school problem in this country is much less of a problem than it would be in a monarchical state, simply because, like all institutions in a republic, it has its corrective in itself. The people apparently don't want any other schools than they have, and where they do, they get them in the only way possible under heaven-by obtaining the teacher that will make the school better.

DR. HENRY BARNARD, of Connecticut, being called out, said: This was the problem of fifty years ago. What I have to say is in the line of these suggestions. One is the raising up of teachers adapted to country service. Not every good teacher would make a good country teacher. Every city of the land depends upon the boys of the country.

We tried fifty years ago to solve the problem, as has been indicated here. We tried to make smaller districts. We tried to keep good teachers in the country schools. I was successful in my State in getting an extra fund for this purpose.

We have made a great mistake in the organization of our normal schools. There should have been, at least, one having for its special object the qualification of teachers for country school work. This might have been migratory in character-a prolonged institute.

When $10,000 were granted for normal schools in Massachusetts and three normal schools decided upon, I took the ground that there should be one for the cities, one for the villages, and one located in a country district, with special reference to the needs of country schools. Every subject increases the difficulties of the country teacher, and he especially needs wisdom and direction.

At my

I believe in the well-educated female as a supervisor of schools. suggestion a lady took charge of the schools of a district in Rhode Island, and accomplished wonderful results. She went to work with the mothers, invited them to go with her, and thus impressed upon them the conditions. Improvements were suggested, apparatus, etc., with good results. At the end of the second year all the children of the district were gathered together, and an entertainment given. The performances would compare favorably with those of Providence.

THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT OF THE WORLD'S
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BY DR. SELIM H. PEABODY, CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF LIBERAL ARTS.

The Educational Exhibit will be installed chiefly upon the ground floor of the Main Building, which has been assigned to the Liberal Arts and to Manufactures. It will occupy the entire south end of the building, and will be approached through the lofty entrances opening upon the Grand Avenue that connects the principal marine and railway entrances to Jackson Park. The space given to the Educational Exhibit is about 200,000 square feet, or between four and five acres. Adjacent to this will be arranged the exhibits of music, literature, physical apparatus, hygiene and sanitation, medicine and surgery, etc.

The Educational Exhibit will be organized both by States and by grades. Each State will occupy a definite area, which will be assigned with reference to the elements which the several States will have to represent, as nearly as that can be ascertained. These areas will be side by side, in parallel subdivisions extending north and south. The arrangement of the elements in the several States will be expected to conform to a general plan, presenting the several grades in consecutive arrangement extending east and west. The studious observer may follow the grades, from the most elementary to the most advanced, in any State; or crossing the areas he may trace the similarities or variations in any chosen grade. The parochial schools will have a definite place in the scheme, conformably to the same system.

Each State exhibit will include:

1. A presentation of its public school system.

2. Its academies, normal schools, colleges, and universities.

3. Its special, technical, and professional schools; except in cases where a specialty in education can be better illustrated by a collective exhibit, independent of State lines. Thus, there will be a single collective exhibit, showing library organization and management; one of commercial schools; of manual training-schools; of trade schools, etc. This method should probably be adopted, with exhibits of schools for the blind, the deaf, etc. The ruling idea will be to bring into the closest local relationship those elements which have the closest educational affinities, thus to offer the best opportunities for interesting comparison and critical observation. In some cases these benefits may be secured better by observing State lines; in others by obliterating them.

An earnest desire has been expressed, both in private and by resolutions publicly adopted, that all grades of educational work should be shown in active operation, in the actual work of living teachers upon living pupils. The suggestion is an attractive one. It has received careful consideration. In its discussion, no question has been raised as to space, or expense; but only, Is such a presentation of schools a feasible project?

All worthy teaching aims to aid the growth of the soul, and the discipline of the intellectual powers. The larger part of the work employs only the reactions of intellectual and spiritual forces. Yet certain forms of instruction find abundant uses for material and concrete modes of illustration and such as can be practically applied. The public mind, seldom philosophically accurate, readily groups our work into two divisions, according as they are supposed to present more notably, in practice and in results, the intellectual or practical phase. The latter kind of work may be illustrated to some extent in active exhibits, pupils and teachers working together, as in the kindergarten, the sloyd, manual training, laboratory work, physical culture, etc. Facilites for this work will be provided.

The attempt to present forms of class-room work, other than that just named, will not be made. The conditions of a World's Fair in intensely active progress, the throngs of visitors, the tumult of distracting events, sights, sounds-strange, brilliant, exciting, engrossing-will inevitably remove from the minds and hearts of both pupils and teachers the quiet environment and the inspired attention indispensable to either teaching or learning. The Commissioner of Education, commenting upon this subject, asserts that "the atmosphere of an international exposition is convulsed with a spiritual tornado;" that it "will require supernatural powers either to teach or to study in such a place;" and that "the instruction will speedily drop to the purely mechanical level, and become both an untruthful and an undesirable presentation of American education."

In the presentation of public school systems, the several States and Territories will be the smallest units for which separate provision can be made by the Chief of the Department. Cities, villages, and rural schools will find such recognition and representation as can be allowed within the limits assigned to the States which include them. The educational exhibit from each State will be under the immediate supervision of a duly authorized executive officer or committee, who may have been selected by the State Commission for the World's Columbian Exposition, or may be the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, or a committee representing the State Association of Teachers. It is not presumed that any conflict of authority can arise, but that in each State such amicable arrangement will be made as will harmonize all elements, and thus promote the most complete success. In every case the exhibit will be subject to the ultimate supervision of the Chief of the Department, acting under the DirectorGeneral of the Exposition.

So far as is practicable, the higher institutions of learning, colleges, universities, technical and professional schools, will be arranged according to the sequences of their respective States. This plan may be varied when it shall appear more desirable to unite more closely the elements of any specific phase of work, to facilitate comparison and study. The State executive officer will naturally extend to each collegiate institution the largest liberty in arranging its own affairs. Colleges and special schools may apply to the Special State Commissioner, or directly to the Chief of the Department. All distinct applications for space must be entered in the office of the Director-General.

The assignment of space to the several States and Territories will be determined by the information secured as to the character of the respective State exhibits. Evidently, the most suitable division will not give to each an equal allowance, or one proportioned to area, or population, or even to school attendance. The State which has made the most decided educational progress, and has the best harvest to show, should have the best opportunity to show it.

Each State should present a clear and concise epitome illustrative of its public school system. The conditions in the several States vary widely. Exact rules of procedure cannot be formulated. Reliance must be placed upon the good judgment, invention, taste, and skill of the several State executive committees, and the teachers and school officers co-operating with them. The general regulations of the Exposition, as well as the special rules of the Department of Liberal Arts, must be observed.

The several State exhibits will show some or all of the elements to be enumerated, and substantially in the following order of arrangement.

1. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.-A map of the State upon a generous scale, readable at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet, showing by suitable conventions of color, the location of every educational institution, from the common school up, proving in many instances that the school house crowns every hill top, and nestles in every valley. That the colors may be uniform, special directions and scale will be furnished by the Chief of the Department. Diagrams may show, by the graphic methods so well understood, the progress of education, by years or by decades, in the history of the State; as to the kinds and values of school buildings; the numbers of pupils, by ages, sexes, colors, and grades; the numbers of teachers, actual and related to number of pupils, and their ratios by sexes; the cost of schools, actual, and in ratio to other taxes and to the wealth of the State; illiteracy; statistics of public and of school libraries, etc., etc.

The authorized or approved courses of study for rural, city, and village schools. Qualifications for admission to various grades, and for graduation. Qualifications of teachers; length of service; opportunities for improvement by institutes and normal schools.

The school law; division of territory into districts. County, township, or district organization. Manner of election, term of office, and duties of school officers, trustees, boards of education, city and county superintendents, etc.

2. SELECTED SPECIMENS OF THE ACTUAL WORK OF PUPILS.-Concrete results, drawings, maps, essays, examinations, apparatus, shop-products, etc. The evident danger here is that there will be gathered a wilderness of material which will appall the visitor by the magnitude of the exhibit, and the endless repetition of similar things. It is not necessary, when showing the splendid agricultural resources of the State of Illinois, that a sheaf of wheat and a shock of corn should be offered from every farm, or every township, or even from every county. The teacher, as well as the farmer, must content himself by showing in a limited way that which is CHARACTERISTIC, and that which is BEST. For this reason it is evident that complete exhibits from organic units less than the State, as cities, counties, etc., such as might be appropriate in an exposition representing a territory of smaller extent, cannot be provided for in this. It is not possible to assume that every city or county can have a distinct representation. But whatever is shown should be carefully credited to its source.

As before suggested, the method of obtaining pupils' work must be entrusted largely to the discretion of the State executive authorities. Whatever method is adopted, much stress should be laid upon the injunction that every item of work presented as the product of the pupils should be absolutely genuine. The interference of a teacher, even to the correction of an obvious mistake, the retouching of a shade in a drawing, the fitting by a shaving of a joint of woodwork, the dotting of an "i" or the crossing of a "t," should be deemed an inexcusable fault; and any work so"improved" should be rigorously rejected. Each item should be forwarded exactly as the pupil left it. No special instruction, practice, or drill should be given to any pupil, class, or school, preparatory to work which is intended for the Exposition. The actual fruits of the regular school system should be presented without being worked up for this special purpose.

The Educational Executive Committee in each State will collect, select, prepare, forward, and, under the approval of the Chief of the Department, install the material for the State exhibit. The following plan of selection is suggested, but will not be insisted upon, if a better can be devised: Let the Executive Committee in each State appoint a series of days upon which papers may be prepared upon assigned subjects by the pupils of all schools which wish to offer work for exhibition; one day for history, another for grammar, another for essays, etc. Questions prepared under the supervision of the State executive are distributed under proper precautions and regulations; an equal number are added in each community, prepared by the local officers, the work to be done on the same day, and