APPENDIX No. I. THE RELATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. The following extracts from a Report of Prof. Andrews, of Marietta, upon the relation between schools and colleges, contain so much good sense upon this subject, that we are very glad to republish them. They are from the Ohio Journal of Education. "Another principle universally recognized, is, that there must be classification-classification of schools as well as in schools. The schools themselves must be arranged in classes, as well as the pupils in a particular school. There is no one feature made more prominent than this, by the best instructors in the nation. Its introduction into our towns has wrought a most wonderful transformation. There would be elementary schools for beginners, then others of higher and higher grades, till ample provision should be made for the general education of every child and youth in the State. We should not expect that each pupil would complete the whole course. Yet the number that would attempt this, would be in proportion to the completeness of the classification, and to the excellence of the instruction in the elementary departments. Nor do we now inquire how many or how high grades should be established in any individual township, town, or city; we affirm only that, somewhere, institutions should be provided, in which the wants of all might be met. To equalize perfectly the advantages of any system would be manifestly impossible. The more dense the population, the more complete the classification could be made. In the more sparsely settled regions, after progressing as far as their neighborhood schools could carry them thoroughly and economically, the more studious would seek admission into the High School or Academy of the nearest large town. And if any should wish to make acquisitions beyond what the High School could furnish, they must repair to institutions of still higher grade. Thus far our supposed system. Now, taking the State as a whole, have we not substantially the system already, so far at least as this feature of classification is concerned? Is there not provisions for the child, from his entrance into the primary school, until he shall have finished the whole range of studies deemed necessary to a liberal education? I do not say that these schools, of whatever grade, are in every particular, precisely what they should be, but that the institutions exist which profess to furnish, each in its sphere, all that a finished. general education requires. From what has been said, we cannot mistake as to the connection between Schools and Colleges. Colleges constitute the highest grade of our non-professional educational institutions. They are an integral part of the system, sustaining to the High School and Academy precisely the same relation which these sustain to the lower schools. Until recently, all non-professional institutions have been ranged in three divisions-Common Schools, Academies and Colleges. Of these three, the College has been much the most specific in its character. It has undertaken a more definite work than either of the others. In them a much greater variety of attainment has always been found. The Academy has admitted multitudes that ought to have been in the School, and the School has been compelled to retain many that should have been found in the Academy. In practice, there has been no boundary line between them, except in the case of a very few of our best Academies. But the College has always had its boundaries on either side. It has required a definite amount of literary attainment for entrance, and the completion of the prescribed course of study, is the completion of the student's connection with it. The inmates of the College have also been required to arrange themselves in classes, that the instruction might be rendered as efficient as possible, by giving ample time to the recitations, and by permitting the instructors to confine themselves to particular branches, Thus, Colleges have ever conformed to the two great features of classification. The other departments of what I have called general education are now beginning to follow the example of the College, in the matter of classification. Formerly, the common school and the academy had no limitation in the range of studies. The pupil might enter when he chose, and remain as long as he chose. And so long as his teacher was willing to hear him, he might study what he chose. Thus, the teacher was sometimes required to pass from a recitation in the primer to one in Virgil-from one in the elements of numbers to one in Trigonometry. But an improvement has commenced. The principle of division of labor, so long in use in our colleges, is beginning to be applied to schools. Most of our towns now have their Graded Schools, each possessing a definite course of study, which the pupil must complete before he can pass on to the next higher; and when he has completed it, he must pass on. The advantages of this arrangement are so manifest in theory, and in its practical workings it combines so fully both economy and efficiency, that no doubt can be indulged of its general prevalence. It is sometimes said that " Colleges are behind the age." It is one of the most general of all generalities, and may mean anything or nothing. Whatever may be intended by it when applied to Colleges, we have seen that one of the greatest improvements introduced into our schools has been adopted from the Colleges; so that, if they are behind the age, they at least have the Union Schools to keep them company. The College then is, chronologically, the last school in our |