and, as my board had said this must be our condition as soon as practicable, and as our advisors made it so emphatic that all the changes enumerated were essential in any attempt to modernize a course of study, the new subjects were introduced as rapidly as could be done without creating a panic and general strike among the teachers.

In the process of elimination and contraction of the old course much of the technical part of the grammar was sacrificed. This, of course, created dissatisfaction among the advocates of parsing and analyzing, and much complaint was heard from high-school teachers of English, German, and Latin when the pupils began to enter their classes.

Besides this, many of the topics in arithmetic previously dwelt upon by teachers and labored with by pupils were stricken from the assignment and the course in that branch shortened a full year. The criticisms which this elicited from a number of our pioneer, but substantial and highly respected citizens, products of the old school, were such as I do not care to repeat. It is sufficient to say that no argument presented to them was strong enough to convince them that the new was a great improvement over the old. They held tenaciously to their demand that the "new-fangled notions" be dropped and the "three R's" be emphasized.

The course of study in geography was next abbreviated by substituting a one-book course for the two-book course then in use. One year's work in geography was thus

saved and the time given to the new subjects.

But this was not the end. The vertical-writing wave reached us, and in its mighty roll threatened to submerge us and thus to consign us to oblivion; but we mounted its crest with the other progressives, and the change from the more rapidly written but now condemned slant to the slower but popular vertical was soon effected. Altho the penmanship of the older pupils was for a time almost illegible, all ere long were writing the so-called vertical script, which in most instances was a plain backhand.

These changes, together with the addition of two oral lessons per week in scientific temperance, made necessary by a recently enacted law in response to a demand of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union; two oral lessons per week in patriotism, as requested by the Grand Army of the Republic and the Daughters of the American Revolution; two five-minute exercises each day in calisthenics; and one ten- or twenty-minute period each day given to vocal music, afford some idea of the evolution thru which those schools passed during the first three years of my superintendency.

Much of the time during the next two years I spent in defending the schools against what I felt were unjust attacks from evil-disposed persons. But these did not disturb me quite so much, nor have they been so difficult for me to meet, as the criticisms of persons who I have had every reason to believe were friends of the schools.

Intelligent and ambitious parents claimed that their children, their daughters particularly, were being unduly burdened with work. As gentle reminders, some of them sent to me marked copies of magazines and pamphlets that contained long and scathing criticisms on the public-school system in general because of its "death-dealing work with the youth of the country."

On investigation I learned that many, tho not all, of our girls who were reported to be slowly breaking down were naturally delicate or very nervous in temperament and incapable of sustained effort; or were members of society, whose demands on their time and strength consumed the better part of their vitality, and their school work, too often a secondary consideration, was a consequent sufferer. Many of the boys, yet not all of them either, who were reported as not being able to keep up with their classes were found to be cigarette fiends, a condition which seemed to have rendered them almost wholly incapable of steady and continuous mental application; while others realized as keenly as did the girls the demands of the social circle on them, and they felt constrained to respond to this demand even to the detriment of their school work.

To meet these difficulties and to allay them, if possible, by affording the patrons of the schools a fuller knowledge of the policy of the schools in their changed conditions, and

thereby bringing the patrons into closer touch and sympathy with the schools, mothers' meetings were held in various parts of the city. While some of these meetings were deemed successful and profitable, many of them were dominated by persons of strong personality and good following who criticised in such severe and convincing terms much of the really good work of the schools, which they could not understand nor appreciate, that harm to the schools rather than good resulted from them. We have not tried fathers' meetings, said he. We fear it would not be wise.

During the third year of my term of service, one of the members of my board learned that written examinations had been tabooed in several schools that he was told were thoroly "up to date," and he insisted on their being abandoned, as an experiment at least, in our schools. He was so enthusiastic, yet so kind, in the expression of his wishes in this respect, that the experiment was tried, and now nothing but written tests are known in the schools; and, tho there are now two or three times as many written tests as there were formerly written examinations and tests together (a condition which seems to prevail also in the schools to which he referred), he is pleased and claims credit for the change, and is congratulated by certain patrons who called his attention to the "desirable improvement."

As tho this were not enough, a movement, the strength of which I have not yet been able to determine, has lately been started by the mothers' clubs of our city, having for its purpose the breaking up of gradation in the schools and the substitution of individual instruction. It is claimed that this system of instruction is in successful operation in a number of good schools; that it is now no longer an experiment; and that it is certain to supersede the graded system or class teaching. Their immediate presentation to our board of the superior claims of individualism is prevented, I understand, by the difficulty which the ladies are experiencing in determining which of the several "best individual systems" is the best for our schools. As soon as they reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion in this respect, we shall doubtless hear from them.

While the ladies have been busying themselves about this "great cure-all" for the ills of the schools, I have been endeavoring to find our true bearings and to determine, if possible, whither we are drifting. I have questioned myself with all the sincerity of an honest questioner, and have been trying to answer the questions just as honestly: Have we really improved on the old as much as we have tried to convince ourselves and our friends that we have? Does our present course provide for solidly progressive work? Is it a pedagogical unity? Is the work as now outlined well articulated and wisely purposeful, or does it encourage and almost compel scrappy and superficial work?

To be candid with you, I am not satisfied with present conditions, and, tho I am ready to acknowledge having made mistakes, if I can be satisfied that such is the case, and I am willing to rectify where defects occur, still I am more or less uncertain where to begin or just what to do.

In the first place, I am becoming more and more strongly of the impression that there is truth in the statement that the majority of our school children have too much to do. Both they and the teachers, I fear, are overburdened. Nor do I feel that we can prune the old course any more than we have by way of relief. I am not certain but that some of the old citizens are about right in their statements that we have already crossed the danger line in our eliminations. I am now sorely tempted to undo some of the things which we have done in the name of progressiveness and modernization.

To be specific: While I see some virtue in the work done by the pupils of the eighth grade in concrete geometry as a help to them in mensuration, I have little faith in the value of the smattering of algebra which they get, and less faith in the educational worth of the Latin which the seventh-years learn in a year's time. I am persuaded, too, that we ought, in the interest of a more thoro grounding of the children in the essentials of an elementary education, attempt to do less in history below the seventh grade and less in nature work above the third, and concentrate our efforts on the other subjects. The use

of nature work as a basis for the development of the power of expression in the first three primary grades, its formal and regular teaching in those grades, render it so valuable as to make it really indispensable there, and it should be retained. Above the third grade all that is of especial value in nature study, it seems to me, can be taught incidentally in connection with the teaching and illustration of the other subjects and in correlation with those subjects.

Almost the same thing may de said of history, with the exception that its regular and formal teaching be begun in the seventh-year grade, but that in every grade below the seventh the reading assignment be so made as to give large attention to biographical and historical sketches and nature stories. I would retain the course in drawing, but cause it to take two distinct lines, one looking to industrial training work and the other to the development of the artistic sense. I do not expect to worry about the work in penmanship. It will take care of itself, and sooner or later the natural slant will take the place of either a forced vertical or a prescribed slant.

These eliminations and combinations - call it retrogression, if you will will greatly lighten our work and will give two or three periods each day for manual-training work in the grades, the kind of education that, in my judgment, is well worth planning and sacrificing for; for I believe that the good accruing to the boys and girls from such training is by no means equaled by that which they can realize from the effort and time which they must give to the subjects I am proposing to eliminate, and which have heretofore stood in the way of manual-training work.

What think you, said he in a most appealing way, of my conclusions? Do you not think that the interests of my boys and girls demand such action on my part?

TOPIC III: HOW TO MEET THE PEOPLE

LOUIS P. NASH, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, HOLYOKE, MASS.

I say nothing here of one's private friendships or social relations. The superintendent will meet the people, if he is inclined to do so, by appearing at various public and semi-public occasions, before associations, etc. It is well to respond to such calls. The superintendent has to exercise leadership in the community, and there is economy in getting hold of a group of people perhaps representative of a class in the community. They may be a set of people that he would never come to know at all in any other way. Of course, one will not take up these things so as to use too much time or to admit the impression that the superintendent likes to pose before the public.

Then there are the interviews with people at the office. I suppose we all have a great many of these interviews, and some that are mere waste of time. Yet it is my opinion that we should encourage the people to come. If there is friction or dissatisfaction anywhere in the system, it is great good fortune if the people affected will come straight to headquarters and give an early opportunity to set matters right. Every such interview gives the superintendent a chance to find out the exact feeling toward the schools of some individual, and he may represent a great many more. It also gives a chance to show that person the right course to take, and, if possible, to secure his support.

The superintendent of schools ought to be the most accessible man in the city. That does not mean that one must be on call all the time. We should keep definite office hours; but we must have time for study. We are false to our own selves and to the higher needs of our schools if we do not take definite times for our own study in professional lines, and in philosophical or literary lines as well. But by being accessible I mean especially the attribute that welcomes approach by the people. We have to teach

the people; very well, we should get as close to the people and to as many of them as possible, and I think it is an error for the superintendent to want to be free from approach or suggestion by the people.

There is a movement now in the development of civic life to make the heads of departments practically free from control. "Responsibility of the heads of departments" is the cry, and it has been helped along by writers whose opinions harmonize with those of Mr. Bryce. Upon this principle, there are school superintendents who wish to be autocrats. The movement, however, is a mere eddy in the great development of government in this country, as well as all over the world, which is making for greater dependence upon the whole mass of the people. We have started out in this country to realize the democratic ideal; we believe that on the whole and in the long run, despite errors that can doubtless be shown, it is better to put the direction of affairs into the control of all the people. So far the results are fairly satisfactory. City government is not a failure; the people are going to exert more direct power, rather than less, and we ought to bend our work and influence in accordance with that tendency. This ought to be a matter of conscience with us. It goes far deeper than mere policy. Abraham Lincoln said that the nation could not long endure half slave and half free, so it would not long endure half moving toward democratic ways and half toward autocratic ways. Growth is sure to be along democratic lines. Even the president, burdened with a load of cares without precedent in history, finds it a benefit to take time to meet all the people. It is not mere policy; there is a strange, spiritual influence; the president gains strength from feeling that he is "in touch" with the mass of the people.

The superintendent of schools, in his own field, needs that same support. If he is a leader of men, then the more he meets them, the more surely and successfully he will lead. The more he meets the people and knows them, the better superintendent he will be.

The teachers' association may contribute to mutual acquaintance, helpfulness, stimulation, inspiration among the teachers. It encourages initiative. It is better for us always to do things for ourselves, even badly, rather than to have things done for us. The planning and carrying on of general teachers' meetings may be done largely by the teachers' association. There is no danger that the superintendent will not have influence in shaping affairs. The teachers' association should have sections or committees engaged in special lines of work: a particular committee to read and advise as to the policy of the public library; a committee on reading, or other subjects; a committee to report on educational progress.

Above and beyond this I think there is a future for the teachers' association, which at present we can only dream, tho some things done or attempted at Chicago, at my neighbor city of Springfield, and elsewhere may give a hint. If our medical association issues a declaration upon some question of public policy that is within its sphere, that declaration is received with great respect. Why should not the teachers' association in like manner exercise leadership and be the recognized authority upon any question that has to do with public education? Why should not its advice be sought and accepted as sure to be courageous, high-minded, wise, the best guidance to be had?

The grade meeting has its peculiar place and usefulness. It is here, in a small meeting, that the superintendent can come close to the individual needs of his teachers. The grade meeting is the place for discussion rather than for lecture or exhortation. Every teacher, tho of briefest experience, should be encouraged to give her views, and the part taken by the teacher, whether of discussion or of exemplification of class work, ought to be at least as prominent as the part taken by the superintendent. Here is the place to go into details of class work, impossible in the general meetings. Here is the place, too, for the superintendent to show his teachers how to be students. Many of our teachers do not know how to study. They are not in the track of the best ideas. They do not know the great currents of thought nor the best books. Ideas are in the air, like Hertzian

waves; the teacher should have the means to get their impulse. In the grade meetings the superintendent has a good chance to lead the minds of his teachers into the danger zone, where they are liable to be struck by new ideas.

Pay-rolls and financial statements: In a little city, where one man must do everything, with but little clerical help, clear and economical methods of arranging the office routine are important. I have a city of less than fifty thousand people, and no assistant superintendent. It is necessary that the committee should be kept fully informed, especially on financial matters.

once, tute.

Here is my plan for a pay-roll: The name of each teacher and substitute is written for the year. There is a space for every school day. A call comes in for a substiA clerk turns to the substitute list; sees who is available; writes the school opposite the name, in the space for that date; sends the substitute; then, in the corresponding space opposite the teacher's name, sets down the name of the substitute. At the end of the month, here are the days all accounted for, and the amount is set down in this space. My principals send a report, but I do not find that report free from errors. At the end of the month the total expense in each ledger account is carried forward into an account of monthly totals. From that it is copied upon a sheet like this: (1) appropriation for each account; (2) expenditure to date; (3) balance to date; (4) bills and orders; (5) fixed charges to end of fiscal year; (6) appoint balance.

This account goes to the board meeting. Some expenditure is contemplated perhaps new kindergartens to be established. The question always is: "Have we the money?" Here is the positive answer. We have such a balance in sight for the end of the fiscal year. Here is a definite, positive thing that the average school-committee man can understand. He does not know much about pedagogy, but he knows a definite statement of business. And the superintendent who can prove that his estimate comes out just right has gained power and respect which he can use elsewhere.

C. ROUND TABLE OF NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TRAINING TEACHERS

CONFERENCE A.-NORMAL SCHOOLS

TOPIC I: WHAT ASPECTS OF PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY ARE SUITABLE SUBJECTS FOR INSTRUCTION IN NORMAL SCHOOLS?

DISCUSSION

PROFESSOR DANIEL PUTNAM, State Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich. The necessity for brevity must be my apology for the dogmatic style of this paper.

It is assumed that all agree that the normal school is a special and professional school, having a specific and definite purpose, the preparation of teachers, mainly, for grades of schools below the high school. While broad general culture is very desirable in teachers for such schools, as indeed for all schools, it is not the function of the ordinary normal school to provide the means for such culture. If this becomes its chief aim, its existence cannot be justified. The nature and extent of its courses of study and instruction must be determined by the purpose of the institution. Studies and portions of studies may be included in the curriculum of the normal school for any one of three

reasons:

1. Studies which its students are expecting to teach. The instruction in such studies