future studying its great problems, and making himself a part of the present. All the great questions that interest us are evidently upon his mind and heart, and his utterance today gives us assurance, not only of scholarship and leadership, but of co-operation in our varied and heavy responsibility.

In one particular I must differ with the opinion expressed in the paper, which was, that there is little continuity in the school curriculum. I agree with the main contention, the cheering and vital statement that our curriculum must be adjusted to present needs, that it must depend much upon environment, but to my mind there has been wonderful continuity in ages past in the curriculum of the schools. I think it was Huxley who said that if the Greek boy of 2,000 years ago could be brought back to life and placed in one of our schools of 50 years ago he would find himself quite at home. Mathematics, reading, spelling, writing, rhetoric, these have ever been the supposed basis of intellectual discipline.

In what I have to say I shall attempt to show the contrast between this older form of discipline and the cultural tendency of the present hour. The old curriculum and the old school represented separation, isolation, desolation. The subjects studied were implements. In and of themselves they did not produce intelligence. A person might pass 100 per cent. in arithmetic, grammar, reading, and spelling and yet be declared ignorant and unfit to become a member of an average social group.

If under the old system men and women attained to intelligence it was not necessarily because of the influence of these subjects but generally in spite of it. Fifty years ago or more new educational influences became evident in the community. Of course these influences had long been operating, but certainly in the best homes there was a new interest in the activities of children. By children's activities I mean their play and games, their hand work, their physical interests, in fact all that relates to their developing life. The name of Froebel may in general stand for this new element in our civilization.

A new interest in the real in education appeared about the same time. The names of Humboldt and Agassiz express the change which I have in mind. The study of nature at first hand; a study of the great world and an examination of the concrete in the laboratory epitomized this change in the view point of educators. The "laboratory" method is now applied by every true teacher in every variety of instruction.

Again, the presence of books for children marks a new era. The school and the home are now filled with publications adapted to the great world of childhood and are an indispensable factor in every variety of educational enterprise.

Finally, culture represented by music, drawing, and art products, generally, in the home and in the school, were added to the list. Out of all these grew a new social relation uniting the child to the adult in sympathy and effort, and correlating subjects of study that had before been unrelated.

We no longer think of the child as in an inclosure receiving light through little windows, but from the first he is a citizen of the world in the midst of the currents, social, intellectual and physical, which imply his growth, morally, socially, and spiritually, no less than intellectually.

With the dawn of these influences there came almost instantly a demand that the school share in their advancement. Public sentiment quickly crystallized, and we had the marvelous educational revolution that swept over the country some twenty five or more years ago. Every school and community felt its touch; every school board ordered a new course of study; every state legislature modified the minimum requirements. For a time we heard the cry that the curriculum was crowded, but who shall say that it is so full that no other subject can be admitted? In a city of 200,000 inhabitants on one day of last week two sets of petitioners appeared at the same meeting of the school board. One of these bore a petition of the German-speaking element asking first that gymnastics, as understood by the German people, be admitted and introduced into the public-school

system. They further urged that the German language be pursued by children whose parents might elect for them the study of this subject. The second set of petitioners asked if the board of education would be willing to expend a considerable sum of money which they believed the mayor and the city council were ready to contribute for the support of play grounds, summer vacation schools, and social centers.

In the city of Boston a few weeks since there assembled a great national organization known as the "Social Education Association." A month later another great national body, "The Religious Education Association," assembled in the city of Rochester, N. Y. Each of these national associations was represented by about sixty-five speakers, most of them men of note in religious, moral, and educational lines.

The plea of the speakers at these meetings was for co-operation between the home, the school, and the church in the advancement of moral, religious, and social education. They claimed that neither the home nor the church nor the school could longer work effectively alone; that each must depend upon the other, and moreover that the school was but a part of the great circle of education in which the community must now interest itself, and for which it must become responsible. This larger circle includes the interest of the congested quarters of the large cities. It has to do with the homes of the poor, the ignorant, the indifferent. In the changed conditions of the city and the startling degradation of many homes it is assumed that these three great forces in education must make themselves absolutely responsible for social betterment; that they must seek to reach not only every home but every individual member of every home where such assistance is needed in order that we may preserve our citizenship, our place as a nation, and our usefulness in the world.

Who then shall say that the curriculum is completed or even that it is crowded, as an answer to the demand that the school shall actively co-operate in this work of reconstruction and salvation: for it includes both of these.

It goes without saying that we often expect too much from the school and that we might easily, and perhaps do, often attempt too much, but the remedy is not found in reducing the number of subjects. We may go much farther and say that there is not an intelligent teacher in America who would consent that music, drawing, or manual training, or industrial or domestic art be withdrawn from the curriculum. The remedy has been stated and proposed many times at these meetings, and it is only necessary that I repeat here again that we must address ourselves to reducing to the mass of superfluous and unimportant requirements found especially in the old-line subjects of our curriculum, and of so adjusting and regulating and correlating the subjects taught that we shall make not only more simple, but more interesting, the curriculum as a whole, for in the midst of complexity properly organized we may reach the highest degree of simplicity. It is of interest here to note that there has not of late been heard in this organization a notable objection to the theory which I have attempted to emphasize, and which was so ably and fully set forth by our commissioner. Any person, who offers such an objection, if not antisocial, is at least out of touch with the influences that must prevail, and is entitled to our sympathy.

It is interesting here to note that in our cities great enterprises are under way and are organized, quite independently, to promote the advancement of these ends.

You will recall that upon this platform on Tuesday morning one of the lady speakers stated that in Chicago alone, there are about fifty organizations of women who make it their business to do social and educational work in the interest of all classes. Another lady reminded us that these organizations could never wait for the co-operation or even the approval of members of boards of education, common councils, or even of superintendents. The work demands haste; is urgent, imperative. If, as always happens, at some later hour and date, these more formal bodies come to their assistance, well and good; but the official and the formal can never be depended upon to do the very greatest

work in the world, and so the women of America and of Chicago have ever been leaders of this great movement. Women brought into America the kindergarten; they installed manual training, cooking, and sewing, and slowly but surely public sentiment has compelled city councils and boards of education to approve and adopt the measures which they have thus originated. This initiative of women is one of the finest spectacles of the last century. History will recall, as we cannot tell today, the true significance of their efforts. In no other nation, at no other period in history, has such a mighty revolution occurred as we have seen in fifty years, and while many other forces have contributed to this change, it must forever remain true that women have led the way and deserve the credit for very much of what has been accomplished.

Let us not fail to emphasize the statement of the commissioner of education which was in effect that that which is old and tried is invaluable and worthy of our respect, and should be embodied in every new theory of progress.

In conversation with two gentlemen with whom I visited schools on Monday, in order that I might have the benefit of their judgment, I asked, "How shall we absorb the new into the old so that both may be preserved ?" One of these men quickly replied, "We must eliminate everything nonessential from every subject in the curriculum, and confine ourselves closely to types and representative parts of subjects," and without an instant's delay the second added, "We must learn to do the most possible in the shortest time, suggesting the difference in skill which marks the work of different teachers."

Again on this platform on Tuesday morning a lady, who is the honored head of the Chicago Normal School, said, that poor instruction is the most stupefying influence today to be found in the public schools. She pleaded earnestly and nobly for the highest standard of supervision, suggesting at least that the principal of the school and the expert should be selected and retained only on the basis of merit.

Just what may we expect from the public schools in connection with the curriculum ? It is largely a local question. The state legislature may enact laws; the board of education may prescribe rules and curricula; the superintendent may issue circulars and reports, and so on, all along the line, but the spirit and skill in the management of each public school must determine the measure of attainment in instruction, the success of each pupil in his recapitulation of the history of the race, and in the attainment of a social and intellectual standard.

In this country at least much depends upon the local standard. This is democratic; this is the explanation of whatever excellence our system has attained that distinguishes it sharply from the fixed and inflexible methods seen abroad, where one school may be truly said to be like another. Recognizing all that the community has accomplished and all that public sentiment demands, it is yet true that in our present civilization the teacher is, today, the most important element in the reconstruction and saving of our citizenship, and the most important factor in determining the aims and ideas which shall govern the future.

F. D. BOYNTON, superintendent of schools, Ithaca, New York.-One of the essentials in the elementary course of study is the home reading of the child. Children will read. It is astonishing how much, as well as what. Scores of Ithaca boys and girls are reading a book at home every week.

The question is this: Are our children to be directed in this part of their education by their immature judgment or as their untutored companions dictate, or shall we undertake to direct this part of their education?

I am persuaded that this home reading is of more importance than much of the work now done in arithmetic, geography, and grammar. We are exceedingly anxious about the influence of evil companions, in short but what about the influence of the companions in books? What are the impressions being made when a child becomes absorbed in a

book?

Our duty is clear. We must arrange extensive courses in supplemental reading for the school, and we must arrange and provide for the reading in the home. In the formative period we must see to it that the reading of the child is directed to the best in fairy tale and fable, in folklore and hero tales, in mythology, biography, and history, in travel, adventure, and general literature. In no other way can we illuminate the course of study better; in no other way can we brighten the lives, cheer the homes, or increase the future usefulness of the children intrusted to our care.

GRACE REED, principal of John B. Drake school, Chicago, Ill.—Commissioner Brown spoke of the fact that Germany had placed agriculture and industrial arts under the department of education. In the Middle Ages when agriculture and industrial activities were the work of the ignorant clod, the upper classes did not suspect that they would become science and art.

The poet Wieland said: "In jedem Menschen ist Etwas von allen Menschen." (In every man is something of all men.) As our sense of humanity broadens, we recognize the equal dignity of every useful activity. There is possibly more benefit to the race from the reflex or subjective influence coming from the study of agriculture and the trades than ever accrues from the mechanical performance of these labors, as it makes man more fully conscious of that fundamental kinship of which the poet speaks.

Industrial training is an end in education, not a means to educate. There should be an industrial course of one or two years as a continuation of the elementary-school education. In order that it need not be necessary that a "workingman must always remain a workingman," a foundation of general mental culture must be given, a training of the judgment and refining of the perception, which come only through exercise of mental faculties. To this clue to higher attainment all children are entitled by the rights of humanity. But a full preparation for life entitles them further to an acquaintance with the systems of industrial production. There is much legitimate objection to trade schools. Such schools would tend to turn children into trades which they would perhaps never have thought of entering, simply because of the training offered, thus swamping such trades with workers. If an apprentice school were opened this difficulty would not exist, because only those are trained who have made their final choice of trade on other grounds than the great handiness of the preparation offered.

The elementary and high school are doing excellent work and are as comprehensive in their curricula as is consistent with equipment and youthful capacity, and multitudes of other important considerations. They are perhaps too comprehensive for the best results to be obtainable. It is not wise to vitiate the efficacy of this system of education by overwhelming it with other distinctly different systems crowded into it. What we need is a separate order of continuation-schools of industrial arts, where elementary graduates, not wishing to follow higher training for professional callings, may receive training in the practice of the trades but not where they are turned out finished in any trade.

F. LOUIS SOLDAN, superintendent of instruction, of city schools, St. Louis, Mo.We must look to the children for the best answer to the question of what the essentials are. All the art of teaching consists in creating an appropriate reaction in the child. Great importance is properly attached to the method by which the teacher presents a topic of instruction. But far more important is the way in which the child receives it; whether it causes him to think, to assimilate, to act, and live in the right way. To create proper reactions, a very minute classification of the children by grades of ability is not necessary. Each one of fifty or sixty children will react just as surely, if they are handled by a skilful teacher, as will one child or a small group. Small groups in teaching are not necessary. A class can, as a rule, be more effectively taught than a single individual. The educational reaction may be different in different children, but in a fairly well-graded group of children the reactions are similar.

CHARLES A. MCMURRY, acting president State Normal School, California, Pa.The chief question under discussion is: What are the essentials, or fundamentals, of our course of study?

For more than a generation we have been multiplying studies and filling up the common-school curriculum with new materials. But we have failed thus far to organize this great quantity of knowledge on any consistent plan. Our school course is to a great extent an unorganized collection of heterogeneous facts, and by constant additions it is becoming still more congested. The really important question is how to simplify and organize this increasing body of knowledge materials. It is a problem of eliminating the useless and obsolete materials that have been collected. We must clear our course of its superfluities. The teachers who are actually engaged in instruction and realize the overloading are calling upon superintendents for relief. Many superintendents are slow to realize the situation because they are not actual teachers.

In order to grasp the real issue we may say that a course of study should center upon a few leading ideas in each study, and not upon a multitude of mere facts. Our school course is now decidedly materialistic, in the sense that it emphasizes facts rather than ideas. Important ideas are the vital organizing centers of the school course. A single idea may organize and illuminate a multitude of facts. But many even good superintendents do not realize that our present course of study contains a large quantity of facts, very poorly permeated with ideas, in other words, dead material, making education itself, as it were, materialistic, wooden.

This materialistic routine, which has fastened itself upon the schools, needs above all to be permeated with the leaven of ideas, something to break the dead uniformity of memory drills and unthinking study.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON HISTORY

J. H. VAN SICKLE, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BALTIMORE, MD. (Representing the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association) It seems advisable first to explain that this committee is a committee appointed by the American Historical Association, and that it is granted this place on the program of the Department of Superintendence in order that it may present to superintendents of schools the aim, the scope, and the present state of its work. It is the desire of the Historical Association to enlist your interest so that the report, when completed, may receive at least your careful

consideration.

The American Historical Association, a great national organization of his torians and teachers of history, is well equipped for such work as it has undertaken, through a delegated committee, in the preparation of a course in history for elementary schools; but its labors will avail little unless superintendents of schools generally see in the course proposed a scheme of work that bids fair to put an end to the chaotic condition in which elementary instruction in history finds itself.

The first co-operative attempt to improve the teaching of history was made in 1883. Ten years later came the conference of the Committee of Ten at the University of Wisconsin, and, growing out of this, the Columbian Conference and the appointment of the Committee of Seven. Later, several associations