding the better half of the child. There is an inspiration in 
this kind of individual work. And inspiration in teaching, a passion for teaching, is a 
great thing in the teacher. 

There is also a financial argument here. A woman guided by her divine instinct is 
far more effective and worth more money for being so guided. Individual instruction will 
tend to bring this out in the teacher. 

All that amounts to anything in my work is not in lecturing, not in class effects, but 
when I sit down in my study and talk with a single young man, and there move upon 
him. Tho I may not know of the fruit, it is a blessed privilege to feel that the seed so 
planted will grow. 



1 1 8 NA TIOWAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION [Chicago 

I wish to express a fundamental conviction. Without losing anything that is good, 
we are to see a radical transformation in our school-work thru more service to the indi- 
vidual child. The lines followed by the party of order are good, but no less glorious is 
the work of those who are guided by the idea of the importance of the individual. There 
is one compass that always points toward the pole of human destiny, and that is the 
developing of the individual child up to its highest maturity. When this new time arrives, 
we shall have less mechanism, but we shall have more of the thing that inspires the 
teacher who gets into close contact with the individual child. That is the supreme end 
to which everything else will be subordinated. 

Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb, Lowell, Mass. — I have had an experiment in 
individual instruction forced upon me. The city of Lowell is a mill town, having about 
twenty-five thousand operatives employed in its factories. There is annually a great influx 
of foreigners. The laws of Massachusetts provide for the maintenance of evening schools, 
and Lowell has conducted such schools for a number of years. The present enrollment 
in our evening schools is 2,000. Many of the attendants are illiterate ; some can read 
and write a little. Individual instruction has been the invariable rule in these schools 
for a long time until recently. Each teacher was charged with the instruction of ten or 
fifteen pupils. He would go from pupil to pupil, giving aid where he could ; but if the 
pupil was very illiterate, he was, of course, unable to do anything or to make use of any 
suggestions, and, being tired from his day's work, would put his head down on the desk 
and go to sleep. 

When I began to investigate the instruction there I proposed that, if the teachers 
would teach two pupils at once, they would get around twice as fast. The teachers 
answered that no sort of classification was possible. However, an attempt at classifica- 
tion was made. Pupils who could work together were put together. The result is that 
the instruction in the evening schools of Lowell has been entirely changed. No one will 
be found asleep there now, but interest and enthusiasm predominate. There has been a 
doubling of efficiency by putting pupils together. This is my experience with individualism. 

State Superintendent Delos Fall of Michigan.— I believe the time has come 
to abandon the idea that has grown up around the recitation — the teacher on the plat- 
form wise, the pupil down below docile. My thought is this : The recitation hour is but 
a continuation, under better conditions, of the work hour ; the platform is banished, the 
teacher is on & level with the pupils, so that the work that has just preceded the recitation 
shall be enlarged upon and impressed. The teacher is not to conduct the recitation in 
the ordinary way, but is to stimulate the pupils to continue their work under better con- 
ditions than the preceding hour. 

Superintendent Thomas M. Balliet, Springfield, Mass. — We have passed from 
the extreme of the county school and the city graded school to get rid of the bad features 
of individual instruction. We are now engaged in establishing transportation of pupils 
in order to improve still further in this direction. The two extremes have been presented 
by Mr. Whitcomb, against which the reader of the paper has made a protest. The need 
of individual instruction can be reduced by reaching the individual thru class instruction. 
What we need today is far more oral instruction than we now have. We have done much 
to check mere talking in the recitation. Instruction now is not oral teaching ; it is talk- 
ing. True, oral teaching consists in having the matter of the lesson arranged methodi- 
cally in the mind of the teacher, presented in an artistic way, and the child held 
responsible. It is no use for us to talk about Herbartian methods unless we can get 
away from book-teaching and this aimless and endless talking. 

The fault of the grammar-school and high-school teacher is that he is not master of 
his material. Our normal schools are responsible here. They are weak in that they turn 
out a half-dozen primary teachers who are well prepared to one well-prepared grammar- 
school teacher. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 119 

Teachers do not map out a scheme, but follow the text-book instead. With effective 
oral instruction there will be fewer pupils who will fall behind the class. Oral instruc- 
tion will put the teacher in closer touch with the child, and a waking up will result. 
There is no nation on earth where there is so much dependence on books as in America, 
and no nation where books aie so good and so well prepared. We need books, but pupils 
most be prepared to use them. The way to prepare to use a book is to train pupils to 
think in the subject which it presents. 

I agree with President Hall that we ought to take care of the bright boys and girls. 
One disadvantage of the public school is that it does not provide for the bright pupils. 
The whole machinery should not be given over to the benefit of the dull pupils. I would 
have two kinds of grammar schools — one of them industrial for those pupils whom such 
a school will most benefit, and one for bright pupils where the study of modern languages 
is begun, and where pupils are so fitted for the high school that they will save a year or 
two of time in the high school. 

Grammar-school work should be differentiated and district lines should be abolished. 
This is not undemocratic. Democracy consists, not in taking care of the poorest ones, 
but in providing for every class — the best as well as the poorest. 

Such a plan as I have outlined will solve a number of questions — among others, the 
introduction of high-school studies into the grammar school. To introduce into all 
schools what is fitted for only a few schools is always unsatisfactory. 

Superintendent Kennedy closed the discussion. He said, in answer to the ques- 
tion, " What is done with the extra teacher ? " " She looks after individual pupils, finds 
the weak spots and the strong ones, too." In answer to the question, " Would one extra 
teacher in a six-room building solve the question ? " he said : " I should prefer to have 
the regular teachers care for the work in a small building." Replying to the objection 
that two teachers in a room may not get on harmoniously, he said : " The teachers we 
have co-operate and work together in perfect harmony." Continuing, he said : " Indi- 
vidual instruction is not synonymous with help, but it is the kind of help that brings out 
the faculties of the pupil." It had been said during the discussion that care should be 
taken in classification to provide for the bright pupils. Superintendent Kennedy replied : 
1 " We are liable to be mistaken as to who the bright pupils are." 



A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY FOR ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOLS IN CITIES 

SUPERINTENDENT R. G. BOONE, CINCINNATI, O. 

The prevalent unrest concerning courses of study is a hopeful sign. 
Some things have perhaps been settled; a good many others are yet 
subjects for controversy. What things shall be taught ? In what pro- 
portion shall each be employed ? What is the best, that is, the most 
profitable, sequence of topics in each for the uses of the school ? What 
are the really essential subjects, and what are the possible ones which 
may be used at the option of the teacher or the principal of the school ? 
What are the subjects that have highest educational value, and what are 
chiefly valuable for training or giving a coveted skill ? To what extent 
should the latter be acquired thru working with the former? Can they 
be so acquired ? 



120 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

• Such are a few of the questions that must occur to everyone inter- 
ested in arranging or interpreting a course of study. I am asked to 
submit for the consideration of this body "A Standard Course of Study 
for Elementary Schools in Cities." Of necessity it must be more or less 
of a skeleton, an outline, a form to be filled in by the respective schools 
with some regard to local conditions. 

Having in mind what was done by the Committee of Fifteen, and 
using such familiarity as I have with the school systems of a score of 
the larger cities, and the contemporary movements of cities of smaller 
size in a dozen states of the middle and central West, the following 
theses are submitted as conditioning a "standard course." 

THESES 

i. Because of (a) the manifoldness of science and the rapid increase 
in the sum of knowledge, available as instruments for instruction, and 
(b) the better equipment of teachers, courses of study in the future may 
safely and wisely be less prescriptive and more suggestive. 

This is the first of the three distinctively characteristic points in the 
recommendations of this paper : that a course of study cannot easily be 
made, as it might once have been, narrowly prescriptive as inventorying 
a number of things that must be taught. In the multitude of knowledges, 
it would seem reasonable to suppose that at any given stage in a class 1 
attainments there will be available a considerable number of approaches 
to the understanding and skill and interest of its members, which may 
be selected as the school exercises, and used somewhat indifferently; each 
serving the teacher's purpose, tho some may be used to better advantage* 
than others. 

2. The successive stages in the child's growth, however, and the dis- 
tribution of work among the several grades in a given system, will prob- 
ably always require that the sequence of steps in the course should be 
somewhat rigidly prescribed and adhered to. 

This cannot, without danger to children, be made a matter of indiffer- 
ence. With what ideas a course in geography, for example, should begin, 
and how the successive steps should follow each other, how or by what 
mental process they articulate, and how the child-order or empirical 
sequence is or should be modified by the logical relations of the ideas, 
are questions to which the accepted course of study must be taken as the 
answer. A course of study, therefore, is primarily an attempt to select 
from the various threads of interest in the child's environment, that will 
appeal to him thru his growing years, that one in each branch which is 
likely to be most effective in his maturing. 

This is a crucial test of a course of study — the fact and principles of 
a right succession of lessons and exercises in any given subject. It is 
easy to compile a list of topics to be followed thru eight years in history, 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 121 

or thru . three years, to prepare the way for a text-book study of geog- 
raphy, or a nature-study group, or an elementary-science course for the 
grammar grades, or a primary course in literature ; but to agree upon a 
sequence in any or several of these, or in others that will occur to you — 
a sequence whose following by the school will affect individual power, 
and an integrated interest, and fix the habit of a logical use of experi- 
ence — requires scholarship and right training in both the maker of the 
course and the teacher who is left to execute it. 

3. In all important branches, for each step in the course there should 
be provided co-ordinate topics of like grade, any one or a minimum 
number of which may be used as the prescription for the class, at the 
option of the teacher and the principal. 

There would thus be arranged for each grade co-ordinate studies in 
history for a given class, co-ordinate topics in nature work or science, 
co-ordinate readings in literature, individual options among construct- 
ive exercises, etc. 

This I submit as the second distinctively characteristic point in the 
recommendations of the paper. 

In geography, for example, there is the double purpose of teaching : 
(a) the years of study shall leave the child with a reliable and fairly 
complete knowledge of the earth as the home of man and the occasion 
of his gradual elevation ; and (d) it shall serve to cultivate in him a 
keen and stimulating geographical sense. This is accomplished, not in 
any one grade, nor by any exhaustive teacher, but by a group of children 
or by a single child, in their progress thru the years. Something is 
accomplished each term, and each successive term or year adds to the # 
notion or picture acquired, or clarifies the fine sense of personal inter- 
est. But at any given period, for either purpose, different topics and a 
different succession of exercises upon them may be chosen and profitably 
pursued. No two rooms having the same grade need follow the same 
sequence or use the same lessons, tho they may be working upon the 
same constituent elements of the subject. Indeed, the same teacher 
may strengthen her work by changing in successive years both the list of 
lessons and the sequence of exercises in which the lessons are pre- 
sented. 

As the thesis recites, a minimum number of these co-ordinate topics 
will constitute the prescription in that subject for that grade. Which 
topic should be chosen of the possible topics for that grade at that time 
may be determined by the attainments, the personal and social furnish- 
ings of the members of the class ; by the abundant or meager equipments 
of the school ; by the qualifications of the teacher; by the local social 
and recent or current educational biases of the neighborhood, or by the 
preferences of the principal ; or by a composite of all of these influences 
combined. 



122 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

What is here said of co-ordinate topics in geography, might, with- 
out other change of wording, be applied also to the studies in history 
for a given class, to nature work or science, to readings in literature, and 
to constructive exercises. The work in elementary history, civic and' 
social studies, story, myth, biography, and art, furnishes pertinent exam- 
ples. Here, again, the school has a twofold aim : (a) to make the pupil 
fairly acquainted with the forces and achievements by which the race has 
risen in civilization, or by which it has gone into decay; and (d) to arouse 
and direct the native history sense. 

If the particular idea to which the interest of children is to be 
directed be the civilizing and culturing influence upon the race of tool- 
using and mechanical invention (and this may be very profitably begun 
as early as the second or third school year), it can be approached and 
exemplified by a study of the mechanical tasks of some primitive people, 
their unaided handwork, the crude products and poor service, and few 
home and personal comforts, and the low plane of life, as compared with 
others better situated ; or the study may begin with a more developed 
people, whose life is easier and richer; or it may find material for the 
same study in the comparison of the commercial products and social 
conditions of their own time and community as revealing skilled or 
unskilled labor. There is little preference, per se, in any of the three 
orders. The first may be better suited to certain conditions, the second 
or third to others. But a course of study would fail of its purpose were 
it confined to a single prescription, or to follow, for successive years, the 
same unvarying order. 

4. These co-ordinate topics, in sequence thru the elementary course, 
would form so many possible series, in a given subject, any one of which 
might be followed according to the preference of teacher or principal, 
or as might be made necessary by the equipments of the school, or the 
character of the contributing population. 

This will appear most clearly perhaps in the course in literature. 
The major series may be fixed by the series of books adopted for reading 
texts ; the readers proper ; or a series in history ; or a series in collateral 
geography readings; or one in descriptive and appreciative nature 
stories; or a line of art readings; or a line of standard fiction; or 
classical and modern biographies chronologically arranged; or master- 
pieces in literature suited to the several ages. Not all of these certainly 
can find a place to any large extent, in any one school, for all pupils. But 
children would learn to read, and to read appreciatively, and have room 
for a growing literary sense, by following any series named. The last 
surely should not be neglected; but any one of the remaining series 
might, without serious mistake, be made the basis of the reading course, 
and be supplemented by readings from such of the others, or so many of 
them, as time and the furnishings of the school will permit. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 123 

5. Except in certain formal subjects, perhaps, each series should be 
continuous thruout the elementary-school years.* The continuity of all 
lessons thru the several years of a child's school life is itself a means of 
education. 

Lessons in all human interests, personal, social, and institutional, 
home life and occupations, the forces and institutions of culture, religion, 
art, conventionality, and government, should be begun in the earliest 
years, and be fairly connected for the entire elementary-school period. 
These exercises may be, for some subjects, daily thruout the course, for 
others daily for a shorter period, and less frequently thereafter, as the 
importance may seem to make advisable ; but interest in them should be 
kept up thru the years. 

The same observations, in a general way, would be pertinent of geog- 
raphy, nature study and science, mathematics, literature, physical train- 
ing, music, drawing, etc. 

6. While a minimum amount of work in one or more series of each 
grade should be required of all, additional studies as voluntary work, in 
others series in the same grade, should, within generous limits, be not 
only permitted, but encouraged, both to individual pupils and to strong 
classes. 

This thesis is submitted as a third distinctively characteristic recom- 
mendation of the paper : that voluntary work, pertinent to the course for 
the year, but additional to the prescription, be, within generous limits, 
not only permitted, but encouraged. 

One is educated effectively, chiefly, by what he does from his own 
initiative. Home work that is required by the regulations of the school, 
and which is measured into the day's school record for a standing, and 
failing of which one may fail of a passing grade, may be only nauseating. 
Home work or other out-of-school work, or extra exercises during the 
school period, done for love of the work and with the purpose of accom- 
plishing a specific result, whose only "must" is one's own interest and 
intelligent determination, is educative beyond anything — any other best 
thing — the school can do for the child. The wise teacher or principal 
will learn how to give such voluntary work due recognition and as much 
credit as may seem deserved. 

The course should suggest more books in reading for each step than 
the class can use, more reference texts in history and geography and 
travel, more literary masterpieces and kindred writings, more observa- 
tions of nature and experiments and investigations in science, more con- 
structive exercises, than school conditions make possible. 

These voluntary contributions, if intelligently made, should be almost 
as various as are the children themselves. They will include original, 
and perhaps very simple, studies among living forms, natural -history 
collections, constructive uses of natural forces, the manufacture of toys, 



124 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

* - ^ — -   , M m - - - - . _ __i i j  i   

machines, and useful articles, the conducting of simple experiments, the 
reading of books along collateral lines, free-hand or mechanical drawings, 
painting, carving, modeling, musical composition, original calculations, 
observations and reports upon particular social or industrial conditions, 
the growing and care of domestic or wild animals or plants, experimental 
gardening, the training of animals, and such like. But whatever the form 
or importance of this supplementary effort that results in some voluntary 
performance, the product and the personal power should be utilized in 
the school, to reinforce what the pupil is doing by assignment, and to 
make clearer the connection between the school and the non-school life. 
The course of study must be so flexible, and be so free from mere 
prescriptions, that due recognition may be made of these voluntary offer- 
ings. 

7. Such training exercises as current conventionality requires (lan- 
guage, social and business forms, contemporary local institutions, codes 
of right behavior, etc.), or such as the culture of the times demands, 
should be carefully prescribed and mastered. 

8. The course as a whole, and, as far as applicable, every series thru- 
out the several years, should provide exercises for both interpretation 
and use, for understanding and expression, for perception and con- 
struction. 

It need not be argued here that no process is complete as an act 
of experience that does not in some way finally round itself out in 
use. Whether it be knowing one's letters, or distinguishing the right, or 
understanding a civil law, or comprehending the calculations of bridge 
strains, or seeing the meaning of a literary paragraph, or finding the 
elements of a work of art, or following the reactions of a chemical 
process, or interpreting the steps in a scientific experiment — the process 
falls far short of its full promise unless the letters are used freely, the 
right is lived habitually, the law is intelligently obeyed, similar calcula- 
tions of bridge strains become necessary and. are made, something of the 
beauties of the literary paragraph and the work of art is worked into 
one's own life, the chemical process be directed and the scientific experi- 
ment controlled with a purpose. 

A course of study must therefore provide exercises involving con- 
struction and use, not less than understanding and appreciation. The 
doing may follow the knowing, and always does follow close upon more 
or less of understanding what is to be done. Aimless doing is no more 
profitable than do-less knowing. Or the knowing may follow or accom- 
pany the doing and be enriched by its reactions. 

In history and literature, not less than in mathematics and science, 
problems may be set, and investigations started, and comparisons inspired, 
that will call knowledge into use, and afford reason for the exercise of 
more or less of free skill and resourcefulness. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 125 

Manual training will be elsewhere considered, and should be made 
a part in one form or another of the elementary as well as secondary- 
school course. 

9. At every stage in the course, and daily, exercises should be pro- 
vided for sight, or impromptu, or unprepared work; and these exercises 
should be such as, on the one hand, for purposes of training, are easily 
within the pupil's skill ; or, on the other, for purposes of education, 
challenge his understanding. 

To be able to meet the exigencies of life as they arise, often strange 
and unannounced, one must, at some time, have had practice in using 
what knowledge one has in stock in meeting exigencies. To work out 
at the moment an unprepared lesson which the teacher has been careful 
to see lies fairly within reach of the pupil's experience, reinforced by a 
reasonable resourcefulness, and to have fixed a habit of so doing by 
repeated tasks of facing the unfamiliar, prepares one for meeting diffi- 
culties in subsequent employment and conduct, as the most liberal 
knowing alone cannot do. 

Of course, if the purpose be to cultivate skill in training, many 
processes using familiar steps in new ways will need to be employed. 
Hence supplementary texts for sight reading should be chosen for 
their easy words and simple form. There should be much singing of 
familiar music, and easily intelligible scores, and often -recurring melo- 
dies, if facility in using musical notation be desired ; the frequent 
employment in drawing of the common elements of form and perspective 
and grouping in the efforts to express graphically the sense of mani- 
fold forms and combinations; practice in putting into the choicest 
language familiar conventional intercourse ; and repeated interpretation 
of more or less familiar geographic phenomena, where some minor factor 
is new. 

But, for purposes of education, where powers are put to the stretch 
and the judgment must go prospecting, unprepared tasks must be occa- 
sionally set, less obviously of the nature of what is known, to challenge 
the understanding and put the wits to test. Here effort and resourceful- 
ness count for more than answers and a finished product. But answers 
and a product should be reached. It is no re-citation, but a new use of 
old citations, that is wanted. It means the construction, from old material, 
which is at best little more than raw material, of a new set of experiences 
organically related after the maker's own patterns. These exercises must 
be such, indeed, as to challenge all of the pupil's resources. Not how he 
is able to pass an examination simply, involving the answer to catch 
questions and the resolving of improbable situations, but how he can 
interpret real difficulties of limit and right and responsibility and physical 
law and civic interest and fine-art influences and the personal life, is the 
test of his progress in learning and manliness. 



126 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

This requirement and the voluntary work mentioned in the sixth the- 
sis are of vital importance, and cannot safely be left to the options of 
indifferent and often immature teachers, but should be provided for in 
the adopted scheme of instruction. As supplementing the course pre- 
scribed, which is to be or may be made the basis of the school's system- 
atic instruction, let there be added, as suited to the attainments of pupils, 
for each class, a carefully graded and suggestive list of real problems — 
practical problems, gathered from the science of the day ; the economic 
life ; travel and geography ; civic and political movements ; more or less 
obvious forces that are modifying contemporary history ; current manners 
and customs; primitive life and habits, involving an explanation and 
investigation of their origin and decline ; literary and art products and 
their interactions, industrial movements and the incident social and 
domestic conditions, and such like. 

These would be rather for the pupil's use than for the teacher's, and 
constitute the voluntary collateral of the course, the free interest in which, 
by pupils, will be a most satisfactory mark of good teaching. 

10. The ideal to be kept in mind should aim at a distribution of sub- 
ject-matter thru the course, rather than reference to books merely. Indeed, 
Theses i, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 would make this necessary. The book in most 
upper grades would come to be a text for a topic, possibly for an entire 
grade in that subject, but not necessarily, not probably, for different 
grades or for different rooms or classes of the same grade. 

The last requirement, however, should, even in the extremest form, 
permit the use of books officially adopted as texts upon which to base the 
class consideration of subjects. 

The book would then count for not less, but more ; or, rather, books 
and things and men and human action and achievement and physical 
forces and phenomena would be co-ordinate as stimuli to the mind and 
the raw material of experience. The book must always fill a large place 
in all formal schooling, and should. But much independent doing and 
observation and the shaping of knowledge to one's own uses, and helps 
to an original initiative, should be added. And the course of study must 
not neglect either because the other seems so important. Indeed, a 
course based upon texts may very properly be greatly shortened. A 
course fixing the distribution of subject-matter, rather than making 
assignment of book exercises,- would be more extended, less specific, 
liable to much misinterpretation, and subject to distortion by incompe- 
tent teachers and supervisors having strong biases. But even so, it is not 
the text that is to be taught. The movements of nature, the doings of 
men, the life of institutions, the art product, the constructive process, the 
social intercourse, the economic relations — these, not what somebody has 
said about them, only or chiefly, are the means of mental growth and per- 

 

sonal enlargement. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 127 

This connection of the day's lessons with the science of the books, 
not the books of science ; with history in the making, now or then, not an 
indoctrination into someone's views ; with real literature rather than a 
scrap-book manual or anthology ; and with the business and customs of 
actual life rather than with arbitrary forms that fit to no business — such 
connection of the day's lesson is both vitalizing as a means of education 
and usable when books are laid aside. The school should connect with 
life not less than with the records of life. The school years should be a 
period of training for participation in this life on the highest plane of 
personal and public efficiency. 

11. As far as the exigencies will permit, all arts of expression should be 
connected with, and grow out of, the (school and non-school) interests of 
the children in real knowledge and their use of it. 

This thesis needs but little comment. Only its relation to the outline 
course makes its introduction here pertinent. The very term " expres- 
sion" implies experience to be expressed. The experience must be the 
child's own. Experience for him means, not what has come to him thru 
the senses, but what he has brought thru senses ; not what he has heard, 
but what he has assimilated; not the temptations that besiege him, but 
those he has embraced ; not the perceptions, but the apperceptions ; not 
life barnacled onto his, but the life he has domesticated. Of such experi- 
ence only can he talk or write or draw or sing or carve or paint. And 
when such impressions have been brought into his life, or assimilated, or 
embraced, or apperceived, or domesticated, he will be able to talk and 
write and draw and sing and carve and paint. These will then become 
for the pupil forms of real expression ; not certainly fine arts, of necessity, 
but modes of setting himself forth, for which the school should make 
abundant provision, and the school course take formal recognition. 

12. For children in our public schools to fix an acquaintance with, 
a habitual use of, and adjustment to, the requirements of American 
civic and social life should be a constant and leading purpose recognized 
in the course of study. 

The traditional course of study for elementary schools in cities makes 
little of either history or civics, or similar subjects; the rural-school 
courses even less. Recent movements have been toward the story and 
biography, the myth and primitive life ; and gradually the instruction is 
becoming more comprehensive of human relations and more systematic. 
But in many schools, even yet, the efforts include scarcely more than the 
story, often mechanically told and with doubtful meaning, for the earliest 
years ; moralizing thru biography for the two or three intermediate 
grades ; and a text in history — United States history — introduced into 
the seventh or eighth grade, sometimes both ; with more or fewer lessons, 
often scrappy and generally technical, upon government and civil rela- 
tions, and almost no simplest attempt to lead the child to find himself in 



128 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION [Chka* 

the great stream of race and individual effort ; or to equip him so that, 
as a man, he will certainly find himself an intelligent part of these human 
groups. 

The course here suggested assumes that an acquaintance with our 
American civic and social life, and the habitual use of that knowledge, 
and the power and disposition to adjust one's self to its requirements, 
should be a concern of the teacher for every pupil. This instruction 
should begin in the first school years, and without break, tho not of neces- 
sity daily, and much of it is as an incident of the schoolroom life, and the 
home and street and market experience ; continue thru the elementary- 
school period, the text-book consideration, the historical story, the study 
of primitive peoples, classical myths, the literatures of different periods, 
colonial and frontier life and customs, the development of industries, the 
change in moral standards, the origin and readjustment of local and 
national institutions, the fine-art reference among different people and 
under varying conditions, popular rights and responsibilities and their 
improvement, and the marvelous economic and material progress of the 
contemporary nations ; being woven into one whole of interest and char- 
acter for the child, who is to take his place as a citizen, who has responsi- 
bilities as well as rights, and who may reasonably claim from the schools 
a fair equipment for his task. 

Such studies, too, lay the foundation for the true civic character. It 
calls for no contention here that this involves more than a knowledge of 
the forms of government, the provisions of constitutions and charters, 
and acquaintance with official duties. Civic relations are citizenship rela- 
tions ; the place and functions and privileges and duties of subjects, not 
less than sovereigns ; public and neighborhood support of law and order 
and decency; and the equal citizenship right of protest and petition that 
makes for the common welfare as well as the stability of the state. From 
the child's earliest familiar intercourse with neighbors and strangers, 
officials, dealers, teachers, physicians, companions, friends and enemies ; 
from his first acquaintance with the post-office and city administration, 
and public policing and conventional order, and family rights and the 
place of the church, and the meaning of the school, he has been gather- 
ing the experience out of which must be organized the notion of his civic 
life. This is not something that must be left until . he takes up a book 
upon civics or the constitution or political order, but should be treated as 
the atmosphere in which the school life of lessons and restriction and 
command goes on. A right inventory and sequence of these human- 
istic lessons must make up one important part of the course. 

13. As a means of cultivating alertness of mind, and manifoldness of 
interest, and a familiar use of the causal relation, exercises in interpret- 
ing, enjoying, and using nature and natural forces should be prescribed 
thruout the course. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 129 

This does not at first, or of necessity, mean science — organized 
knowledge of nature; but acquaintance with the physical world of 
aggregate phenomena, of which some do, and some do not, appeal to the 
growing child, but the door to which may be opened that shall give every 
material happening an interest to the observant among children. The 
teacher should see that if a child have a habit of following up his thread 
of interest in something, anything that appeals to him strongly, so that it 
be something real, the bent of mind is already fixed for the larger interest 
that embraces all of nature. 

If the school be really interested, the material can be found. Every 
phase of nature undertaken should be investigated in part, and in as 
large part as the circumstances of the school will permit, where this phase 
of nature is native. Study the plant where it grows and as it grows ; the 
animal alive and at freedom, watching its habits and behavior ; the soil 
in the midst of its soil surroundings ; minerals in their ores and housed 
by the sheltering hills ; coal in its fixed deposits ; snow, ice, and rain, and 
the conditions of their forming ; seeds in their germination and growth ; 
insects as they pass thru their several stages ; crystals in their self-shaping ; 
vegetation in the process of decay; streams at their work ; the disintegra- 
tion of rocks and the making of soils ; and whatever nature does, at its 
doing. Free opportunity for field excursions should be provided for and 
made as much a part of the instructional machinery as are books and les- 
sons and schoolroom exercises. Where it is possible for the small chil- 
dren in cities to have a corner of the yard for a school garden, for the 
growing of plants and trees, not much may be done with plants and 
trees, but the result with the little ones will be worth all of the trouble. 
Make use of the home garden, if there be one, of house plants at home 
and at school, of public gardens and parks, home and personal pets 
among animals, zoological collections, choice pictures, and specimens 
of materials — presenting as nearly as may be their natural surroundings 
and growth and uses. 

If the result coveted were mere information about nature, such an 
arrangement would not be possible, certainly not practicable. But if the 
purpose be to cultivate alertness of mind, an abiding interest in one's 
surroundings, and a habitual taking into account of the causal relation 
among happenings, the uniformity of subject-matter in lessons becomes 
less important. 

Use each season for what it can be made to do for the pupils, and the 
integration of experiences will take care of itself. 

14. Of mathematics for the elementary grades the course should 
include the simple number and form lessons for the first year or two, 
used incidentally; the four fundamental processes of arithmetic, with 
important applications, up to and thru the seventh school year ; and the 
elements of algebra and constructive geometry in the year following. 



150 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The reader of the paper is not unmindful of the disciplinary uses of 
a mathematical course ; but it seems altogether probable that these 
advantages or their equivalent may be secured by an arrangement that 
gives less than one-third of the school period to the work, and which now 
too often comprises little else than the most mechanical tagging in the 
wake of a memorized and ill-understood rule. The mastery of the sim- 
pler number and form lessons, and facility and accuracy of calculation 
under the fundamental forms, come now thru the use of number and 
form and calculation as needed, not thru the solving of possible tho 
improbable problems, assigned because they are difficult and tax the 
logical ingenuity. 

Magnitude and multitude relations should be constantly used with all 
experiences to which size, form, and number are applicable. The con- 
nection should be seen to be a natural one, and the need for their use 
apparent. The necessity for accuracy; ideas of proportion and magni- 
tude relation ; the studies of force, and the changes in matter and form 
and size ; the work of the natural forces in earth and air and sky and 
among animals and plants ; in mechanics and invention and human 
achievement; in personal and domestic economics, will make sufficient 
requisition for calculation and the quantifying of experience to give 
abundant practice. The lessons in logic will then have familiar experi- 
ence upon which to work. * 

15. Thruout the course, language as a means of expression, and lan- 
guage as a means of interpretation, must receive constant attention ; both 
uses having recognition from the earliest years, the former predominating 
in the primary grades, the latter gaining in importance relatively with 
the advancement of pupils. 

Thruout both the earlier and later years of the course, however, far 
more than the usual attention should be given to training in expression 
by the voice. All must talk, and should be encouraged to talk, and the 
school should fix the habit of talking well — not eloquently, nor oratori- 
cally, nor of necessity rhetorically, but effectively; with confidence, as one 
who has a message ; intelligently, as one who has reflected upon his 
speech ; skillfully, as one who has been accustomed to talk at his best. 
The home cannot do this for the child, and the street will not do it. 
It is one of the great burdens laid upon the school. 

Reading aloud for its own sake is perhaps less important than was 
once thought ; but for its influence upon one's speech it is both power- 
ful and discriminating among all the means of training. The silent 
example of the teacher is great. She should be both an appreciative 
reader, thoughtful of the effect of her reading, and careful of her daily 
speech. But the school, as a purposeful instrument of education, should 
make her personal and professional intercourse among the children a 
training in right habits in these particulars. 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY I3 1 

But more important than this power of strong and authoritative 
expression, much as it means in a free neighborhood democracy, is a keen 
insight into and appreciation of the meanings and niceties af language as 
heard and read. To make boys and girls good listeners, and masters of 
the printed page, to the end that they are made possessors of the wealth 
of the world's best thought and skill and science, is an achievement to be 
coveted, by the teacher for the children and by the children as their 
legitimate claim upon the schools. The course of study must take daily 
into account this need of children for an appreciative sense of the bes^t 
literature suited to their attainments and their ideals. The library must 
be made more and more a factor in accomplishing the" school's pur- 
poses. That there are libraries is not sufficient. The teacher must see 
to it that the libraries are rightly used ; and they must be where they 
can be so used, or so administered thru the school's co-operation, that 
the riches of the shelf are used to good ends. What is learned in the 
class-room is forgotten ; but the books remain, and new ones are pub- 
lished hourly ; and the sharp, fine sense of joy over a new thing, or an 
old one well said, is an abiding power that makes for all sorts of 
righteousness. 

1 6. In a similar way, drawing, writing, music, manual work, etc., have 
their primary use as a means of expression, and should be freely drawn 
upon to reinforce the language exercises — talking and reading — but 
should look toward fine-art appreciation in their respective domains as a 
fuller later development. 

The • pictures which primary children sketch do not mean much as 
pictures. They are generally crude ; they are not certainly works of art. 
They are not very successful as forms of expression. The label or the 
context only saves some of them from being meaningless. But as a mark 
of effort to express the real perception of the child they are eminently 
successful. They are improved as the thought takes on more definite 
shape, and as the mind's control of fingers and tools is surer. The habit 
of expressing one's self so is of more significance than the artistic finish 
of the product or the skill in the process. A like observation may be 
made of writing. What system is used is relatively unimportant. Three 
results may fairly be sought : (a) easy legibility ; (b) a clean, attractive 
page ; and (c) so much facility and rapidity as the uses of writing require. 
It is no more important that children write alike or uniformly than that 
they draw alike, or speak with the same movement and intonation, or 
walk with equal stride, or use the same solution of a problem, or note the 
characteristics of a flower in the same order, or use the same phraseology 
in their essays. If a boy have the artist's instinct for that sort of work, it 
will be discovered, and should be recognized ; but why must we expect 
all others to pattern after his greater skill ? 

Concerning manual exercises it only remains to be said that there are 



132 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

two or three reasons why, in cities, these in some form or other should be 
included as a part of the regular prescribed course. 

(i) As was mentioned under Thesis 8, no experience is complete 
until it has been rounded out in some form of concreted product. Man- 
ual work is an attempt to realize in material form what the mind has 
discriminated. No course that omits this can well be made to serve 
the child fully. In the present day the deficiencies are only the more 
noticeable. 

(2) A second reason for including manual training in the common- 
school course lies in the fact that it serves to retain many children of both 
sexes in school, who would and do otherwise leave their studies as soon 
as the law allows. 

(3) A third reason is incident to these two. Constituted as society is, 
and fitted to labor as is man's estate, every child is in need of a training 
that shall fasten upon him the manufacturing habit. I trust that my 
hearers will generously construe this last statement in the light of what 
has heen said elsewhere, as a context. But if there were no other reason 
than this for the prescription of manual training, as a part of the elemen- 
tary-school course, for most children under fourteen years of age, the 
result would justify the means. 

But drawing, music, and manual work have in common another, and 
doubtless a higher, function to perform in schooling. In the words of the 
bare thesis, they should ail look as their fuller or later development 
toward fine-art appreciation in their respective domains. For most chil- 
dren of any community the schools must be held to do this rather than 
the home. The best pictures, in reprints at least ; the best statuary and 
casts ; the best architectural illustrations ; the best specimens of fine print- 
ing ; beautiful works of mechanic art ; examples of fine products of nature 
— trees, flowers, landscapes ; the best musical compositions , and dramatic 
representations of superior artistic and historical merit ; the best available 
examples of excellence in platform and pulpit, speaking, and in public 
reading, should, as occasion offers and the resources of the school will 
permit, be kept before children of all social classes, and, in all natural 
connections with their work, called consciously to their attention, in such 
way as to furnish standards, of superior achievement, cultivate a familiar 
interest in them, and a habit of enjoying them. While the primary func- 
tion of these arts may be to strengthen the pupil's expression, and aid 
him in utilizing his experiences, much may be done, even with the young- 
est children, in facing them toward excellence in their own efforts. And 
this is the true fine-art reference, as I take it, for the improving child. The 
school must see to it that whatever is best and finest in nature or art is given 
a place in the child's experience. It softens the asperities in a life that, for 
most of them, is stern enough at best ; it transfers the center of interest 
and concern from self to some "other" that lies in the outside, larger 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 133 

universe; it raises the plane of living, by raising the plane of enjoyment, 
and dignifies all human purposes. Thru learning to love the beautiful 
anywhere there is cultivated a sense for beauty elsewhere. Drawing, 
music, reading, the bodily carriage, social intercourse, the exercise of 
authority, and mechanical skill are exalted above the level of mere doing, 
to doing at one's best. All of which is on the way to fine art. 

17. Thruout the years of childhood there should be systematic and 
carefully graded instruction upon the nature and functions of the body 
and the bodily organs, the conditions of health, and the physiology of 
exercise, sleep, eating, etc.; and the purposeful daily practice of simple 
physical exercises and hygienic rules for sound, vigorous bodies ; to the 
end that a habit may be fixed of intelligently and regularly caring for 
these things. 

Here, as elsewhere, men know enough of what ought to be done, but 
the years of training ia the right way have been too few, or the instruc- 
tion has been desultory or perfunctory ; while the ignorant practice of 
the wrong way has been all but constant. The right care of one's body 
is no exception. 

That health may be preserved, and the years of productive life length- 
ened, and the sum of happiness increased, is reason enough for carefully 
ordering a system of instruction in, and practice of, the best-known prin- 
ciples of private and public hygiene. The course, including daily exer- 
cises in one or another form of the subject, should continue thruout the 
elementary period. 

18. As a corollary to what has been said in former paragraphs, it 
remains to be stated that such a system of purposeful teaching as is out- 
lined would be partial in its results and incomplete in its scope, unless 
the kindergarten for children from four to six years of age be made an 
organic part of the system. 

That the kindergarten has not been universally commended by school 
people, and is not now, requires no extended statement. Children so 
started upon their school career do not readily adjust themselves to a 
rigid "must" and "must not" order of deportment. Their behavior is 
often not "good" as measured by the standards of quiet prescribed in 
many schools. Even for their age they take fewer things upon mere 
authority .than do those who have entered at once upon book lessons. 
They are more restless under restraint. And if that restraint be arbitrary, 
they are likely to resent it. But all of these are qualities that show pro- 
test against needless forms of behavior and manifold directions from the 
teacher. The kindergarten, if it be a sensible one, has laid the founda- 
tion for a wise self-initiative that the schools often fail to reach, and for 
an intelligent alertness that the schools have generally repressed. It has 
given deftness of finger and the manufacturing impulse. Things are 
worked with, combined, and made up into new forms, often after the little 



134 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

one's own design, and self-helpfully. It has cultivated resourcefulness 
and paved the way for a many-sided interest in the subsequent school 
years. It has fixed the habit of reasonable social intercourse, and the 
considerateness that marks the behavior of the gentleman or lady. To 
the kindergarten-trained child the constructive exercises of the grades 
makes a natural appeal. Simple hand-work in the primary years, sloyd, 
and carving and sewing later, and tool -work in the grammar grades, 
follow in easy succession. The kindergarten furnishes an excellent pre- 
paratory training for these constructive exercises. 

Moreover, the argument should not be ignored that without these two 
kindergarten years the most responsive period of a child's life, educa- 
tionally, are neglected. Almost no home in this busy day in cities can 
give the little one just the attention he needs. Certainly not the house- 
hold of those where both father and mother must spend ten to twelve of 
the child's waking hours at their own tasks ; not in the house of the rich 
and leisure class, where the little ones are largely left to servants ; nor 
yet in the hovel, whose adult members are often indifferent. 

Besides, the kindergarten is organized to generate just those qualities 
of mind and life for which books and the formal lessons of the school 
are, theoretically, employed to secure to the child : clean lives ; habits of 
industry and honesty; vigor of mind and body; joyous, hopeful, aggres- 
sive boys and girls. 

DISCUSSION 

President A. S. Draper, Champaign, 111. — We have just heard a very carefully 
prepared document by Dr. Boone, a past master in pedagogy. The paper teaches the 
importance of freedom in schools and flexibility in teaching. 

I should like to ask if there is anything that should not be undertaken by a school. 
How much of the course presented in the paper may the child safely undertake ? Too 
much attention is being given to standardizing courses of study. The teacher of the 
grade below should not have to give too much attention to the work of the grade above. 
More attention should be given to the teacher and the quality of the teaching. More 
attention should be given to pupils* temperaments and environments. Too little attention 
is being given to what a child may easily do in our schools. 

Teachers in cities are asked to do more than they can do well. The teacher's work 
should look to generating enthusiasm. When children become interested in a subject, 
they will continue investigation without the direction of the teacher. Much of the work 
done in the schools is discouraging to the child. Many superintendents and teachers 
attempt to do what they are not prepared to do, and confusion is the result. 

There can be no standardizing of courses of study. Teach teachers to teach some- 
thing and to teach it well. More stress should be laid upon the companionship between 
pupil and teacher. 

If certain tendencies in the public-school work are not corrected, the schools will 
cease to be common schools. There is nothing more important than that the common 
schools should remain common. 

Superintendent M. A. Whitney, Elgin, 111., asked : "Where should the pruning 
of courses of study begin ? " 



Superintendence] A STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY 135 

* 

President Draper replied that he would permit the doctors of pedagogy to answer 
that question. 

Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis. — I am in hearty sympathy with this 
paper. A systematic course of study relieves the principals and teachers of much worry 
and responsibility while performing the duties of their respective positions. Every course 
of study grows out of the large experience of the teacher. Since pupils pass from one 
teacher to another, a course of study is necessary in order to prevent confusion. With a 
general course of study to follow, the teacher is not left in doubt as to what she is to do. 
A rational course of study, marking out the territory to be covered, is not an infringe- 
ment upon the liberty and freedom of the teacher. It does not hamper her in her 
work. 

Dr. C. A. McMurry, State Normal School, De Kalb, 111. — We are inclined to think 
sometimes that a course of study is a product of the malicious feeling of the schoolmaster. 
It is no new thing to find that the course of study is overloaded. The filling up and over- 
loading of the course of study is not the work of the schoolmaster. It is the result of our 
civilization. The course of study is the expression of the life of the people. It represents 
those things that are common in the life 'of the people. The difficulty arises from the 
fact that we are endeavoring to absorb into the course of study so many of the demands 
of the life of the people. The world is pressing for recognition, and is no longer satisfied 
with the courses of study of our grandfathers. 

The present course is a conglomerate mass — the teacher is not yet ready to grasp 
with the problem. There is a great necessity for a condensation or simplification of the 
materials now in use in our courses of study. This ought to receive attention by this 
association of schoolmasters. Literature can be made an engine of power to introduce 
many facts of education by this process of correlation. 

Superintendent W. N. Hailmann, Dayton, O. — I am in hearty sympathy with 
Dr. Boone. He has beautifully and systematically presented the essentials of a course of 
study. We do not believe in the theory of those who are beginning to yield to the signs 
of the times. We take no stock in that strawman. The course of study is not over- 
loaded. Those who criticise the present course speak of the frill of nature study, the frill 
of music, art, etc. The so-called frills have transformed the world. These frills help to 
make life worth living. The function of the frill is to help make the school subjects 
more vital in the life of the child and in the life of the school. These frills give the child 
a higher notion of life. 

There is no amusement aimed at in the kindergarten. It is real enjoyment that the 
kindergarten proposes to give the child; a joy that comes by doing — by doing things 
ourselves and thus making our environments more pleasing. 

Dr. Harris has so clearly shown us that the importance of teaching the different sub- 
jects of the course of study is not for the sake of the study, but rather to give the child 
power and skill. 

President R. H. Halsey, State Normal School, Oshkosh, W 7 is. — The course of 
study should be more prescriptive and less suggestive. The same principles that should 
govern in the self-activity of* the child should govern in the training of the teacher. Give 
the teacher more responsibility in the initial training of the child. Co-ordinate topics 
should be introduced into the different grades for the sake of variety. We must look 
toward the training of both classes of pupils — the bright and the dull. 

It is a dangerous thing to put the bright pupils ahead of the other members of the 
class. Thoroness should precede promotion. Give the pupil more work in the grade of 
which he is a member, rather than remove him by special promotion. Pupils who enter 
the high school are too often very poorly prepared for the work. They should remain in 
the same grade with additional work, giving them new territory, rather than have them 
pass over the same territory again. 



I3 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

-■ *- — — - . 

Superintendent Boone. — There should be a course — a real sequence of topics — 
so correlated that it becomes a unit. It may suggest typical studies for each grade, but 
the same grades in- a city need not study the same subject, but the typical subject. The 
subjects to be studied must be determined by the locality, equipments of the school, etc. 
Children should have a chance to do something and do it well. The work should be 
largely voluntary. In the matter of the promotion of a pupil it is not a question of having 
completed the work of a grade, but the question is : Can he get more work out of the next 
grade than he can out of the one of which he is a member now ? 



SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL TRAINING 

PROFESSOR L. B. R. BRIGGS, HARVARD COLLEGE 

Whoever looks into systems of education is almost sure to see some- 
thing that needs reform, -and is inclined to believe that the methods of 
his own day are all wrong. Thus it has come to pass that every year or 
every month, according to the degree of progressiveness in the com- 
munity, new theories of education are sprung on us, and, it may be, tried 
on our children. Now, as everybody knows, it is ten times as easy to 
destroy as to reconstruct, and a hundred times as easy to find fault as to 
suggest practicable and wise and durable improvement. The history of 
education, like the history of the world, is a history of countless mis- 
takes, with much noble effort and many noble results. There is no 
reason why education should not admit new light as other sciences admit 
it — as medicine, for example, admits it; but questions of reform in edu- 
cation have been, and still are, alloyed with questions of religious preju- 
dice, of politics, and of personal power and whim, till in our less hopeful 
moments the education of boys and girls seems the stamping-ground of 
experiment and fad. In these experiments for the enlightenment of 
colleges and schools we sometimes forget the oldest and the best truths 
of education itself. 

From Milton, tho parts of his one pamphlet on education are an 
astounding example of the reformer's lack of practical sense, we may get 
as good a definition as has ever been devised. " I call a complete and 
generous education," says Milton, "that which fits a man to perform 
justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and 
public, of peace and war." Accepting this definition, I come with an 
old story, a story which I have told before, and must tell the worse when 
I try to put it into new language ; a story, therefore, which here and there 
I shall let other people tell for me. 

At the start I must disclaim any inside knowledge of school systems ; 
and for this reason it may seem that I ought not to speak of school sys- 
tems at all. My excuse is twofold — the a priori principle in the relation 
of hard work to solid success, and the unmistakable signs that in modern 
theories of education this principle is often slighted or ignored. In a 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 137 

certain sense I speak as an outsider, yet as an outsider who has, and who 
feels his right to have, a conviction — a conviction that the end of the 
American public school is to insure the intellectual discipline which is 
itself a moral force, and which may point for its result to an educated 
nation. 

The first lesson of education is the lesson of getting down to hard 
work, and doing the work thoroly. It may be learned by a boy or girl 
who never goes to school, learned in a mill or on a farm ; but the highest 
work in this part of the world must commonly be done by people who 
for a greater or less number of years have spent the best part of at least 
five days out of seven for some forty weeks a year in what we call educa- 
tion. The first business of a school is to teach concentration, applica- 
tion, power of tackling intellectual work — qualities which sooner or later 
a man must have if he is to succeed in life, and which he got in his boy- 
hood if he had the right kind of parents, was the right kind of boy, and 
went to the right kind of school. (I speak of boys. I bid good-by to 
the girls here and now, leaving them to be "understood" thruout most of 
what I have to say.) 

Some of us now in middle life recall the days when, as one of my old 
neighbors puts it, "we were on earth the first time," and we recall the 
grammar schools of those days ; the bare walls, the single dictionary as 
the library of each room, and the curriculum, which nobody had dreamt 
of "enriching" — reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic (quite enough 
arithmetic), English grammar, and Quackenboss* History of the United 
States; nothing to attract the eye, no festivity except at recess, no music, 
no intellectual food outside of the curriculum except an occasional 
address of five minutes by a more or less illiterate mayor and an occa- 
sional question from a rather bashful superintendent (those were early 
days). For discipline, besides a flogging now and then, the boy who 
turned his head round to the boy behind him had to stand on the plat- 
form with a spring clothespin on his nose till he saw another boy turn 
his head and transferred the clothespin to him. 

Such education had its drawbacks, moral, intellectual, and above all 
aesthetic ; yet some of us may well look back to it as the surest and truest 
discipline of our lives — for we were taught to work. Sometimes, if you 
are to turn a college loafer into a man, you send him to a factory, with 
long and early hours, and immediate responsibility to an officer. You 
do this because his salvation is work, and because, blind as he now is to 
the beauty of the intellectual work that he may do, he needs to be edu- 
cated by manual labor that he must do. You give him work as education. 
All education is work. This obvious but endangered doctrine is what I 
am here to preach. 

Work [says Bushnell] is activity for an end ; play activity as an end. One prepares the 
fund or resources of enjoyment ; the other is enjoyment itself. When a man goes into 



138 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

agriculture, trade, or the shop, he consents to undertake a certain expenditure of 
care and labor, which is only a form of painstaking (rightly named) in order to obtain 
some ulterior good which is to be his reward ; but when a child goes to his play, it is no 
painstaking, no means to an end ; it is itself, rather, both end and joy. 

Now, the tendency of education in this country is to turn work into 
play, just as the tendency of outdoor games in this country is to turn 
play into work. For early education we have the kindergarten ; for foot- 
ball we have relentless training. Have you ever thought of one reason 
why athletics in American colleges mean so much ? It is athletics in 
which many a youth, pampered at home and at school, gets his only 
taste of the stern discipline without which he cannot be a man. His 
studies he evades, and his friends pardon the evasion ; his football he 
cannot evade, or he is branded as a "quitter, as "soft," or "sandless." 
From his studies he gets more or less culture, but no backbone ; from his 
football he gets the stuff and substance of his education. The business- 
man often prefers in his office a successful college athlete to a successful 
college scholar; for the athlete, as the business-man says, "has done 
something." 

The public school should have at least as much educational power as 
football. Setting aside the question of manual training, a question of 
great importance to many boys, and speaking of a grammar school, which 
has for its object intellectual discipline, I believe that the business of the 
grammar school is to teach a few subjects, essential or of prime importance, 
and, in teaching them, to give the training which enables people "to do 
things." The grammar school is for the greatest good of the greatest 
number. If we are inclined to condemn it for ignoring the individual, 
we should remember that strength may come to the individual from being 
ignored, from being treated as one among many who are treated and 
trained alike. Individual education is the right of a man ; to a less 
degree it is the right of a youth ; to some degree it is the right of every- 
body; but everybody has also that other right of education in common 
with his equals, his superiors, and even with his inferiors, education in 
which he may see the effect of teaching on a variety of minds, each dif- 
ferent from his own, and may learn from his fellows as they may learn 
from him. 

Again and again I have seen, in college, students who have become 
almost hopelessly debilitated from excessive attention to their individual 
needs — or, rather, to what their parents have believed to be their 
individual needs ; who have never known the stimulus of competition ; 
whose sharp corners have been carefully sharpened more and more, and 
never rounded off ; the bent of whose minds has been followed till their 
minds have lost all power of attention and concentration — unless some- 
thing new has come to fascinate them, so that their very attention has 
seemed a weakness rather than a strength, a yielding of the mind rather 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 1 39 

than a conquering by the mind. The business of the grammar school is 
not to follow the mind, but to lead it ; nor is it to entertain or amuse, tho 
a good teacher will entertain and amuse incidentally ; nor is it to teach 
so many things that none can be taught well. It is to drill and drill and 
drill, to teach accuracy, concentration, self-command, so that he who has 
been faithful in a few things may be fit, with increasing years and ripen- 
ing powers, to be ruler over many things. In the grammar school few 
subjects are essential. Chief among these is the use of the English 
language. If enough sensible trainers of the voice could be found, I 
should be tempted to add elocution. Who does not know the strained, 
high voice of a reciting child or of a chiding schoolmistress ? Who that 
has to use his voice in a large room does not know the weariness of not 
using it well ? A little mathematics, a little geography and history, 
possibly a little physics, and a great deal of reading, writing, and speak- 
ing in the English tongue — these things well taught make a foundation 
on which any structure of intellectual education may safely rest. Narrow, 
if you will, but about as wide as a child's foundation can be laid and laid 
firmly. A few fundamental studies with the habit of mastering the work 
in hand are an infinitely better basis for the child than a heterogeneous 
collection of half-learned, cultivating diversions over which he may sprawl, 
but on which he can never stand. A few studies rightly taught are the 
first intellectual step toward " that which fits a man to perform justly, 
skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of 
peace and war." Sometimes people complain of drill as benumbing the 
mind of a child ; and the complaint, if the child is young and the drill 
severe, has foundation. Yet these same persons fail to see how demoraliz- 
ing to the minds of children an excessive number of studies may be. 
Children, as everybody knows, love repetition in their amusements, and 
can stand much more of it in their instruction than their elders can. By 
multiplying the subjects which we set before them, we run the risk, not 
merely of dissipating their minds, but of overstimulating them. I do not 
mean that even a grammar school should ignore the value of variety, and 
I am glad that music is now taught in our public schools. I mean much 
what a correspondent of mine meant when he wrote : " I would have a 
boy use the English language decently, even if he loses the opportunity 
to study German in the grammar school." What threatens our early 
education nowadays is the amusement and variety theory. Working 
upward from the kindergarten it bids fair to weaken the intellect and to 
sap the will. A well-known teacher in Boston had no difficulty in picking 
out the members of his school who had .begun their education in the 
kindergarten; and he picked them out because of a weakness in their 
intellectual processes. There are exceptions and notable ones ; and there 
is, as everybody knows, a lovely side to the kindergarten ; but the danger 
of the kindergarten principle is felt by many a teacher who hardly dares 



140 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

hint at it. An elective system in college gives a noble liberty to the man 
who has been so trained that he can use his liberty wisely ; but when an 
elective system goes lower and lower into our schools till it meets children 
who have been amused thru the years in which they should have been 
educated, what chance have these children for the best thing in education? 

" On a huge hill 
Cragged and steep, Truth stands ; and he that will 

Reach her about must, and about it go, 
And what the hill's suddenness resists, win so." 

That I am not fighting shadows or knocking down men of straw, the 
testimony of a hundred teachers and parents makes clear. The amuse- 
ment theory, starting in an honest and benignant desire to show children 
the beauty of the world about them and to rouse their interest in study, 
especially in the study of nature, may end with the sacrifice of strength 
in the pupil and of truth in the teacher ; may become a sweetmeat theory, 
giving the children food which debilitates and deranges Hie organs that 
crave it. 

Certainly the education of boys should not be a bore and a bugbear, 
nor should it ignore culture. Yet the culture should not crowd out train- 
ing ; it should rather be atmospheric; it should come to the boy from the 
finer, maturer, and more sensitive character of his teacher ; it should take 
little or no visible or tangible part in the school program ; it should per- 
vade the whole. In the best teacher, also, is a personal force that inspires 
some boys with the desire to work and compels others to work, till work 
becomes a precious, even a priceless, habit of their liyes. He is not full 
of devices and patent appliances for interesting his pupils; he is not full 
of theories and fads ; he does his own work, even the drudgery of it, with 
enthusiasm for it and for his calling. He corrects, chastens, guides, 
kindles the love of learning ; and constantly he gives to eager eyes some 
glimpses of that high enjoyment to which learning and discipline may 
lead ; but he never sacrifices the discipline to any royal road of pleasure. 

This is another way of saying that the good teacher does not sacrifice 
truth " to make things interesting." I have lately read an admirable 
paper by Miss Soule, of Brookline, Mass., on the foolish untruthfulness 
of some books designed to interest children in nature. Miss Soule cites 
a well-known superintendent of public schools who maintains that plants, 
if they are to interest children, "must be instinct with human attributes ;'' 
and to illustrate his theory she has collected from books for children a 
good many specimens of biological mendacity. Children, she says, are 
taught that "the kind cow" gives them her milk; that "a plant does 
not like to send its young, delicate leaves and flowers into the cold world 
without wrapping them up, any more than your mother would like to send 
your baby brother out for the first time without a great deal of such 
bundling up ;" that the queen bee " is very generous to the young queen, 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 141 

who of course is her own daughter, and leaves all the furniture and silver 
spoons and everything of that sort behind." "What," says Miss Soule, 
"is gained by this ?" She tells the effect of it on two children. One 
who was literal said : "Why, she couldn't leave furniture and silver spoons, 
because she didn't have any to leave. That is not a very true book, is 
it?" Another, and brighter, child exclaimed: " How silly that is! It 
is so stupid to pretend things like that when they could not ever be." 
"Yet," says Miss Soule, "this child is very imaginative, delights in fairy 
tales, and lived Alice in Wonderland for weeks." Imaginative literature 
may do what it likes with plants and animals. Alice in Wonderland, tho 
she may not teach children respectful manners, cannot teach them biologi- 
cal untruth. Mr. Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi is one of the best stories 
in the English language for old or young; and his Toomai of the 
Elephants has a poetic beauty which it is a distinction for a child to feel. 
Imaginative literature is one thing, and books for instruction are quite 
another. Yet one teacher cited to Miss Soule that dismal joke about the 
queen bee and the silver spoons as "so taking, so cutel" "This method 
of awakening interest," says Miss Soule, " puts child and animals into false 
relations, and nothing is gained by it except possibly an added interest 
on the part of the child. Since this interest is based upon conditions 
which do not exist, the child has no right to it. The animals are not 
interesting in that way." In the same paper Miss Soule compares "soft 
pedagogies " with peptonized food. 

After reading Miss Soule's paper, one of the best graduates of one of 
the best kindergarten schools wrote to the author that she (the teacher) 
"was circulating that paper among all the teachers she knew, because it 
had shown her that she and the other kindergarten teachers were doing 
dishonest work for the sake of ease and arousing interest, and that the 
modern schoolbooks all tended to increase this dishonesty." "It is 
better," said an American humorist, " not to know so much than to know 
so many things that ain't so." 

An able teacher in Boston, struggling against what she believes to be 
debilitating methods in the education of today, writes of her own work 
as "an uphill, out-of-date attempt to keep a simple, healthy school;" 
and adds that in the attempt she is "constantly losing her grip on the 
Back Bay." From another teacher of long, experience, who writes about 
modern methods of teaching languages, I quote at some length : 

Since the attack on the old system of teaching languages, English as well as Latin 
and Greek, became effective in an iconoclastic sense, and ineffective in the way of sug- 
gesting a better system, the teacher in the secondary schools has been swamped in what 
I, remembering my friends' experiences with Dr. Sauveur many years ago, have been 
inclined to call Sauveurism. Sauveurism in teaching, you will remember, spread rapidly, 
attacked many college centers, and infected violently the opponents of the classical sys- 
tem. It was for a time hailed as the true scientific treatment of all language study, and 
it really had in it one element of true scientific method, the cumulative gathering of facts 



142 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

on which to theorize ; but the gathering of facts proved in the main to be desultory and 
the theories nebulous and valueless. This Sauveur rage, while it had its good side in 
practical training for the spoken language, struck at the root of all sound scientific 
method in language study. The good in it was as old as the hills, and was already as 
effectively used in good schools of the classical order as it ever was by Sauveur. The 
evil in it was its claim that a no-system was better than a system. It threw out what was 
known and classified. Where true science teaches by rule "and tests by experiment, this 
held that cumulative laboratory work was all-in all. The Sauveur method was the first 
wild attempt to replace with a working system the old grammatical training of the 
schools. It failed and is forgotten. Taking what was good in it — not from Sauveur, 
but from the old methods, as old as the hills — a few practical teachers, like Daniell and 
Collar, themselves trained in the old schools, have reintroduced good grammatical work 
in Latin and Greek instruction. This is elementary training only, but it serves to shorten 
the period of drudgery and open up early the rich stores of Latin and Greek literature 
— stores to be best enjoyed without the excess of annotation and cross-reference which 
some of the literature specialists are attaching to our English classics intended for schools. 
English grammar also has its method and should, I believe, be taught early and thoroly 
— the dry details not shunned. In getting these the memory may receive as exact a 
training as it used to get in the old [Boston] Latin School under Gardner. Once bedded 
in the mind, the grammatical details should be allowed to repose there, as well forgotten 
as the flower seed is forgotten when the blossom is sweet in the winds. If they are 
stirred again, as the young college specialists (not the best of them) are stirring them, I 
believe the mind will never acquire that fine sense of literary charm that used to be 
acquired under Channing and Child. I have recalled Sauveur only because he stands in 
my memory as the bite noir of some years of my life spent in teaching English and the 
classics. But he has passed and is forgotten. Other fads have taken the place of bis 
in language and other studies. 

This teacher expresses "doubt as to the robustness of vigor acquired 
by rolling downhill along the lines of least resistance," "as if," he says, 
" mental vigor were to be got in the malarial tracts and not on the windy 
and difficult heights." "Some years ago," he adds, "when I asked my 
boy what he would like to do for a living, his answer was : ' I would like 
to loaf on salary.' As he has had no such soft elective open to him, he 
is now doing very honest work." 

The windy and difficult heights ! Can any healthy man or woman 
compare the pleasure of "loafing on salary" to the pleasure of scaling 
" the windy and difficult heights " ? Indeed, the cry of those who scale these 
heights is : " Give a boy liberty, and he too will scale them. He will use 
liberty wisely, because in the wise use of it he will find the keenest enjoy- 
ment of the intellectual life." But a boy, while he is a boy, does not see 
all this. A student from a famous preparatory school, the head master 
of which is a vigorous and cultivated man, knew almost nothing of the 
English language. "With the methods of teaching they have now," said 
his father, " I do not see how a boy learns anything. I really believe," 
he added, " that the reason my boy does poorly in his mathematics is 
because he does not know the language in which it is taught. It would 
never occur to him to look up a word in the dictionary." This is the 
kind of boy who expects in college that form of education which Mr. 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 1 43 

Dooley describes when he says : " Th* prisidint takes him into a Turkish 
room, gives him a cigareet, an 1 says : * Me dear boy, what special branch 
iv larnin' wud ye like to have studied f *r ye be our compitint professors ?' " 
the kind of boy that leads the same philosopher not to care what the 
children study so long as it is disagreeable to them. 

Now and then a man born of the best stock, trained with the best 
training of an earlier generation, filled with high purpose and noble 
enthusiasm, fails to see that the average child of today may be swamped 
by a liberty which to him would be buoyant life. He has learned the 
triumphant happiness of difficult work well done, and forgets the time 
when even he, in a school of today, might not have learned it. Let us 
thank every teacher who has helped us to see that, if we do anything as 
well as we can and keep on doing it, it must become interesting. I 'too 
believe that boys and girls should enjoy education, should love the work 
of it. By and by they must spend the greater part of their waking hours 
in work ; and if they cannot enjoy work, the work that lies before them, 
they will lead unhappy lives. The late Professor Dunbar assigned as one 
cause of President Eliot's extraordinary success his keen enjoyment of 
work. Some men live on "the windy and difficult heights," mountain- 
climbers by instinct and by training ; but will the youth of vulgar herit- 
age and custom-made education grapple with the cliffs, or will he light a 
cigarette and lie down ? 

I am not attacking the elective system in colleges. I believe with 
President Tucker that " a considerable amount of unawakened, uninterested 
mind in our colleges has been recovered by this system ; " that " it repre- 
sents the final appeal to the indifferent student ; " and that " it gives 
responsibility and stimulus to the diligent." Yet its representing the 
final intellectual appeal is a confession of weakness in some early pro- 
cesses. Besides, if the elective system gets into the grammar school, it 
will in some measure defeat its own end in the college. It will cut off 
many a boy from the liberty in whose name it was created, by sending 
him to college unfit for a number of the elective courses which would 
otherwise be open to him. Then, if roused at last to an interest in work, 
he will " feel the weight " of the " chance desires " which led him blindly 
away from what was to be his goal. Suppose he loves literature, but not 
language, and in the complacency of youth sets out to- be a specialist in 
literature with " no use," as he says, for the ancient classics : the higher 
he rises in his specialty, the more keenly he will feel the want of the Greek 
and Latin which he might have mastered once so much more readily than 
he can master them now. Or, not to mention Greek and Latin, suppose 
he loves to write, but not to study grammar : he may be clever and may 
acquire skill in writing ; but the greater his success, the deeper will be his 
regret, if he comes to write of difficult subjects, that he threw away the 
opportunity of early grammatical training. 



144 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

The early studies, 1 repeat, should be the studies that are at the root 
of all. These are the right studies for boys whose book-learning stops 
with the grammar school ; they are equally right for boys who will in time 
be doctors of philosophy. In the hands of a good teacher they are inter- 
esting, with no strain on truth ; first, because to an awakened mind every 
study has its charm ; and, next, because thru them a good teacher may 
train a boy to the enjoyment of vigorous work. 

I am talking of intellectual work. Sewing for girls and carving for 
boys are first-rate things and may well be taught in public institutions ; 
but they should not in an American grammar school crowd out intellec- 
tual opportunity. As to the hundred petty and interesting things with 
which we are tempted to decorate school programs, let us remember that 
" tKe foundation must be stronger than the superstructure." " Fine stock- 
ings, fine shoes, fine yellow hair," and a "double ruffle round her neck" 
did not make up in Ducky Dilver's lamented wife for the want of a 
petticoat ; and it is even so with frills in education. Without the essential 
garments of the mind the frills may become a mockery. 

Says Cardinal Newman : 

I will tell you, gentlemen, what has been the practical error of the last twenty years 
[we must add many more years now]. Not to load the memory of the student with a 
mass of undigested knowledge ; but to force upon him so much that he has rejected all. 
It has been the error of distracting and enfeebling the mind by an unmeaning profusion 
of subjects ; of implying that a smattering in a dozen branches of study is not shallow- 
ness, which it really is, but enlargement, which it is not ; of .considering an acquaintance 
with the learned names of things and persons, and the possession of clever duodecimos, 
and attendance on eloquent lecturers, and membership with scientific institutions, and 
the sight of the experiments of a platform, and the specimens of a museum — that all 
this was not dissipation of mind, but progress. All things now are to be learned at 
once ; not first one thing and then another ; not one well, but many badly. Learning is 
to be without exertion, without attention, without toil, without grounding, without 
advance, without finish. 

There are youths [says the same great writer] who certainly have a taste for read- 
ing, but in whom it is little more than the result of mental restlessness and curiosity. 
Such minds cannot fix their gaze on one object for two seconds together; the very 
impulse that leads them to read at all leads them to read on, and never to stay or hang 
over any one idea. The pleasurable excitement of reading what is new is their 
motive principle, and the imagination that they are doing something, and the boyish 
vanity that accompanies it, are their reward. Such youths often profess to like poetry, 
or to like history or biography ; they are fond of lectures on certain of the physical sci- 
ences ; or they may possibly have a real and true taste for natural history or other 
cognate subjects ; and so far they may be regarded with satisfaction ; but, on the other 
hand, they profess that they'do not like logic, they do not like algebra, they have no 
taste for mathematics ; which only means that they do not like application, they do not 
like attention, they shrink from the effort and labor of thinking, and the process of true 
intellectual gymnastics. The consequence will be that, when they grow up, they may, if 
it so happen, be agreeable in conversation ; they may be well informed in this or that 
department of knowledge ; they may be what is called literary; but they will have no con- 
sistency, steadiness, or perseverance ; they will not be able to make a telling speech, 
or to write a good letter, or to fling in debate a smart antagonist, unless so far as, now 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 145 

and then, mother-wit supplies a sudden capacity, which cannot be ordinarily counted on. 
They cannot state an argument or a question, or take a clear survey of a whole trans- 
action, or give sensible and appropriate advice under difficulties, or do any of those 
things which inspire confidence and gain influence, which raise a man in life, and make 
him useful to his religion or his country. 

Elsewhere Cardinal Newman says : 

The displays of eloquence, or the interesting matter contained in their lectures, though 
admirable in themselves, and advantageous to the student at a later stage of his course, 
never can serve as a substitute for methodical and laborious teaching. A young man of 
sharp and active intellect, who has had no other training, has little to show for it besides 
a litter of ideas heaped up in his mind anyhow. He can utter a number of truths or 
sophisms, as the case may be ; and one is as good to him as another. He is up with a 
number of doctrines and a number of facts ; but they are all loose and straggling, for he 
has no principles set up in his mind round which to aggregate and locate them. He can 
say a word or two on half a dozen sciences, but not a dozen words on any one. He says 
one thing now, and another presently ; and when he attempts to write down distinctly 
what he holds upon a point in dispute, or what he understands by its terms, he breaks 
down, and is surprised at his failure. He sees objections more clearly than truths, and 
can ask a thousand questions which the wisest of men cannot answer ; and withal he has 
a very good opinion of himself, and is well satisfied with his attainments, and he declares 
against others, as opposed to the spread of knowledge altogether, who do not happen to 
adopt his ways of furthering it, or the opinions in which he considers it to result. 

Still again : 

But the intellect which has been disciplined to the perfection of its powers, which 
knows, and thinks while it knows, which has learned to leaven the dense mass of facts 
and events with the elastic force of reason, such an intellect cannot be partial, cannot be 
exclusive, cannot be impetuous, cannot be at a loss, cannot but be patient, collected, and 
majestically calm, because it discerns the end in every beginning, the origin in every 
end, the law in every interruption, the limit in each delay ; because it ever knows where 
it stands, and how its path lies from one point to another. 

Men look at any system of education, and are dissatisfied because no 
system does for everybody what education should do. They would gather 
grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. They forget that even the 
best seed may fall on stony ground or be eaten by the fowls of the air. 
They forget that no schoolmaster and no school system can make over 
a boy's ancestors, or banish his temptations, or give eyes to the blind ; 
and they have their visions, their theories, their panaceas ; and people 
rush after their panaceas as people rush after other panaceas, to find that 
the panacea comes and goes, while the disease abides; and the steadfast 
old teacher almost loses heart, like the steadfast old physician who sees 
people stake their money and their lives on a new patent medicine, on 
irrational healers of all sorts, on people who prescribe from examining 
locks of hair or from looking at the stars ; but by and by he says to him- 
self : "This, too, shall pass. Of the new teachers the dishonest will soon 
reveal themselves ; and from the honestly mistaken some good may come. 
I will stand by a few things that I know. I know that it is better to con- 
centrate the mind than to dissipate it, to train it than to pamper it. I 
know that there is no courage and no intellectual joy like the courage and 



146 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

the joy of that effort which ends in mastery. New systems may come and 
go. I will take with gratitude whatever in any one of them adds beauty, 
interest, helpful variety, cultivating influence, any kind of strength or 
glory, to a task as perplexing as it is noble ; yet not for one moment 
shall I forget that sound training comes before varied accomplishment ; 
that there is no strength and no glory like that of duty steadily and 
bravely done." 



DISCUSSION 



Dr. William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. 1 — Being called 
out to make some remarks on the general subject of discussion, I shall utter some of the 
reflections which passed thru my mind as I listened to the fascinating paper which has 
just now been read. 

The objection to the kindergarten which was quoted in the paper reminds me of 
forebodings which were often published thirty years ago in regard to the kindergarten 
when the first experiments were in progress in this country. I do not think, however, 
that experience verified those forebodings, for it would seem that, on the whole, the chil- 
dren from the kindergarten have a more highly developed power of interesting them- 
selves in their regular work than those who have not received kindergarten training. 
They are, on an average, somewhat better able to help themselves. They do not 
depend upon the teacher quite so much as the others. It goes without saying that, 
while this is generally true, there are many exceptions. The difference caused by the 
training of a good kindergarten is often more than made up for by native talent, or by 
some species of training obtained in the experience which the child has found in his life ; 
and it must be admitted that some kindergartens of a most unhappy sort have a tend- 
ency to develop in children the faculty of getting in the way of each other, and of needing 
constant supervision on the part of the teacher, who is obliged to interfere with their work. 

Most of my reflections related to what the speaker said with reference to formal dis- 
cipline. I recall vividly my protest in early life against formal discipline in the college. 
I was told that Latin and Greek were useful as disciplinary studies. In fact, the argu- 
ments made for Latin and Greek would seem to apply to Arabic and Sanscrit and languages 
of the Turanian tribes. I became thoroly tired of all this talk about mental discipline as 
secured thru the study of dead languages. But in later years I changed my view on this 
subject, and found that the study of Latin and Greek is generally of great value in one's 
education. In fact, there is no substitute for Latin and Greek so far as the Anglo-Saxon 
or any other Teutonic people is concerned, because Latin and Greek are the languages 
of the two classes of people who have furnished us the most valuable elements that enter 
our civilization. Our civilization is composite, getting one strand from Greece and one 
strand from Rome. The languages of those two nationalities belong to the culture- 
studies of our youth, because they help one to understand the two strands which enter 
his civilization from those sources. I invented the expression " embryology of civiliza- 
tion " to make clear this thought. Inasmuch as one has to study an animal in its embry- 
ology in order to know it scientifically, so, it seemed to me, one has to study his own 
civilization in its embryology in order to understand it. But I will readily admit that the 
study of Latin and Greek remains in some instances only a study of embryos, without 
furnishing valuable concrete results, without strengthening the youth to grapple with the 
problems of life as they are now* I have seen students at Oxford and Cambridge, resi- 
dent graduates at those venerable inst utions, who had devoted so much time to the 

x Revised and extended by the author. 



Superintendence] SOME ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR-SCHOOL TRAINING 1 47 

embryology of civilization that no leisure or taste remained for the study of the civiliza- 
tion which had hatched out of those embryos. 

It seems to me that it is a mistake to claim for the study of Latin and Greek a value 
simply as a mental discipline, for a thoro study of Spanish, or French, or German, or 
Arabic, or Chinese would develop an equal or greater amount of mental discipline. 
And hence the modern school might use one of those branches as a substitute for Latin 
and Greek ; but no one of those branches could give the youth an insight into the devel- 
opment of his civilization ; he would not be mentally prepared to understand the Roman 
contribution nor the Greek contribution to the laws and usages of civil society and to 
the forms of literature and art and science. 

This may be taken as a counter-statement to the position set forth by Dean Briggs 
in his paper. But I had in my own mind a general assent to all that he said, and I was 
very glad to hear what he said. My suggestion is only that more stress should be laid on 
the fitness of the college studies to prepare the person for thinking out the problems of 
later life, and not so much merely on the formal discipline ; that is to say, on the mere 
training of the will to industry. I think that this will be apparent when one considers 
that mere dogged industry in some branches does not produce the effects that the same 
industry produces in others. The one who studies Latin and Greek has more insight 
into human nature as revealed in his own civilization than the one does who devotes his 
life to the study of the native dialects of the Sandwich Islands. The one who learns the 
higher mathematics has more insight into the laws that control matter and forces in 
nature than the one who devotes himself exclusively to manual training, but with equally 
stubborn industry. So, too, the industrious athlete at college does not acquire an ability 
to combine the human forces of an army of men into an all-conquering unity so much as 
the study of the branches taught at West Point would do. It is true that Wellington 
learned to conquer at Waterloo, as he said, from his early experience in the football 
game at Eaton, but it was at the military college that he learned the mathematical prin- 
ciples which gave him an insight into the football game and enabled him to understand 
how to apply the principles involved in the combination of the football rush on the grand 
scale of the field of Waterloo. 

I have always felt some degree of impatience with my college teachers because they 
did not impress upon us students the true view in regard to the studies which we pur- 
sued — they did not interpret them in the light of civilization. I had accidentally heard 
something of German philosophy. There was at one American college in the early 
fifties professors with some insight into the great revolution going on in German 
thinking; a revolution which was inaugurated by the publication of the great Critique 
of Kant ; some insight, I would say, into the upheaval in German thinking which lasted 
for fifty years or so, namely, until after 1830. This revolution involved not only new 
insights into all realms of intellect, but also revolutions in statecraft and productive 
industry. For German thought introduced comparative methods, not only into philosophy 
and natural science, but also into the study of national economy and civil service. Its 
far-reaching revolutions became visible to all the world on the fields of Koniggratz and 
Sedan, and later they can now be seen in the specialization of German industry, by 
which the northern nations have learned how to emancipate themselves from a depend- 
ence on the tropical population for sugar. 

The most important thing, perhaps, is the study of comparative religion, inaugu- 
rated by the new German studies in philosophy. But seventy years after the publication 
of Kant's Critique there was only one professor in an American college who possessed 
an insight into the work sufficient to explain it to a class of students ; or, indeed, to advise 
an earnest-minded young man as to a course of reading on the subject. 

I mention this because I think that the narrow view of formal discipline was .the 
cause of this scandalous neglect of philosophy. For not only was German philosophy 
neglected, but the ancient Greek philosophy fared no better. Very absurd notions 



148 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

prevailed as to the doctrines taught by Plato and Aristotle, and as to their relations to each 
other. I have always considered it a piece of good fortune to me that I revolted against 
formal disciplinary studies and struck out for myself with the vague ambition to master 
the philosophy of the Germans ; a philosophy so difficult that after many months' study 
I could not tell what any page of it meant. 

I hasten to say, in closing, that I admit that there is much good in mere industry 
and in the discipline of exerting one's will so as to conquer at a piece of work, at the 
blacksmith's forge, or the carpenter's bench, or in the college boat-race, or in the study 
of the language of a savage tribe, or in a game of chess ; but I wish to affirm that there 
is great virtue in the branches that form the regular course of study in the college or uni- 
versity. They afford insight as well as discipline. 



THE SITUATION AS REGARDS THE COURSE OF STUDY 

PROFESSOR JOHN DEWEY, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

Horace Mann and the disciples of Pestalozzi did their peculiar mis- 
sionary work so completely as intellectually to crowd the conservative to 
the wall. For half a century after their time the ethical emotion, the 
bulk of exhortation, the current formulae and catchwords, the distinctive 
principles of theory have been found on the side of progress, of what is 
known as reform. The supremacy of self-activity, the symmetrical devel- 
opment of all the powers, the priority of character to information, the 
necessity of putting the real before the symbol, the concrete before the 
abstract, the necessity of following the order of nature and not the order 
of human convention — all these ideas, at the outset so revolutionary, have 
filtered into the pedagogic consciousness and become the commonplace 
of pedagogic writing and of the gatherings where teachers meet for inspira- 
tion and admonition. 

It is, however, sufficiently obvious that, while the field of theory and 
enthusiasm and preaching was taken possession of by the reformer, the 
conservative, so far as the course of study is concerned, was holding his 
own pretty obstinately in the region of practice. He could afford to 
neglect all these sayings ; nay, he could afford to take a part in a glib 
reiteration of the shibboleths, because, as a matter of fact, his own work 
remained so largely untouched. He retained actual control of school 
conditions ; it was he who brought about the final and actual contact 
between the theories and the child. And by the time the ideals and the- 
ories had been translated over into their working equivalents in the cur- 
riculum, the difference between them and what he as a conservative 
really wished and practiced became often the simple difference between 
tweedle dum and tweedle dee. So the "great big battle" was fought 
with mutual satisfaction, each side having an almost complete victory in 
its own field. Where the reformer made his headway was not in the 
region of studies, but rather in that of methods and atmosphere of school- 
work. 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 1 49 

In the last twenty or twenty-five years, however, more serious attempts 
have been made to carry the theory into effective execution in the school- 
room, in subject-matter as well as method. The unconscious insincerity 
in continually turning the theory over and over in terms of itself, the 
unconscious self-deceit in using it simply to cast an idealized and emo- 
tional halo over a mechanical school routine with which it was funda- 
mentally at odds, became somewhat painfully apparent; consequently 
the effort to change the concrete school materials and school subject- 
matter so as to give the professed ends and aims a pou sto within the 
school walls and in relation to the children. 

Drawing, music, nature study with the field excursion and the school 
garden, manual training, the continuation of the constructive exercises 
of the kindergarten, the story and the tale, the biography, the dramatic 
episode, and anniversary of heroic history found their way into the school- 
rooms. We, they proclaim, are the working counterparts of the com- 
mands to follow nature ; to secure the complete development of the child ; 
to present the real before the symbolic, etc. Interest was transferred 
from the region of pedagogic principles and ideals, as such, to the child 
as affected by these principles and ideals. The formulae of pedagogics 
were reduced in importance, and the present experience of the child was 
magnified. The gospel of the emancipation of the child succeeded the 
gospel of the emancipation of the educational theorist. This gospel was 
published abroad, and verily its day seemed at hand. It was apparently 
only a question of pushing a few more old fogies out of the way, and 
waiting for others to pass out of existence in the natural course of events, 
and the long-wished-for educational reformation would be accomplished. 

Needless to say, the affair was not quite so simple. The conservative 
was still there. He was there not only as a teacher in the schoolroom, 
but he was there in the board of education ; he was there because he was 
still in the heart and mind of the parent ; because he still possessed and 
controlled the intellectual and moral standards and expectations of the 
community. We began to learn that an educational reform is but one 
phase of a general social modification. 

Moreover, certain evils began to show themselves. Studies were mul- 
tiplied almost indefinitely, often overtaxing the physical and mental 
strength of both teacher and child, leading to a congestion of the curricu- 
lum, to a distraction and dissipation of aim and effort on the part of 
instructor and pupil. Too often an excess of emotional excitement and 
strain abruptly replaced the former apathy and dull routine of the school. 
There were complaints in every community of loss of efficiency in the 
older studies, and of a letting down of the seriousness of mental training. 
It is not necessary to consider how well founded these objections iiave 
been. The fact that they are so commonly made, the fact that these 
newer studies are often regarded simply as fads and frills, is sufficient 



15° NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

evidence of the main point, viz.: of the external and mechanical position 
occupied by these studies in the curriculum. Numbers of cities thruout 
the country point the moral. When the winds blew and the rains fell — 
in the shape of a financial stringency in the community and the business 
conduct of the school — the new educational edifice too often fell. It 
may not have been built entirely upon the sand, but at all events it was 
not founded upon a rock. The taxpayer spoke, and somehow the studies 
which represented the symmetrical development of the child and the 
necessity of giving him the concrete before the abstract went into 
eclipse. 

It is, of course, agreeable for those who believe in progress, in reform, 
in new ideals, to attribute these reactions to a hard and stiff-necked gen- 
eration who willfully refuse to recognize the highest goods when they see 
them. It is agreeable to regard such as barbarians who are interested 
simply in turning back the wheels of progress. The simple fact, however, 
is that education is the one thing in which the American people believe 
without reserve, and to which they are without reserve committed. 
Indeed, I sometimes think that the necessity of education is the only 
settled article in the shifting and confused social and moral creed of 
America. If, then, the American public fails, in critical cases, to stand 
by the educational newcomers, it is because these latter have not yet 
become organic parts of the educational whole — otherwise they could not 
be cut out. They are not really in the unity of educational movement — 
otherwise they could not be arrested. They are still insertions and addi- 
tions. 

Consider the wave by which a new study is introduced into the cur- 
riculum. Someone feels that the school system of his (or quite frequently 
nowadays her) town is falling behind the times. There are rumors of 
great progress in education making elsewhere. Something new and 
important has been introduced ; education is being revolutionized by 
it ; the school superintendent, or members of the board of education, 
become somewhat uneasy; the matter is taken up by individuals and 
clubs ; pressure is brought to bear on the managers of the school system ; 
letters are written to the newspapers ; the editor himself is appealed to to 
use his great power to advance the cause of progress; editorials appear; 
finally the school board ordains that on and after a certain date the par- 
ticular new branch — be it nature study, industrial drawing, cooking, 
manual training, or whatever — shall be taught in the public schools. The 
victory is won, and everybody — unless it be some already overburdened 
and distracted teacher — congratulates everybody else that such advanced 
steps are taking. 

The next year, or possibly the next month, there comes an outcry that 
children do not write or spell or figure as well as they used to ; that they 
cannot do the necessary work in the upper grades, or in the high school, 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 151 

because of lack of ready command of the necessary tools of study. We 
are told that they also are not prepared for business, because their spelling 
is so poor, their work in addition and multiplication so slow and inaccu- 
rate, their handwriting so fearfully and wonderfully made. Some zealous 
soul on the school board takes up this matter ; the newspapers are again 
heard from ; investigations are set on foot ; and the edict goes forth that 
there must be more drill in the fundamentals of writing, spelling, and 
number. 

Moreover, in the last year or two there are many signs that the older 
and traditional studies do not propose to be ignored. For a long time, 
as already intimated, the conservative was, upon the whole, quite content 
to surrender the intellectual and emotional territory, the sphere of theory 
and of warmly toned ideals, to the reformer. He was content because he, 
after all, remained in possession of the field of action. But now there are 
symptoms of another attitude ; the conservative is, so to speak, coming to 
intellectual and moral consciousness himself. He is asserting that in his 
conservatism he stands for more than the mere customs and traditions of 
an outworn past. He asserts that he stands for honesty of work, for sta- 
bility, for thoroness, for singleness of aim and concentration of agencies, 
for a reasonable simplicity. He is actively probing the innovator. He is 
asking questions regarding the guarantees of personal and intellectual dis- 
cipline, of power of control, of ability to work. He is asking whether 
there is not danger of both teacher and child being lost in the portentous 
multiplication of studies. He is asking about the leisure requisite to 
intellectual and mental digestion, and subsequent growth. He is asking 
whether there is not danger to integrity of character in arousing so many 
interests and impulses that no one of them is carried thru to an effect- 
ive result. These are not matters of mere school procedure or formal 
arrangement of studies, but matters fundamental to intellectual and moral 
achievement. Moreover, some recent magazine articles seem to indicate 
that some few, at least, of the reformers are themselves beginning to 
draw back ; they are apparently wondering if this new-created child of 
theirs be not a Frankenstein, which is to turn and rend its creator. They 
seem to be saying : " Possibly we are in danger of going too fast and 
too far; what and where are the limits of this thing we have entered 
upon ? " 

My sketch, however inadequate, is yet, I hope, true to the logic, if not 
to the details, of history. What emerges from this running account ? 
What does it all mean ? Does it not signify that we have a situation 
in process of forming rather than a definitive situation ? The history 
reflects both our lack of intellectual organization and the developing 
recognition of the factors which must enter into any such organization. 
From this point of view, the renewed self-assertion, from the standpoint 
of theory, of the adherents of the traditional curriculum is a matter of 



152 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION TChicago 

congratulation. It shows that we are emerging from the period of prac- 
tical struggle to that of intellectual interpretation and adjustment. As 
yet, however, we have no conscious educational standard by which to test 
and place each aspiring claimant. We have hundreds of reasons for and 
against this or that study, but no reason. Having no sense of the unity 
of experience, and of the definitive relation of each branch of study to 
that unity, we have no criterion by which to judge and decide. We yield to 
popular pressure and clamor ; first on the side of the instinct for progress, 
and then on the side of the habit of inertia. As a result, every movement, 
whether for nature study or spelling, for picture study or arithmetic, for 
manual training or more legible handwriting, is treated as an isolated and 
independent thing. It fs this separation, this lack of vital unity, which 
leads to the confusion and contention which are so marked features of 
the educational situation. Lacking a philosophy of unity, we have no 
basis upon which to make connections, and our whole treatment becomes 
piecemeal, empirical, and at the mercy of external circumstances. 

The problem of the course of study is thus, in effect, a part of the 
larger problem so pressing in all departments of the organization of 
life. Everywhere we have outgrown old methods and standards ; every- 
where we are crowded by new resources, new instrumentalities ; we are 
bewildered by the multitude of new opportunities that present themselves. 
Our difficulties of today come, not from paucity or poverty, but from the 
multiplication of means clear beyond pur present powers of use and 
administration. We have got away from the inherited and customary; 
we have not come into complete possession and command of the present. 
Unification, organization, harmony, is the demand of every aspect of 
life — politics, business, science. That education shares in the confusion 
of transition, and in the demand for reorganization, is a source of 
encouragement and not of despair. It proves how integrally the school 
is bound up with the entire movement of modern life. 

The situation thus ceases to be a conflict between what is called the 
old education and the new. There is no longer any old education, save 
here and there in some belated geographic area. There is no new edu- 
cation in definitive and supreme existence. What we have is certain 
vital tendencies. These tendencies ought to work together; each stands 
for a phase of reality and contributes a factor of efficiency. But because 
of lack of organization, because of the lack of unified insight upon which 
organization depends, these tendencies are diverse and tangential. Too 
often we have their mechanical combination and irrational compromise. 
More prophetic, because more vital, is the confusion which arises from 
their conflict. We have been putting new wine into old bottles, and that 
which was prophesied has come to pass. 

To recognize that the situation is not the wholesale antagonism of 
so-called old education by the so-called new, but a question of the 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 1 53 

co-operative adjustment of necessary factors in a common situation, is 
to surrender our partisanship. It is to cease our recriminations and our 
self-conceits, and search for a more comprehensive end than is represented 
by either factor apart from the other. It is impossible to anticipate the 
exact and final outcome of this search. Only time, and the light that 
comes with time, can reveal the answer. The first step, however, is to 
study the existing situation impartially, as students, not as partisans, and, 
having located the vital factors in it, consider what it is that makes them at 
the present juncture antagonistic competitors instead of co-operative forces. 

The question is just this : Why do the newer studies, drawing,, music, 
nature study, manual training; and the older studies, the three R's, 
practically conflict with, instead of reinforcing, one another? Why is it 
that the practical problem is so often simply one of outward annexation 
or mechanical compromise ? Why is it that the adjustment of the con- 
flict is left to the mere push and pull of contending factors, to the pressure 
of local circumstances and of temporary reactions ? 

An answer to this question is, I believe, the indispensable preliminary 
to any future understanding. Put roughly, we have two groups of studies ; 
one represents the symbols of the intellectual life, which are the tools of 
civilization itself; the other group stands for the direct and present 
expression of power on the part of one undergoing education, and for 
the present and direct enrichment of his life-experience. For reasons 
historically adequate, the former group represents the traditional educa- 
tion ; the latter, the efforts of the innovator. Intrinsically speaking, in 
the abstract, there is no reason to assume any fundamental, or even any 
minor, antagonism between these two groups. Such an assumption would 
mean that the requirements of civilization are fundamentally at war with 
the conditions of individual development ; that the agencies by which 
society maintains itself are at radical odds with the forms by which indi- 
vidual experience is deepened and expanded. Unless we are ready to 
concede such a fundamental contradiction in the make-up of life, we 
must hold that the present contention is the result of conditions which 
are local and transitory. 

I offer the following proposition as giving the key to the conflict: 

The studies of the symbolic and formal sort represented the aims 
and material of education for a sufficiently long time to call into exist- 
ence a machinery of administration and of instruction thoroly adapted to 
themselves. This machinery constituted the actual working scheme of 
administration and instruction. The conditions thus constituted persist 
long after the studies to which they are well adapted have lost their 
theoretical supremacy. The conflict, the confusion, the compromise, is 
not intrinsically between the older group of studies and the newer, but 
between the external conditions in which the former were realized and 
the aims and standards represented by the newer. 



154 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

It is easy to fall into the habit of regarding the mechanics of school 
organization and administration as something comparatively external and 
indifferent to educational purposes and ideals. We think of the group- 
ing of children in classes, the arrangement of grades, the machinery by 
which the course of study is made out and laid down, the method by 
which it is carried into effect, the system of selecting teachers and of 
assigning them to their work, of paying and promoting them, as, in away, 
matters of mere practical convenience and expediency. We forget that 
it is precisely such things as these that really control the whole system, 
even on its distinctively educational side. No matter what is the accepted 
precept and theory, no matter what the legislation of the school board 
or the mandate of the school superintendent, the reality of education is 
found in the personal and face-to-face contact of teacher and child. 
The conditions that underlie and regulate this contact dominate the 
educational situation. 

In this contact, and in it alone, can the reality of current education 
be got at. To get away from it is to be ignorant and to deceive ourselves. 
It is in this contact that the real course of study, whatever be laid down 
on paper, is actually found. Now, the conditions that determine this per- 
sonal relationship are, upon the whole, the survival of the period when 
the domination of the three R's was practically unquestioned. Their 
effectiveness lies in their adaptation to realizing the ends and aims of that 
form of education. They do not lend themselves to realizing the purposes 
of the newer studies. Consequently we never get the full benefit either 
of the old or of the new studies. They work at cross-purposes. The 
excellence which the conditions would possess if they were directed solely 
at securing progress in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and allied topics, 
is lost because of the introduction of material irrelevant and distracting 
from the standpoint of the conditions. The new studies do not have an 
opportunity to show what they can do because hampered by machinery 
constructed for turning out another kind of goods ; they are not pro- 
vided with their own distinctive set of instrumentalities. Granted this 
contradiction, the only wonder is that the chaos is not greater than it 
actually is; the only wonder is that we are securing such positive' results 
as actually come about. 

Let us study this contradiction somewhat more intimately, taking up 
one by one some of its constituent elements. On the side of the machinery 
of school-work I mention first the number of children in a room. This 
runs in the graded schools of our country anywhere from thirty-five to 
sixty. This can hardly be said to be an ideal condition, even from the 
standpoint of uniform progress in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and 
the symbols of geography and history; but it certainly is indefinitely 
better adapted to securing these results than that of the symmetrical and 
complete development of all the powers, physical, mental, moral, aesthetic, 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 155 

of each individual child out of the entire fifty. From the standpoint of 
the latter aim, the discrepancy is so great that the situation is either ridicu- 
lous or tragic. Under such circumstances, how do we have the face to 
continue to speak at all of the complete development of the individual as 
the supreme end of educational effort ? Excepting here and there with 
the genius who seems to rise above all conditions, the school environment 
and machinery almost compel the more mechanical features of school- 
work to lord it over the more vital aims. 

We get the same result when we consider, not the number of children 
in a given grade, but the arrangement of grades. The distribution into 
separate years, each with its own distinctive and definite amount of ground 
to be covered, the assignment of one and only one teacher to a grade, the 
confinement of the same teacher to the same grade year by year, save as 
she is " promoted " to a higher grade, introduce an isolation which is 
fatal, I will not say to good work, but to the effective domination of the 
ideal of continuous development of character and personal powers. The 
unity and wholeness of the child's development can be realized only in a 
corresponding unity and continuity of school conditions. Anything that 
breaks the latter up into fractions, into isolated parts, must have the same 
influence upon the educative growth of the child.* 

It may, however, be admitted that these conditions, while highly impor- 
tant as regards the aims of education, have little or nothing to do with the 
course of study — with the subject-matter of instruction. But a little 
reflection will show that the material of study is profoundly affected. The 
conditions which compel the children to be dealt with en masse, which 
compel them to be led in flocks, if not in hordes, make it necessary to 
give the stress of attention to those studies in which some sort of definite 
result can be most successfully attained, without much appeal to individual 
initiative, judgment, or inquiry. Almost of necessity, attention to the 
newer studies whose value is dependent upon personal appropriation, 
assimilation, and expression is incidental and superficial. The results 
with the latter are naturally often so unsatisfactory that they are held 
responsible for the evil consequences ; we fail to trace the matter back to 
the conditions which control the result reached. Upon the whole, it is 
testimony to the vitality of these studies that in such a situation the results 
are not worse than they actually are. 

Unless the teacher has opportunity and occasion to study the educative 
process as a whole, not as divided into eight or twelve or sixteen parts, it 
is impossible to see how he can deal effectively with the problem of the 
complete development of the child. The restriction of outlook to one 
limited year of the child's growth will inevitably tend in one of two 
directions : either the teacher's work becomes mechanical, because practi- 
cally limited to covering the work assigned for the year, irrespective of its 

x I am indebted to Mrs. Ella F. Young's thesis Isolation in the School for many suggestions. 



156 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

nutritive value in the child's growth ; or else less local and transitive 
phases of the child's development are seized upon — phases which too 
often go by the name of the interests of the child — and these are exagger- 
ated out of all due bounds. Since the newer studies give most help in 
making this excessive and sensational appeal, these studies are held 
responsible for the evils that subsequently show themselves. As a matter 
of fact, the cause of the difficulty lies in the isolation and restriction of 
the work of the teacher which practically forbids his considering the 
significance of art, music, and nature study in the light of continuity and 
completeness of growth. 

This unity and completeness must, however, be cared for somehow. 
Since not looked out for on the basis of the teacher's knowledge of the 
whole process of which his own work is one organic member, it is taken 
care of thru external supervision and the mechanics of examination and 
promotion. Connection must somehow be made between the various 
fractional parts — the successive grades. The supervisor, the principal, 
is the recourse. Acting, however, not thru the medium of the conscious- 
ness of the class-room teacher, but thru the medium of external prescrip- 
tion and advice, the inevitable tendency is to arrest attention upon those 
parts of the subject-matter which lend themselves to external assignment 
and conjunction. Even music, drawing, and manual training are pro- 
foundly influenced by this fact. Their own vital aims and spirit are 
compromised, or even surrendered, to the necessities for laying out a 
course of study in such a manner that one year's work may fit externally 
into that of the next. Thus they part with much of their own distinctive 
and characteristic value, and become, to a considerable extent, simple 
additions to the number of routine studies carried by children and 
teacher. They serve no new purpose of their own, but add to the 
burden of the old. It is no wonder that, when the burden gets too great, 
there is demand that they be lopped off as excrescences upon the educa- 
tional system. 

The matter of promotion from grade to grade has a precisely similar 
effect upon the course of study. It is, from the standpoint of the child, 
just what the isolation and external combination already alluded to are 
from the side of the teacher. The things of the spirit do not lend them- 
selves easily to that kind of external inspection which goes by the name 
of examination. They do not lend themselves easily to exact quantitative 
measurement. Technical proficiency, acquisition of skill and information, 
present much less difficulty. So again emphasis is thrown upon those 
traditional subjects of the school curriculum which permit most readily 
of a mechanical treatment — upon the three R's and upon the facts of 
external classification in history and science, matters of formal technique 
in music, drawing, and manual training. Continuity, order, must be 
somehow maintained — if not the order and method of the spirit, then at 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 157 

least of external conditions. Nothing is gained by throwing everything 
into chaos. In this sense the' conservative is thoroly right when he insists 
upon the maintenance of the established traditions of the school as 
regards the tests of the pupil's ability and preparation for promotion. 
He fails, however, to recognize the other alternative : that the looseness 
and confusion, the vagueness in accomplishment and in test of accom- 
plishment of which he complains, may be due, not to the new studies 
themselves, but to the unfit conditions under which they operate. 

I have already alluded to the fact that at present the teacher is hardly 
enabled to get a glimpse of the educative process as a whole, and 
accordingly is reduced to adding together the various external bits into 
which that unity is broken. We get exactly the same result when we 
consider the way in which the course of study is determined. The fact 
that this is fixed by board of education, superintendent, or supervisor, by 
a power outside the teacher in the class-room who alone can make that 
course of study a living reality, is a fact too obvious to be concealed. It 
is, however, comparatively easy to conceal from ourselves the tremendous 
import of this fact. As long as the teacher, who is after all the only real 
educator in the school system, has no definite and authoritative position 
in shaping the course of study, that is likely to remain an external thing 
to be externally applied to the child. 

A school board or a superintendent can lay out a course of study 
down to the point of stating exactly the number of pages of text-books to 
be covered in each year, each term and month of the year. It may pre- 
scribe the exact integers and fraction of integers with which the child 
shall make scholastic acquaintance during any period of his instruction ; 
it may directly or indirectly define the exact shapes to be reproduced in 
drawing, or mention the exact recipes to be followed in cooking. Doubt- 
less the experience of the individual teacher who makes the connections 
between these things and the life of the child will receive incidental 
attention in laying out these courses. But, so long as the teacher has no 
definite voice, the attention will be only incidental ; and, as a further 
consequence, the average teacher will give only incidental study to the 
problems involved. If his work is the task of carrying out the instruc- 
tions imposed upon him, then his time and thought must be absorbed in 
the matter of execution. There is no motive for interest, of a thoroly 
vital and alert sort, in questions of. the intrinsic value of the subject- 
matter and its adaptation to the needs of child growth. He may be 
called upon by official requirements, or the pressure of circumstance, to 
be a student of pedagogical books and journals ; but conditions relieve 
him of the necessity of being a student of the most fundamental educa- 
tional problems in their most urgent reality. 

The teacher needs to study the mechanics of successfully carrying 
into effect the prescribed matter of instruction; he does not have to 



158 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION [Chicago 

study that matter itself, or its educative bearing. Needless to say, the 
effect of this upon the actual course of study is to emphasize the thought 
and time given to those subjects, and phases of subjects, where there is 
most promise of success in doing the exact things prescribed. The three 
R's are again magnified, and the technical and routine aspects of the 
newer studies tend to crowd out those elements that give them their 
deeper significance in intellectual and moral life. Since, however, the 
school must have relief from monotony, must have " interest," must have 
diversification and recreation, these studies become too easily tools for 
the introduction of the supposedly necessary excitement and amusement 
of the child. The judicious observer who sees below the surface, but not 
to the foundation, again discounts these studies. Meanwhile the actual 
efficiency of the three R's is hampered and lessened by the super- 
addition of the new ways of employing time, whether they be routine or 
exciting in character. 

It may easily be said that the class-room teacher at present is not 
sufficiently educated to be intrusted with any part in shaping a course of 
study. I waive the fundamental question — the question of democracy — 
whether the needed education can be secured without giving more 
responsibility even to the comparatively uneducated. The objection sug- 
gests another fundamental condition in our present school procedure — 
the question of the status of the teacher as regards selection and appoint- 
ment. 

The real course of study must come to the child from the teacher. 
What gets to the child is dependent upon what is in the mind and con- 
sciousness of the teacher, and upon the way it is in his mind. It is thru 
the teacher that the value even of what is contained in the text-book is 
brought home to the child; just in the degree in which the teacher's 
understanding of the material of the lessons is vital, adequate, and com- 
prehensive, will that material come to the child in the same form ; in the 
degree in which the teacher's understanding is mechanical, superficial, 
and restricted, the child's appreciation will be correspondingly limited and 
perverted. If this be true, it is obviously futile to plan large expansions 
of the studies of the curriculum beyond the education of the teacher. I 
am far from denying the capacity on the part of truth above and beyond 
the comprehension of the teacher to filter thru to the mind of an aspir- 
ing child ; but, upon the whole, it is certain beyond controversy that the 
success of the teacher in teaching, and of the pupil in learning, will 
depend upon the intellectual equipment of the teacher. 

To put literature into a course of study quite irrespective of the 
teacher's personal appreciation of literary values — to say nothing of 
accurate discrimination as to the facts — is to go at the matter from the 
wrong end. To enact that at a given date all the grades of a certain city 
shall have nature study is to invite confusion and distraction. It would 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 159 

be comic (if it were not tragic) to suppose that all that is required 
to make music and drawing a part of the course of study is to have 
the school board legislate that a certain amount of the time of the 
pupil, covering a certain prescribed ground, shall be given to work 
with pencil and paper, and to musical exercises. There is no magic 
by which these things can pass over from the printed page of the school 
manual to the child's consciousness. If the teacher has no standard of 
value in relation to them, no intimate personal response of feeling to 
them, no conception of the methods of art which alone bring the child to 
a corresponding intellectual and emotional attitude, these studies will 
remain what precisely they so often are — passing recreations, modes of 
showing off, or exercises in technique. 

The special teacher has arisen because of the recognition of the inade- 
quate preparation of the average teacher to get the best results with these 
newer subjects. Special teaching, however, shifts rather than solves the 
problem. As already indicated, the question is a twofold one. It is a 
question, not only of what is known, but of how it is known. The special 
instructor in nature study or art may have a better command of the what 
— of the actual material to be taught — but be deficient in the conscious- 
ness of the relations borne by that particular subject to other forms of 
experience in the child, and, therefore, to his own personal growth. 
When this is the case we exchange King Log for King Stork. We exchange 
an ignorant and superficial teaching for a vigorous but one-sided, because 
over-specialized, mode of instruction. The special teacher in manual 
training or what not, having no philosophy of education — having, that is, 
no view of the whole of which his own subject is a part — isolates that study 
and works it out wholly in terms of itself. His beginning and his end, as 
well as the intermediate materials and methods, fall within manual train- 
ing. This may give technical facility, but it is not (save incidentally) 
education. 

This is not an attack upon special or departmental teaching. On the 
contrary, I have just pointed out that this mode of teaching has arisen 
absolutely in response to the demands of the situation. Since our pres- 
ent teachers are so largely an outcome of the older education, the 
so-called all-around teacher is for the most part a myth. Moreover, it is 
a mistake to suppose that we can secure the all-around teacher merely by 
instructing him in a larger number of branches. In the first place, human 
capacity is limited. The person whose interests and powers are all-around 
is not as a rule teaching in grade schools. He is at the head of the great 
scientific, industrial, and political enterprises of civilization. But granted 
that the average teacher could master ten distinct studies as well as five, 
it still remains true that without intellectual organization, without definite 
insight into the relation of these studies to one another and to the whole 
of life, without ability to present them to the child from the standpoint 



160 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicgo 

of such insight, we simply add an overburdened and confused teacher to 
the overburdened and confused child. In a word, to make the teaching 
in the newer studies thoroly effective, whether by specialists or by the 
all-around teacher, there must, in addition to knowledge of the particu- 
lar branch, be sanity, steadiness, and system in the mental attitude 
of the instructor. It is folly to suppose that we can carry on the educa- 
tion of the child apart from the education of the teacher. 

If I were to touch upon certain other matters fundamentally con- 
nected with the problem of securing the teachers who make the nominal 
course of study a reality, I should be started upon an almost endless road. 
However, we must not pass on without at least noticing that the question 
is one of political, as well as of intellectual, organization. An adequate 
view of the whole situation would take into account the general social 
conditions upon which depends the actual supplying of teachers to the 
schoolroom. The education of the candidate, of the would-be teacher, 
might be precisely that outlined above, and yet it would remain, to a large 
extent, inoperative, if the appointment of school-teachers was at the 
mercy of personal intrigue, political bargaining, and the effort of some 
individual or class to get power in the community thru manipulation 
of patronage. It is sentimental to suppose that any large and decisive 
reform in the course of study can take place as long as such agencies 
influence what actually comes in a living way to the life of the child. 

Nor in a more comprehensive view could we be entirely silent upon 
the need of commercial as well as political reform. Publishing com- 
panies affect not only the text-books and apparatus, the garb with which 
the curriculum clothes itself, but also and in direct fashion the course of 
study itself. New studies are introduced because some pushing firm, by 
a happy coincidence, has exactly the books which are needed to make 
that study successful. Old studies which should be entirely displaced (if 
there be any logic in the introduction of the new one) are retained 
because there is a vested interest behind them. Happy is the large 
school system which is free from the congestion and distraction arising 
from just such causes as these. And yet there are those who discuss the 
relative merits of what they are pleased to call old and new education as 
if it were purely an abstract and intellectual matter. 

But we cannot enter upon these larger phases. It is enough if we 
recognize the typical signs indicating the impossibility of separating 
either the theoretical discussion of the course of study or the problem of 
its practical efficiency from intellectual and social conditions which at 
first sight are far removed ; it is enough if we recognize that the question 
of the course of study is a question in the organization of knowledge, in 
the organization of life, in the organization of society. And, for more 
immediate purposes, it is enough to recognize that certain conditions 
imbedded in the present scheme of school administration affect so 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 161 

* » 

profoundly results reached by the newer studies, by manual training, art 
and nature study, that it is absurd to discuss the value or lack of value of 
the latter, without taking these conditions into account. I recur to my 
original proposition : that these studies are not having their own career, 
are not exhibiting their own powers, but are hampered and compromised 
by a school machinery originated and developed with reference to quite 
different ends and aims. The real conflict is not between a certain group 
of studies, the three R's, those having to do with the symbols and tools 
of intellectual life, and other studies representing the personal develop- 
ment of the child, but between our professed ends and the means we 
are using to realize these ends. 

The popular assumption, however, is to the contrary. It is still the 
common belief (and not merely in popular thought, but among those who 
profess to speak with authority) that the two groups of studies are 
definitely opposed to each other in their aims and methods, in the mental 
attitude demanded from the child, in the kind of work called for from 
the instructor. It is assumed that we have a conflict between one group 
of studies dealing only with the forms and symbols of knowledge, studies 
to be mastered by mechanical drill, and between those which appeal to 
the vital concerns of child life and afford present satisfaction. This 
assumed opposition has been so clearly stated in a recent educational 
document that I may be pardoned quoting at length : 

In regard to education we may divide the faculties into two classes — the doing 
faculties and the thinking faculties. By the doing faculties I mean those mechanical 
habits which are essential to the acquisition of knowledge, and are pure arts, such as the 
art of reading ; that of performing arithmetical operations with rapidity and correctness ; 
that of expressing thoughts in legible characters, and in words of grammatical arrange- 
ment. These arts can only be acquired by laborious drilling on the part of the teacher, 
and labor on the part of the pupil. They require little instruction, but repetition until 
they are performed with ease and almost pleasure. To neglect to impart these habits is 
to do a great injury to the child; nothing should be substituted for them, though instruc- 
tion in other branches which require more thought and less art may be mingled .as 
recreations with them. 

I have never seen so condensed and comprehensive a statement of the 
incompatibility of aims and method for both teacher and pupil as is given 
here. On one side we have " doing faculties," by which is meant powers 
of pure external efficiency. These find their expression in what are 
termed "arts," which is interpreted to mean purely mechanical habits — 
sheer routine facility. These are acquired by continued drill on the part 
of the teacher, and continued laborious repetition on the part of the 
child. Thought is not required in the process, nor is the result " instruc- 
tion" — that is, a real building up of the mind; the outcome is simply 
command of powers, value not in themselves, but as tools of further 
knowledge, as " essential to the acquisition of knowledge." The scheme 
of contrasting studies is not so well developed. It is made clear, however, 



1 62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION ^ [Chicago 

that they appeal to thought, not to mechanical habits, and that they 
proceed by instruction, not by drill. It is further implied that their 
exercise is attended not so much with labor as with pleasure on the part 
of the child — which may be interpreted to mean that they have a present 
value in the life of the child, and are not mere instrumentalities of 
further advancement. The situation as regards school -work is contained 
in the proposition that the mechanical facilities based upon sheer drill 
and laborious repetition must make up the bulk of the elementary educa- 
tion, while the studies which involve thought, the furnishing of the mind 
itself, and result in a direct expansion of life, "may be mingled as recrea- 
tions." They may be permitted, in other words, in the schoolroom as an 
occasional relief from the laborious drill of the more important studies. 

Here is the dividing wall. The wall has been somewhat undermined ; 
breaches have been worn in it ; it has, as it were, been bodily pushed 
along until the studies of thought, of instruction, and of present satisfaction 
occupy a greater bulk of school time and work. But the wall is still there. 
The mechanical habits that are essential to the acquisition of knowl- 
edge, the art of reading, of performing arithmetical operations, and 
of expressing thought legibly and grammatically, are still the serious 
business of the schoolroom.. Nature study, manual training, music, and 
art are incidents introduced because of the interests they provide, because 
they appeal to ability to think, arouse general intelligence, and add to 
the fund of information. A house divided against itself cannot stand. 
If the results of our present system are not altogether and always satis- 
factory, shall we engage in crimination and recrimination — setting the 
old studies against the new and the new against the old — or shall we 
hold responsible the organization, or lack of organization, intellectual 
and administrative, in the school system itself ? If the old bottles will 
not hold the new wine, it is conceivable that we should blame neither the 
bottles nor the wine, but conditions which have brought the two into 
mechanical and external relation to each other. 

If my remarks in dwelling upon the split and contradiction in the 
present situation appear to take an unnecessarily gloomy view of the situa- 
tion, it should be remembered that this view is optimism itself as com- 
pared with the theory which holds that the two groups of studies are 
radically opposed to each other in their ends, results, and methods. Such 
a theory holds that there is a fundamental contradiction between the 
present and the future needs of the child, between what his life requires 
as immediate nutritive material and what it needs as preparation for the 
future. It assumes a fundamental conflict between that which nourishes 
the spirit of the child and that which affords the instrumentalities of 
social progress. The practical consequences are as disastrous as the 
logical split is complete. If the opposition be an intrinsic one, then the 
present conflict and confusion in the schoolroom are permanent and not 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY • 63 

transitory. We shall be forever oscillating between extremes : now lend- 
ing ourselves with enthusiasm to the introduction of art and music and 
manual training, because they give vitality to the school-work and relief 
to the child ; now querulously complaining of the evil results reached, 
and insisting with all positiveness upon the return of good old days when 
reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic were adequately taught. Since 
by the theory there is no possibility of an organic connection, of co- opera- 
tive relation, between the two types of study, the relative position of each 
in the curriculum must be decided from arbitrary and external grounds ; 
by the wish and zeal of some strong man, or by the pressure of temporary 
popular sentiment. At the best we can get only a compromise ; at the 
worst we get a maximum of routine with a halo of sentiment thrown 
about it, or a great wish-wash of superficiality covering up the residuum 
of grind. 

As compared with such a view, the conception that the conflict is not 
inherent in the studies themselves, but arises from maladjustment of 
school conditions, from survival of a mode of educational administration 
that was adapted to different ends from those which how appeal to us, is 
encouragement itself. The problem becomes first an intellectual and then 
a practical one. Intellectually what is needed is a philosophy of organiza- 
tion ; a view of the organic unity of the educative process and educative 
material, and of the place occupied in this whole by each of its own 
parts. We need to know just what reading and writing and number do 
for the present life of the child, and how they do it. We need to know 
what the method of mind is which underlies subject-matter in cooking, 
shop-work, and nature study, so that they may become effective for 
discipline, and not mere sources of present satisfaction and mere agencies 
of relief — so that they too may become as definitely modes of effective 
preparation for the needs of society as reading, writing, and arithmetic 
have ever been. 

With our minds possessed by a sane and coherent view of the whole 
situation, we may attempt such a gradual, yet positive, modification of 
existing procedure as will enable us to turn theory into practice. Let us 
not be too precipitate, however, in demanding light upon just what to do 
next. We should remember that there are times when the most practical 
thing is to face the intellectual problem, and to get a clear and compre- 
hensive survey of the theoretical factors involved. The existing situation, 
with all its rigidity and all its confusion, will nevertheless indicate plenty 
of points of leverage, plenty of intelligent ways of straightening things 
out, to one who approaches it with any clear conviction of the ends he 
wishes to reach, and of the obstacles in the way. An enlightenment of 
vision is the prerequisite of efficiency in conduct. The conservative may 
devote himself to the place of reading and writing and arithmetic in the 
curriculum so that they shall vitally connect with the present needs of the 



164 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION [Chicago 

— - - — - i- -~- i i i . i . _ 

child's life, and afford the satisfaction that always comes with the fulfill- 
ment, the expression, of present power. The reformer may attack the 
problem, not at large and all over the entire fieW, but at the most promis- 
ing point, whether it be art or manual training or nature study, and con- 
centrate all his efforts upon educating alike the community, the teacher, 
and the child into the knowledge of fundamental methods of individual 
mind and of community life embodied in that study. All can devote 
themselves to the problem of the better education of the teacher, and 
doing away with the hindrances to placing the right teacher in the school- 
room ; to the hindrances of continued growth after he is placed there. 
The American people believe in education above all else, and when the 
educators have come to some agreement as to what education is, the com- 
munity will not be slow in placing at their disposal the equipment and 
resources necessary to make their ideal a reality. 

In closing let me say that I have intentionally emphasized the obstacles 
to further progress, rather than congratulated you upon the progress 
already made. The anomaly and confusion have, after all, been of some 
use. In some respects the blind conflict of the last two generations of 
educational history has been a better way of changing the conditions than 
would have been some wholesale and a priori rearrangement. The forms 
of genuine growth always come slowly. The struggle of the newer 
studies to get a foothold in the curriculum, with all the attendant con- 
fusion, is an experiment carried out on a large scale ; an experiment in 
natural selection, in the survival of the fit in educational forms. 

Yet there must come a time when blind experimentation is to give 
way to something more directed. The struggle should bring out the 
factors in the problem so that we can go more intelligently to work in 
its solution. The period of blind striving, of empirical adjustment, try- 
ing now this and now that, making this or that combination because it is 
feasible for the time being, of advancing here and retreating there, of 
giving headway now to the instinct of progress and now to the habit of 
inertia, should find an outcome in some illumination of vision, in some 
clearer revelation of the realities of the situation. As this comes, the 
time grows ripe for scientific experimentation ; that is, for a more organ- 
ized philosophy of experience in education, and for a corresponding 
attempt to regulate conditions so as to make actual the aims recognized as 
desirable. It is uneconomical to prolong the period of conflict between 
incompatible tendencies. It makes for intellectual hypocrisy to suppose 
that we are doing what we are not doing. It weakens the nerve of judg- 
ment and the fiber of action to submit to conditions which prevent the 
realization of aims to which we profess ourselves to be devoted. 

My topic is the situation as regards the course of study. In a some- 
what more limited and precise view than I have previously taken of the 
situation, I believe we are now ncaring the close of the time of tentative, 



Superintendence] SITUATION AS REGARDS COURSE OF STUDY 165 

blind, empirical experimentation ; that we are close to the opportunity of 
planning our work on the basis of a coherent philosophy of experience 
and of the relation of school studies to that experience; that we can 
accordingly take up steadily and wisely the effort of changing school 
conditions so as to make real the aims that command the assent of intel- 
ligence. 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF ACTIVE MEMBERS 

ENROLLED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS FOR 1S0D 

(CHARLESTON MEETING) 



APRIL 20, 1901 



(The marginal figures indicate year of enrollment; the indented figures, the year of appointment to 
present educational position.) 

1900 L. R. Abbott, B.Sc, El. Eng., '94, B.Sc, Mech. Eng., '95, Worcester Polytechnic Inst., Mass. 

1899, Director of Manual Training, City Schools, 828, 16th St., Moline, 111. 
1900 Henry L. Adams, B.Sc, '97, Upper Iowa Univ. 

1900, County Superintendent of Schools, West Union, la. 
1900 Charles S. Aldrich, A.B., Northwestern Univ., Evanston, 111. 

1897, Superintendent of City Schools, 609 N. ad Ave.; Canton, 111. 

1900 William Edward Andrews, A.B., '84, A.M., '88, Blackburn Univ. ; Ph.D., 1900, 111. Wesleyan Univ. 

1894, Principal of Township High School, Taylorville, 111. 
1900 Armour Institute of Technology. 

Acting President, Victor C. Alderson ; Librarian, A. J. Strohm, Chicago, 111. 
1900 Robert Armstrong, M.D.. Jefferson Coll., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Author and Publisher of " Glossography," 3x04 S. Park Ave., Chicago, 111. 

1900 Arthur J. Barnes. 

President of Barnes' Business College, 9th and Locust Sts., St. Louis, Mo. 

1901 Willard Streeter Bass, A.B., '96, Bowdoin Coll. ; A.M., '99, Harvard Univ. 

1900, Teacher in Chicago Institute, 690 Wells St., Chicago, 111. 

1900 A. D. Bebchy, A.B., '80, Mt. Union Coll. ; Ph.D., Wooster Univ. 

1891, Superintendent of Schools, 60 S. Linwood St., Norwalk, O. 

1901 Anson H. Bigblow, B.Sc, '87, Univ. of Neb. 

Superintendent of City Schools, Le Mars, la. 
1900 W. S. Bixlbr, Lit.B., Lincoln Univ. 

1899, Superintendent of Public Schools, Virginia, 111. 

1900 Edward Lbvoisibr Blackshear, A.B., '8i, Tabor Coll., la. 

1896, Principal of State Normal and Industrial College, Prairie View, Tex. 

1901 Frank David Boynton, A.B., '91, Middlebury Coll. ; A.M., '94, Hamilton Coll. 

1900, Superintendent of Public Schools, 1x4 S. Geneva St., Ithaca, N. Y. 
1900 Claude Brown. 

1898, County Superintendent of Schools, Princeton, 111. 
1900 Z. H. Brown. 

X900, Superintendent of City Schools, 1816 West End Ave., Nashville, Tenn. 
X901 Percy I. Bugbbb, A.M., D.Sc, St. Lawrence Univ. 

1898, Principal of State Normal School, 18 Walnut St., Oneonta, N. Y. 
1900 Butler College. 

President, Scott Butler, Irvington, Ind. 
1900 Cardiff Free Public Libraries. 

Librarian, John Ballinger, Central Library, Cardiff, Wales. 
1900 Ellor E. Carlisle. 

1898, Associate Professor of Pedagogy, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. 
1900 George N. Carman, A.B. 

1885, Director of Lewis Institute, 6x0 Jackson Boul., Chicago, 111. 
1900 William E. Chancellor, A.B., '89. A.M., '95, Amherst Coll. 

1807, Superintendent of schools, 80 Beach St., Bloomfield, N. J. 
1900 Mrs. Ida Hood Clark. 

1900, Supervisor of Manual Training, City Schools, 7x7 S. Warren Ave., Saginaw, Mich. 
1900 J. A. Culler. A.B., '84, Wooster Univ. 

1900. Superintendent of Schools, 309 N. Main St., Kenton, O. 
1900 Charles F. A. Currier, A.B., '87, A.M., '88, Harvard Univ. 

1891, Associate Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass* 
1900 Vernon L. Davey, A.B., Cornell Univ. 

1890. Superintendent of Schools, 33 Munn Ave., East Orange, N. J. 

1900 Jehiel K. Davis. 

1898, Principal of Audubon School, 1033 Sherwin Ave., Rogers Park, Chicago, 111. 

1 90 1 Ambrose C. Dearborn, A.B., '93, Harvard Univ. 

Representing Henry Holt & Co., 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
X900 Denison University, Library. 

Librarian. H. H. Tuttle, Granville, O. 

1898 Edwin G, Dbxtbr. B.Pd., '91, A.M., '92, Brown Univ. : Ph.D., '99, Columbia Univ. 

1900. Professor of Education, University of Illinois, 903 W. Green St., Urbana, 111. 
190X Frances Dickinson, M.D., '83, Woman's Med. Coll. 

President of Harvey Medical College, 169 S. Clark St., Chicago, 111. 

1899 J. J. DOYNE. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Little Rock, Ark. 



Superintendence] SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF MEMBERS 167 

zgoo Edwin F. Dyhr, A.B., '91, LL.B., '92, Ind. Univ. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, 154 E. Main St., Portland, Ind. 
1900 Henry Clinton Emm, A.B., '98 ; A.M., '99, Syracuse Univ. 

1900, Principal of High School, Faribault, Minn, 
zgoo Joseph W. Errant. 

Ex-Member of Botrdof Education, Educational Author, 346 E. 54th St., Chicago, 111. 
1898 Thomas Fell, Ph.D., LL.D. 

x886. President of St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. 
1900 David Felmlby, A.B v '81, Univ. of Mich. 

President of Illinois State Normal University, Normal, 111. 

1900 A. H. Fletcher. 

Superintendent and Principal of Schools, Mauston, Wis. 

1901 J. R. Fortnby. 

Representing American Book Co., 317 Walnut St., Cincinnati, 0. 
190X John N. Foster. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, Lake Geneva, Wis. 
1900 Oliver G. Frederick. 

1900, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 359 West Boul., Detroit,. Mich. 
1900 Free Public Library, Butte, Mont. 

Librarian, J. R. Russel, Butte, Mont. 
1900 Free Public Library, St. Joseph, Mo. 

Librarian, PurdW. Wright, St. Joseph, Mo. 
1900 Free Public Library, Topeka, Kans. 

President, Edward Wilder; Librarian, Mrs. E. S. Lewis, Topeka, Kans. 

1900 Walter H. French. 

zoox, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lansing, Mich. 

1901 Francis M. Fultz, Ph.B., '86. A.M, '89, St. Univ. of Iowa. 

1899, Superintendent of City Schools, 3x3 S. Gunnison St., Burlington, la. 
1900 Clyde Furst, A.M., '95, Dickinson Coll. 

Educational Director, Mountain Seminary, " The Lodge," Birmingham, Pa. 

1900 Joseph S. Gaylord, A.M., '96, Harvard Univ. 

1898, Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy, State Normal School, 351 W. Broadway, 

Winona, Minn. 

1901 Fanny G. Gies. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools of Mower Co., 207 S. Chatham St., Austin, Minn. 

1895 J. L. Goodknight, A.B., '71, Cumberland Univ.; B.D., '79, Union Theol. Sem., N. Y.; D.D., 'go* 
Waynesburg Coll. 

1900, President of Lincoln University, 112 Hudson St., Lincoln, 111. 
1900 C. H. Gordon, B.Sc, '86, M.Sc, '90, Albion Coll. ; Ph.D., '95, Univ. of Chicago. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, 910 S. 13th St., Lincoln, Neb. 
1900 Albert B. Graham. 

Superintendent of Township Schools, 77 Rice St., Springfield, O. 
1900 Frank D. Gray, A.B., Tri- State Nor. Coll., Angola. Ind. 

1897, Superintendent of Schools, Dunkirk, Ind. 
1900 George A. Gregory, B.Sc, '82. 

1900, Superintendent of City Schools, Crete, Neb. 
1900 Edwin O. Grover, B.L., '94, Dartmouth Coll. 

1900, General Editor, Educational Department, Rand, McNally & Co., 166 Adams St., 
Chicago, 111. 
xgox Margaret A. Haley. 

Teacher of Sixth Grade, Elementary Schools, 3403 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1900 J. M. Hamilton, A.B., '93, Nat. Nor. Univ., Lebanon, O. 

1899, Superintendent of Public Schools, Lebanon, O. 
1900 George W. Hanna, B.Didac, '94. M.Didac, '99, Highland Park Coll., Iowa. 

1899, Superintendent of City Schools, Valley City, N. D. 
1900 J. V. Harris, A.B., '53, Univ. of Miss. ; M.D., '6x, Univ. of Iowa. 

1900, Superintendent of Public Instruction, MoLroe Co., 3x7 Duval St., Key West, Fla. 
1900 Mrs. Agnes M. Harrison. 

Principal of Farnam School, Omaha, Neb. 
1900 Caroline M. C. Hart. 

1893, Director, Training School, Baltimore Kindergarten Association, Mt. Washington, Md. 

1899 Jambs R. Hart, A.B., Ind. Univ. 

1894, Superintendent of Public Schools, 333 E. Pearl St., Lebanon, Ind. 

1900 Samuel E. Harwood, A.M., '03, Ind. Univ. 

1893, Professor of Mathematics, Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale, 111. 

1900 George K. Hawkins, A.M., '94, Union Coll. 

1898, Principal of State Normal School, Plattsburg, N. Y. 
1896 M. A. Henson. 

Superintendent of Schools, McArthur, Ohio. 

1901 Henry Harrison Hblter, A.B., '91, 0. Wes. Univ. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, W. Anglaize St., Wapakoneta, O. 
1900 R, C. Hillis. 

1899, County Superintendent of Schools, Courthouse, Logansport, Ind. 
1900 Hillsdale College. 

Librarian, Charles H. Gurney, Hillsdale, Mich. 
1900 Robert W. Himblick. 

Superintendent of Schools, Jonesboro, Ind. 

1899 Robert W. Himbs. 

1895, Superintendent of Schools, Covington, O. 

1900 Elihu B. Hinshaw, A.B., '86, A.M.. '90, Hiwassee Coll. 

1897, Superintendent of Bloomfield Seminary, Kemp, Ind-Ter. 
1900 I. C. Hise. 

xooo, Superintendent of Schools, Le Mars, la. 
1900 Manfred J. Holmbs, B.L., '91, Cornell Univ. 

1897, Department of General Method and Psychology, State Normal University, 603 S. 
Broadway, Normal, 111. 
1900 Louis L. Hooper, A.B., '89, A.M., '98, Harvard Univ. 

1900, Head Master, Washington School for Boys, 4401 Wisconsin Ave., Washington, D. C. 



I 



1 68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION LCbicago 

 i 

1900 H. V. Hotchkiss, Ph.D., Allegheny Coll. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools, 56a £. Buchtel Ave., Akron, O. 
1898 J. L. Hughes, M.Sc. 



1899, Superintendent of City Schools, 308 S. Poplar St., Centralis, 111. 
. Hughes, A.B., '84, A.M., '87, D.D., 1900, 
1896, President of Tabor College, Tabor, la. 



1900 Richard C. Hughks, A.B., '84, A.M., '87, D.D., 1900, Wooster Univ. 



1900 Samuel B. Hursh. 

Principal of Township High School, aox W. Wilson St., Streator, III. 
1900 Norman Edward Hutchinson. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools, Bryan, O. 
1900 Imperial Library or Japan. 

Librarian, I. Tanaka, Uyeno Park, Tokyo, Japan. 
1900 Iowa College. 

Acting President, J. H. T. Main; Librarian, M. H. Douglass, Grinnell, la. 
1900 Fostbr H. Irons. 

1900, Superintendent of Manual Training, City Schools, 655 S. Warren Ave., Saginaw, Mich. 
1900 Earl J. Kelsey, A.B.. '89, Cornell Univ. 

1899, Principal of High School, 366 North St., Elgin, 111. 
1900 0. J. Kern. 

County Superintendent of Schools, 216 Paris Ave., Rockford, III. 
1895 Herbert T. Kincaid, A.B., '83, Dartmouth Coll. 

Assistant Principal of Steele High School, 39 W. McPherson St., Dayton, O. 
-1 90 1 Robert M. King. 

Representing Henry Holt & Co., 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1900 John A. Kleinsorgk, Ph.D., '99, Jena. 

1900, Principal of Training Department, Colorado State Normal School, 728, xxth St., 

Greeley, Colo. 
1900 Charles A. Krout, A.B., '87, A.M., '90, Wittenberg Coll. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools, 2x2 Sycamore St., Tiffin, O. 
1900 Wilfrid Lay, A.B., '93, Ph.D., '98, Columbia Univ. ' 

1899, Assistant Teacher of Latin, Greek, and Mental Science, De Witt Clinton High 
School, 752 West End Ave., New York, N. Y. 
7900 L. E. A. Ling. 

1891, Superintendent of City Schools, Cresco, la. 
7900 Gertrude Longbnecker. 

1899, Instructor in Kindergarten Training Department, Chicago Normal School, 7334 
Stewart Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1898 L. E. Loveridge. 

Western Manager of the Morse Company, 195 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. ! 

1897 Charles D. Lowry. ! 

xooo. District Superintendent of Schools, 807 Touhy Ave., Chicago, 111. 
1900 C. E. Mann, M.Sc, '70, Albion Coll. 

1897, Superintendent of Schools, St. Charles, 111. 
7900 C. W. Martindale, A.M., '86, Drake Univ. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, 4x0 Capitol St., Yankton, S. D. 
xooo C. H. Maxson, B.Sc, '91, B.D., '99, State Univ. of Iowa. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools, Maquoketa, la. 
1900 Guy E. Maxwell. A.M., '99, Columbia Univ. 

xooo, Superintendent of Training Department, State Normal School, Winona, Minn. 
1900 Vernon G. Mays, Ph.B., '94. Albion Coll. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Newaygo, Mich. 
X900 William McAndrew, A.B., '86, Univ. of Mich. 

1898. Principal of School No. 44, 72 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
X900 Claudius T. McCoy. 

Representative of American Book Company, 3x7 E. Mulberry St., Lancaster, O. 
X900 J. A. McGilvray. 

1892, Editor of " Virginia School Journal," Richmond, Va. 
1900 Herbert R. McVay, Ph.B., '90. Ohio Univ. 

1898, Superintendent of Schools, Washington C. H., O. 
X900 William H. Meck, A.B., '94, Ohio Wes. Univ. ; A.M., '98, Miami Univ. 

x8ps, Teacher of History and Civics, Steele High School, 146 W. 4th St., Dayton, O. 
1900 Charles W. Mickens, B.L., '99, Univ. of Mich. 

1899, Superintendent of Public Schools, Moorhead, Minn. 

X899 Isaac Mitchell, B.Sc. ; '8o, A.B., '8i, Nat. Nor. Sch. ; A.M.. '97, Hanover Coll. 

1809, Superintendent of City Schools, Pontiac, Mich. 
1900 John E. Morris. B.Sc, M.Sc, Mt. Union Coll. 

1892, Superintendent of Public Schools, 208 E. Oxford St., Alliance, O. 
X900 Henry C. Morrison, A.B., '95, Dartmouth Coll. 

Superintendent of Schools, 52 State St., Portsmouth, N. H. 
1900 Lucien B. O'Dell. 

Superintendent of Schools, Thorntown, Ind. 
X900 John W. Olsen, B.Sc, '97, Valparaiso Coll. 

1901, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, St. Paul, Minn. 
1900 Oswego Normal and Training School. 

Principal, LB. Poucher, Oswego, N. Y. 
1900 Edward Carlton Page, A.B., '88, Northwestern Univ. 

X899, Professor of History and Geography, Northern Illinois State Normal School, 322 
Augusta Ave. , DeKalb, III. 
xgox Jambs B. Pearcy, Ph.B., '88, Butler Univ. 

Principal of High School, 208 W. 13th St., Anderson, Ind. 
X900 Alfred Tyler Perry, A.B., '8o, A.M., '91* Williams Coll. 

1900, President of Marietta College, 210, 5th St., Marietta, O. 

X900 Daniel E. Phillips, A.B., '93, A.M., '94, Univ. of Nashville; Ph.D.. '98, Clark Univ. 

1898, Professor of Philosophy and Education, University of Denver, University Park, Colo. 
X900 Arthur Powell, A.B., '80, A.M., '85, Oberlin Coll. 

1889, Superintendent of Schools, 528 S. State St., Marion, O. 
1900 Public Library, Dover, N . H. 

Librarian, C. H. Garland, Dover, N. H. 



Superintendence] 



SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF MEMBERS 



169 



900 Public Library, Los Angeles, Cal. 

Librarian, Mary L. Jones, Los Angeles, Cal. 
900 Public Library, Maiden, Mass. 

Librarian, Miss L. A. Williams, Maiden, Mass. 
900 Jacques Wardlaw Redway, F.R.G.S. 

Educational Lecturer and Geographer, 30 £. 4th St., Mt. Vernon, N. Y. 

900 George H. Rockwood, A.B., '79, A.M., '8a, Dartmouth Coll. 

1900, Principal of Austin High School, 939 Jackson Boul., Chicago, 111. 

899 W. P. Russell, A.B., '85, Cumberland Univ. 

1889, Professor of Mathematics, Lincoln University, 637 N. Union St., Lincoln, III. 

901 Fred W. Rust, A.B., '98, Williams Coll. 

Agent in Illinois for Ginn & Co., 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 

900 Salem Public Library. 

Librarian, Gardner M. Jones, Salem, Mass. 
896 Sara A. Saunders, Grad., '73, Cortland S. Nor. Sch. 

1895, Teacher of Methods and Supervisor of Practice, State Normal School, Brockport, N.Y. 
900' Charles A. Shaver. 

X899, State Conductor of Teachers' Institutes, 7 Paddock St., Watertown, N. Y. 
900 Samuel H. Shbakley, A.B., '83, A.M., '86, Thiel Coll., Pa. 

1899, Superintendent of City Schools, 1418 Pleasant St., Des Moines, la. 
900 Albert Hugh Sherer, A.B., '99, Ind. Univ. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Gas City, Ind. 
900 John D. Shoop. 

1896, Superintendent of City Schools, Paris, 111. 
900 Alice H. Shultes. 

1886, Supervisor of Practice, State Normal School, River Falls, Wis. 
90Z David Eugene Smith, Ph.B.. '8x, Ph.M., '83, Ph.D., '87, Syracuse Univ. ; M.Pd., '98, Mich. Nor. Coll. 

1898, Principal of State Normal School, Brockport, N. Y. 
900 Jesse Lowe Smith. 

1899, Superintendent of Schools, Park Ridge, 111. 
900 Sombrvillb Public Library. 

Librarian, S. W. Foss, Somerville, Mass. 

900 Thomas E. Spencer. 

x88s, Superintendent of City Schools, 369 Odell Ave., Marshall, Mo. 

901 Ons G. Stanton, A.B., '96, Ind. Univ. 

1897, Superintendent of Schools, 356 S. Central Ave., Irvington, Ind. 
900 State Normal School, Mayville, N. D. 

President, Joseph Carhart, Mayville, N. D. 
900 State Normal School, Salem, Mass. 

Principal. W. P. Beckwith, Salem, Mass. 
900 State Normal School, West Liberty, W. Va. 

Principal, James M\ Skinner, West Liberty, W. Va. 
State Normal School, Library, Ypsilanti, Mich. 

Principal, E. A. Lyman; Librarian, Francis L. D. Goodrich, Ypsilanti, Mich. 
900 Darius Steward, A.B., '75, Dartmouth Coll. 

Superintendent of Schools, High School, Stillwater, Minn. 
900 St. Louis Public Library. 

Librarian, F. M. Crunden, xoth and Locust Sts., St. Louis, Mo. 
900 Alexander T. Stuart, Ph.B., '69, Columbian Univ., D. C. 

X900, Superintendent of Schools, 16, 4th St., S. E., Washington, D. C. 

899 Ella C. Sullivan. 

District Superintendent of Schools, 1726 Diversey Boul., Chicago, 111. 

900 Arthur V. Sundbrlin, B.E./ts, M.E.,'78, St. Nor. Sch., Edenboro, Pa. 

1900, Principal of Lyons High School ; res., 103 Miami Ave., Clinton, la. 
900 Ella L. Sweeney. 

xooo, Supervisor of Primary Grades, 58 Barnes St., Providence, R. I. 
900 Benjamin A. Sweet, M.Sc, '90, Westfield Coll. ; Ph.B., '93, 111. Wes. Univ. 

Principal of High School, 335 N. Gilbert St., Danville, 111. 
900 Jennie Louise Thomas. 

Assistant Director of Thomas Normal Training School, 91 Watson St., Detroit, Mich. 
900 Henry S. Tibbits, A.B., Univ. of Mich. 

Principal of John Spry School, 9x5 S. Sawyer Ave., Chicago, 111. 
900 J. H. Trybom. 

Director of Manual Training, City Schools, 50 Miami Ave., Detroit, Mich. 

900 University op Minnesota, General Library. 

Librarian, William W. Folwell, Minneapolis, Minn. 

901 University op Tennessee, Library. 

President. Charles W. Dabney, Knoxville, Tenn. 
900 William McK. Vance, A.B., '83, A.M., '86, Ohio Wes. Univ. 

1891, Superintendent of Public Schools, 204 E. Ward St., Urbana, O. 
900 O. Perry Voorhbs, B.Sc. 

X900, Principal of Riverside School, Cincinnati, O. 

900 George Stockton Waite. 

1900, Supt. of Manual Training School, Grand Rapids, 426 S. Rose St., Kalamazoo, Mich. 
qoo Elizabeth B. Walsh. 

X900, Supervisor of Primary Schools, 1036, 5th St., Louisville, Ky. 

901 W. W. Welch, A.B., '82, St. Nor. Sch., Tex. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Helena, Mont. 
900 Wkllesley College, Library. 

President, Miss Caroline Hazard; Librarian, Lydia B. Godfrey, Wellesley, Mass. 
900 Arthur H. Wicks, A.B., '95, Baldwin Univ. 

1900, Superintendent of Schools, Clyde, O. 
900 H. B. Wilson. 

1897, Superintendent of Public Schools, Salem, Ind. 
898 O. A. Wright. 

X899, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1137 W. North St., Canton, 0. 
900 Ella F. Young. 

Associate Professor of Pedagogy, Univ. of Chicago, 5342 Cornell Ave., Chicago, 111.