elements of taste and refinement that have contributed largely to the advancement of education in the country. I believe that as teachers in lower grades they are superior to men; that in grammar grades they are fully our equals; and as managers or supervisors of our graded schools they have shown equal ability with the other sex.

And yet, as highly as I appreciate their ability and the value of the refining influences which women teachers have brought into our schools, I am constrained to say that in my opinion it would be an advantage to have more men teachers in the higher grades of our grammar schools. In the public schools of Philadelphia, not counting the higher schools, there are over 2,600 women teachers and only 62 men teachers. This large disproportion of male teachers is regarded by those who have been watching our educational work for a number of years as a serious defect in the working of our system. One of the most marked contrasts between the schools of our country and those of Europe is the greater vigor and energy which characterizes the teaching in the latter-a feature mainly due to the preponderance of male teachers. While I would not substitute their system for our own, I am quite sure that we can learn some lessons from them; and one is that we need to increase the number of male teachers in our higher grades.

A lack of vigor in

We need more vigor and energy in our school work. teaching leads to a lack of vigor in studying. Effeminacy on the part of the teacher begets effeminacy on the part of the pupil; and we need manly strength as well as womanly grace and refinement in the work of our schools. Especially is this true in the education of the boys of our grammar schools. A manly man can bring to bear upon boys, and on girls also, influences of energy and mental activity and high ambition that most women cannot, no matter how scholarly and accomplished. It is a stimulus to a boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age to come in contact with and feel the touch of a strong, manly character. It arouses a mental energy and gives an ideal of duty and achievement that a woman teacher, with all her excellences of character, is unable to inspire.

In expressing these convictions there is no desire or intention to depreciate or do injustice to women. I look forward to the time when they shall occupy chairs in our higher institutions of learning, from which they are now excluded. I believe that it would add an element of grace and refinement and moral influence to such institutions as Yale and Harvard if some of the chairs could be occupied by women. At the same time it would no doubt be a mistake to have them take all of these chairs, and it is almost an equal mistake to have women teach all the upper grades of our grammar schools. It thus seems to me that the real problem which confronts us in the improvement of our grammar schools is the improvement of our teaching force and the methods of teaching in these schools. Solve that problem, and we shall enrich the work of these schools without

shortening the course of study, and attain to the standard of results that will meet all reasonable expectation.

I quite agree with President Eliot in his judgment of the importance of individualizing the work of pupils as much as possible. Far as we are from a proper standard in this regard, our practice is greatly in advance of that of German schools, which promote by entire classes, with few exceptions in the lower grades, rarely advancing pupils during the school year.

MR. JOHN T. PRINCE, Agent Massachusetts Board of Education: Whether we agree or disagree with the ideas expressed by President Eliot, this department owes a debt of gratitude to him for coming to us with his criticisms of grammar schools, and suggestions for their improvement. As to the proposed modification of the study of arithmetic, geography, and English grammar, many of us will agree, as well as to the general adoption of nature studies and the elements of physics in the grammar schools. Indeed, in all of these particulars, reforms have been made in many places. Much has also been done in English literature by the reading and study of classic authors.

Algebra, it should be remembered, is a science which has to do with principles and abstract reasoning. It has, therefore, no place in the elementary schools. I would not object to the solution of problems in those schools by the use of letters in simple equations. Such work is not properly algebra, and it is a question whether it is really useful. Inventional and constructive geometry, also, may be carried on in connection with the study of form and drawing; but demonstrative geometry involves a kind of reasoning which children of twelve years cannot be expected to carry on. There might well be a differentiation of studies at the end of the sixth year in school, especially in languages which are required for entrance to college; but by far too much is made of the value of learning to speak a foreign language in our schools. Certainly we should not greatly modify our programmes and methods for the sake of the very few who may visit foreign countries.

In this discussion we should remember that power is the chief end of education, and that depends not so much upon subjects as upon methods. The best way of enriching our work is not to expand the programme, but to have the subjects taught better than they are. Better teachers, and not more subjects, should be the battle-cry of Reform.

SUPT. EUGENE BOUTON, of Bridgeport, Conn., said that while he agreed with President Eliot in several particulars, yet there were some points on which he begged to differ.

It was his experience that only a very small percentage of the pupils in the grammar schools ever reach the college, and he thought the time could be better spent in more practical studies than algebra or foreign languages. For those who were to continue their studies with a view to

obtaining a liberal education, the study of Latin or French might be of great advantage; but for the ordinary boy and girl whose school life ends with the grammar school, he still entertained the opinion that a more thorough knowledge of the English language would be preferable to Latin, French, or algebra.

We doubtless waste valuable time in the lower grades of our public schools. We underestimate the capabilities of children and keep them going over and over things which are not essential. But the grammar

school course might better be enriched by changing the dull and soulless routine work in numbered series of readers to the perusal of entire selections from standard authors, by introducing some elementary science work which would cultivate their powers of observation and stimulate the spirit of investigation.

JUDGE DRAPER, of New York, wished to give expression to what he believed was the general feeling of the members of the Department touching the address of President Eliot. While all would not agree with each of the suggestions or propositions of the address, all would agree in thanking Dr. Eliot for giving the matter consideration and presenting his views here. No address at the present meeting would start more healthful discussion and result in greater good than this one. He thought that the general propositions of President Eliot were very nearly right, and that his statements touching the existing conditions in the public school system were mostly justified. It was always difficult to find adequate remedies for existing evils or defects; speakers very commonly presented the evils without presenting the remedies. Dr. Eliot had suggested the remedies. It was a courageous thing to do, and he was entitled to great credit for it, although all of his remedies would not meet with universal approval. Of course, he did not suppose they would.

The Chair called upon President Low, of Columbia, to express his opinion upon the subject under discussion.

PRESIDENT Low: There is a character in Dickens, who, when asked to express an opinion, turned to his wife, and said: "You know what I think; tell the gentlemen." So, when I am asked to give an opinion on educational matters, I turn to some one of the experts of Columbia and ask them to give an opinion. I came to the presidency of Columbia through the unusual pathway of a mercantile career, then through the broad field of politics. As long as I was a politician I had enough of the characteristics of the craft to imagine I was capable of filling adequately any and every office. Since I entered the field of education I have learned one of the most important things for a man to know-what he does not know. I do believe that along the educational line, from the beginning to the end, from the kindergarten to the greatest stage of life, there is this truth of

unity; education is one in all its parts. The kindergarten and the university are parts of one educational system. I believe and feel I am in my right place, and that I speak the true voice of Columbia, when I welcome you to New York's oldest university.

PRESIDENT ELIOT, in closing, said he was pleased to learn from the gentlemen who had participated in the discussion, that the reform which he advocated had advanced so far, and he only hoped the good work would go on. But he feared some traces of the evil were still left. The school courses lack variety and substance. There is still too much sluggishness in the grammar grades.

He thought if there was any one thing to emphasize in considering this matter, it was that education should not be uniform. There should be more opportunity for the development of individuality.

He spoke again in defense of his assertion as to the relative value of the study of algebra as compared with arithmetic. He agreed with Dr. Brooks as to the lack of efficiency among women teachers, but he attributed it to a different cause. If the women teachers could have the educational advantages that men teachers have, they would prove equally efficient.

Thanking the Department for the consideration which the members had given to his views, President Eliot closed the discussion.

WHAT SHALL THE STATE DO TOWARD THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN BELOW THE SCHOOL AGE, BETWEEN THE AGES OF THREE AND SIX?

BY SUPERINTENDENT FRANK A. FITZPATRICK, OMAHA, NEB.

THE topic assigned me for discussion will be treated as follows:
First, What can the State do under existing conditions?

Second, What may the State do at present?

Third, What would be the effect of this extension of the school age downward?

Fourth, What are the limits of State interference within the domain of the family?

Fifth, What are the physical impediments in the way?

Sixth, What is the proper method of procedure?

Until comparatively recently the province of government was thought to be merely the protection of the weak; but the exigencies of modern life have impelled the State to reach down into the details of private life, and thus to shape more or less the environments of its citizens. Thus, fire limits are established in cities, inside of which no frame building can be erected; awnings and sheds over the pavements are also prohibited ; a citizen may not even build a bay window projecting over the walk in front of his house, and in many cities cannot even make use of the well upon his lot, but must use the water furnished by the city water-works. He may not even build windows overlooking his neighbor's yard; he may not make such a fire in his furnace or heating plant as will throw out unconsumed fuel in the shape of smoke; he may no longer whip his wife, and, in some places, his children; he may not even keep his children at home away from school; he may not carry weapons to protect himself from real or affected dangers; he may not, in Nebraska, make a contract with his laborer to work longer than eight hours in any one day. Instances might be multiplied to illustrate that the modern State has taken under its charge many duties which years ago would have been thought violent usurpation of the rights of citizens.

In the modern world the tendency has been to continually enlarge this power of the State, and correspondingly to encroach upon the sphere of the family on one side, and to trench upon the domain of private enterprise on the other. In the older States compulsory enactments require that what is commonly known as primary, grammar, and high school education shall be provided. In the newer States addition to this is made by giving