DIVISION

OF

DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSAL

EXHIBITS

OF

EDUCATION

EXPOSITION,

ST . . LOUIS,

1904

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MO .NOGRAPHS

EDUCATION-

IN THE

UNITED

STATES
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EDIT.JW BY
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NICHOLAS MURRAY ~UTLER

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President of Columbia University in the City of New York

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EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION
AND

ADM I NI s T
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President of the University of Illinois

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EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND
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INTRODUCTORY
Twe .C•plee Reoeived

FEB 23 1904

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1904

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Any treatment of the legal organization and the authoritative methods of administration by which the great public
educational system of the United States is carried on must
almost necessarily be opened by a statement of the salient
points in the evolution of that system, for the form of organization and the laws governing the operations of the schools
have not preceded, but followed and been determined by the
educational movements of the people and the necessities of
the case.
The first white settlers who came to America in the early
part of the seventeenth century were from the European
peoples, who were more advanced in civilization than any
others in the world. Each of the nations first represented
had already made some progress I in the direction of popular education. Such educational ideals as these different peoples possessed had resulted from historic causes, and were
very unlike. The influences more potent than any others in
determining the character of American civic institutions
were English and Dutch. The English government was a
constitutional monarchy, but still a monarchy, and the constitutional limitations were neither so many nor so strong
as later popular revolutions have made them. English
thought accepted class distinctions among the people. The
advantages of education were for the favored class, the
nobility. T .h e common people expected little. . Colleges
and fitting schools were maintained for the training of young
men of noble birth for places under the government and in
the government church, but there were no common schools
for all. The nobility were opposed to general education lest

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EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

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the masses would come to recognize God-given rights and
demand them, and the masses were yet too illiterate to
understand and enforce the inalienable rights of human
·nature. The Dutch had gone farther than the English ;
they had just waged a long and dreadful and successful war
for liberty, and with all its horrors war has uniformly sharpened the intelligence of a people. This war for civil and
religious liberty had enlarged their freedom and quickened
their activities; they had become the greatest sailors and the
foremost manufacturers in the world ; and they had established the government policy of maintaining not only colleges, but common schools for all.
The first permanent white settlers in the United States
were English and Dutch. In the beginning they had no
thought of ceasing to be Englishmen and loyal subjects of the
English monarchy, or Dutchmen with permanent fellowship
in the Dutch Republic. They each brought their national
educational ideas with them. Each people was strongly
influenced by religious feelings, and life in a new land intensified those feelings. The English in Massachusetts were
at the beginning very like the English in England. The
larger and wealthier and more truly English colony recognized class distinctions and followed the English educational
policy. They first set up a college to train their aristocracy
·for places in the state and the church, and for a considerable
time their ministers, either at the church or in the homes,
taught the children enough to read the Bible and.acquire the
catechism. The Dutch, more democ1iatic, with smaller mim'bers and less means, and more dependent upon their government over the sea, at once set up elementary schools at public
cost and common to all. In a few years the English overthrew the little Dutch government and almost obliterated
the elementary schools. For a century the English royal
governors and the Dutch colonial legislatures struggled
over the matter of common schools. The government was
too strong for the humble people; little educational progress
was made. Near the close of that century the government

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established King's college to educate sons of noble birth
and prevent the spread of republican ideas. The Revolution of I 776 changed all. In fighting together for national
independence the different peoples assimilated and became
Americans in the new sense. . They not only combined their
forces in war, but in peace they combined the ;;nlarged intelligence which the war had brought to them. They realized
that education in all its phases and grades must be encouraged, and, so far as practicable, made universal under a democracy in which the rights of opportunity were to be equal.
But while they began to be interested in education it was
because they saw that schools would help the ipdividual and
so promote virtue and extend religion. It did not occur to
them at the first that the safety of the new form of government was associated with the diffusion of learning among all
the people. This is not strange, for the suffrage was not
universal at the beginning of independent government in
America. Therefore, while the desirability of education was
recognized, it was understood to be the function of parents
to provide it for their children, or of guardians and masters
to extend it to their wards and apprentices. When schools
were first established they were partnership affairs between
people who had children in their . care, and for their convenience. }hey apportioned the expense among themselves;
such as had no children were without much concern about
the matter.
It was soon seen that many who had children to educate
would neglect them in order to avoid the expense of contributing to the support of the school. Aside from this the
schools were.very indifferent affairs. If they were to be of
any account they must have recognition and encouragement
from government. It was easily conceived to be a function
of government to encourage schools. Encouragement was
given by official and legislative declarations in their behalf
and then by authorizing townships to use funds derived from
excise fees and other sources for the benefit of the schools
when not otherwise needed. It was a greater step to attempt

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. to say that townships should require people, who had chil. dren to educate, to maintain schools, and a still greater one
. to adopt the principle that every child was entitled to at least
aff elementary education as of right, that this was as much
' for. the safety of the state as for the good of the child, that
· therefore the state was bound to see that schools were provided for all, and that all the property of all the people
should contribute alike to their support. Perhaps it was
I even a greater step to provide secondary and collegiate, and
in many cases professional and technical, training at the
·. public cost. But these great positions were in time firmly
· taken.
There was nothing like an educational system in the
United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
At that time there were four or five colleges, here and there
a private academy or fitting school, and elementary"schools
of indifferent character in the cities and the thinly .settled
towns. In the course of the century a great system of
schools has come to cover the land. It is free and flexible,
adaptable to local conditions, and yet it possesses most of
the elements of a complete and symmetrical system. The
parts or grades of this system may perhaps be designated
as follows:
a) Free public elementary schools in reach of every home
in the land.
b) Free public high schools, or secondary schools, in
every considerable town.
c) Free land grant colleges, with sp<:>.dal reference to the
agricultural and mechanical arts, in all the states.
d) Free state universities in practically all of the southern
states and all the states west of Pennsylvania.
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e) Free normal schools, or training schools for teachers,
in practically every state .
. f) Free schools for defectives, in substantially all 0f the
states.
g) National academies for tra,.ining offi<::ers for the army
and navy.
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h) A vast number of private kindergartens, music and
art schools, commercial schools, industrial schools, professional schools, denominational colleges, with a half dozen
leading and privately endowed universities.
This mighty educational system has developed with the
growth of towns and cities and states. It has been shaped
by the advancing sagacity of the people. Above all other
of American civic institutions, it has been the one most
expressive of the popular will and the common purposes.
Everywhere it is held in the control of the people, and so far
as practicable in the ·control of local assemblages. While
the tendencies of later years have, from necessities, been
towards centralization of management, the conspicuous characteristic of the systems ha:s always been the extent to which
the elementary and secondary schools are controlled and
directed by each community. The inherent anp universal
disposition in this direction has favored general school laws
and yielded to centralized administration only so far as has
come to be necessary to life, efficiency and growth. But
circumstances have made this necessary to a very considerable extent.
Bearing in mind the historic facts touching the development of the school system, we may proceed to consider the
legal organization ancb.authoritative scheme of administration which have arisen therefrom. We will· begin with the
most elementary and decentralized form of organization and
proceed to the more general and concentrated ones, following
the steps which have marked the growth of the system in a
general way, but with no thought of tracing the particular
lines of educational advancement in the several states.
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT

The " school district" is the oldest and the most primary
form of school organization. Indeed, it is the smallest civil
division of our political system. It resulted from the natural
disposition of neighboring families to associate together for
the maintenance of a school. Later it was recognized by
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aw and given some legal functions and responsibilities.
Its territorial extent is no larger than will permit of all the
. hildren attending a single school, although it sometimes
appens that in sparsely settled country the children have to
o several miles to school. It ordinarily accommodates but
few families : districts have had legal existence with but
one family in each : many with not more than a half dozen
families. It is better adapted to the circumstances of the
~ountry than to those of the town or city. A different form
has . been provided for the considerable towns, and still
nother for the cities as they have developed. The "district
ystem " is in operation in most of the states, and in such
he number of districts extends into the thousands. In New
ork, for example, there are over eleven thousand and in
Illinois over twelve thousand school districts.
The government of the school district is the most simple
nd democratic that can be imagined. It is controlled by
chool meetings composed of the resident legal voters. In
any of the states women have been constituted legal voters
t school meetings. These meetings are held at least
nnually and as much oftener as may be desired. They
ay vote needed repairs to the primitive schoolhouse and
esirable appliances for the school. They may decide to
rect a new schoolhouse. They may elect officers, one or
ore, commonly called trustees or directors, who must carry
ut their directions and who are required by law to employ
he teacher and have general oversight of the school.
lthough the law ordinarily gives the ~rustees ~ree discreion in the appointment of teachers, provided only that a
erson duly certificated must be appointed, yet it not infreuently happens that the district controls the selection of
he teacher through the election of trustees with known
references.
Much has been said against the district system, and doubtess much that has been said has been justified. At the
ame time it cannot be denied that the system has had much
o commend it. It has suited the conditions of country life:

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it has resulted in schools adapted to the thought and wants
of farming people : it has done something to educate the
people themselves, parents as well as children, in civic spirit
and patriotism: and it has afforded a meeting place for the
people within comfortable .reach of every home. The 'school
has not always been the best, but it has been ordinarily as
good as a free and primitive people would sustain or could
profit by. It is true that the teachers have generally
been young and inexperienced, but they have not yet been
trained into mechanical automatons, and as a rule they have
been the most promising young people in the world, the
ones who, a few years later, have been the makers of opinion
and the leaders of action upon a considerable field. Certainly the work has lacked system, continuity and progressiveness, the pupils have commenced at the same place in the
book many times and never advanced a great distance, but,
on the other hand, the children in the country schools have
had the home training and the free, natural life which has
developed strong qualities in character and individual initiative in large measure, and so have not suffered seriously, in
comparison with the children living in the towns. The district system has sufficed well for them and it has otherwise
been of much advantage to the people; and with all its
shortcomings, or the abuses that are common where it prevails, they are hardly worse than are found under more pretentious systems. Surely the "American District School
System" is to be spoken of with respect, for it has exerted a
marked influence upon our citizenship, and has given strong
and wholesome impulses in all the affairs of the nation.
THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM

While in the first half of the century the general educ~­
tional purpose seems to have been to make the district system more perfect, the tendency in the latter half has unmistak~een to merge it into a more pretentious organization,
cov
g a larger area, and capable of larger undertakings.
The c~use of this has been the desire for larger schools,

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taught by teachers better prepared, and capable of broader
and better work, as well as the purpose to distribute educa, tional advantages more evenly to all the people. Accord' ingly, in most of the states there has been a serious discussion of the relative advantages of the township as against
the district system, and in quite a number of the states the
former has already supplanted the latter.
The township system makes the township the unit of
Ischool government. It is administered by officers chosen at
!annual town meetings, or sometimes by central boards, the
·members of which are chosen by the electors of different
:sub-districts. In any event, the board has charge of all the
'elementary schools of the township, and if there is one, as
' is frequently the case, of the township high school.
The
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board, following the different statutes governing them and
the authorized directions of the township school electors,
provides the buildings and cares for them, supplies the
needed furnishings and appliances, employs the teachers, and
regulates the general operations of the school.
It is at once seen that the township system is much less
formally democratic and much more centralized than the district system. It has doubtless produced better schools and
chools of more uniform excellence. One of its most benefi~
ent influences has been the multiplication of township high
chools, in which all the children of the township have had
quality of rights. These high schools have given an upliftng stimulus to all the elementary schools of the township,
nd have led all the children to see th3.t the work of the
ocal school' is not all there is of education, and given many
f them ambitions to master the 'course of the secondary
chool.
Very much has been said upon the subject, but it is not
ecessary to go into it at length here. The township sysem has many advantages over the district system for a people
ho are ready for it. It is adapted to the development and
o the administration of a higher grade of schools and very
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important step, towards that general centralization in management and greater uniformity of improved methods of
supervision and instruction now so manifest throughout the
school system of the United States.
THE COUNTY SYSTEM

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The southern states, most if not all of them, have a
county system of school administration. This has not
resulted from the development of the school system, but
from the general system of county rather than township
government prevalent in all the affairs of .the southern
states from the beginning, and easily traceable to historic
causes. The county is the unit of school · government in
the southern states, because it has been the unit of all
government.
The county system is not c'onstit:µted identically in all of
the southern states of the union. In Georgia, fQ,r example,
the grand jury of each county selects from the freeholders
five persons to comprise the county board of education ; in
North Carolina the justices of the peace and county commissioners of each county appoint, such a county board of
education, while in Florida such a board is elected by the
people biennially, and in some states a county commissioner
or superintendent of schools is the responsible authority for
managing the schools .Qf the county. In Georgia "each
county shall constitute one school district," but in several of
the states the county board or superintendent divides the
territory into sub-districts and appoints trustees or directors
in each. In the latter case the local trustees seem ·to be
ministerial officers carrying out the policy of the county
board. In any case the unit of territory for the administration of the schools is the county, and county officials locate
sites, provide buildings, select text-books, prescribe the
course of work, examine and appoint teachers, and do all the
things which are within the functions of district or township
trustees ~ boards of education in the northern states.

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THE CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS

, As communities have increased in population they have
. utgrown any primary or elementary system of organization
.or school purposes. Laws of general application or comon usage in a county sparsely settled would not suffice for
city of many thousands of people. In such cities the peo' le c_o uld not meet to fix the policies and manage the busi. ess of the schools : they could not meet even to choose
' fficers to manage the schools. So the state legislatures
ave made special laws to meet the circumstances of the
arger places. In some states these laws are uniform for all
ities of a certain class, that is, cities having populations of
bout the same number, but more often each city has gone
o the legislature and procured the enactment of such stattes as seemed suited to the immediate circumstances.
Because of this there is no uniform or general system of
ublic school administration in the American cities. Of
ourse there are some points of similarity. In nearly every
ase there is a board of education charged with the manageent of the schools, but these boards are constituted in
)most as many different ways as there are different cities,
nd their legal functions are as diverse as there is diversity
n cities. In the city of Buffalo, New York state, the school
ffairs are managed by a committee appoin'ted by the city
ouncil, but happily this case stands by itself, and the evil
onsequences possible under such a scheme have been much
meliorated in this particular case for t)le last half dozen
ears by a most excellent superintendent of schools, elected
y the people of that city.
In the greater number of cities the boards of education
re elected by the people, in some cases on a general city
icket, and again by wards or sub-districts; in some places at
general or municipal election, and in others at elections
eld for the particular purpose. But in many cities, and
articularly the larger ones, the boards are appointed by
he mayor alone, or by the mayor and city council acting

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jointly. In the city of Philadelphia the board is appointed
by the city judges, in Pittsburgh by local directors, and in
New Orleans by the state board of education. In a few
instances the board is appointed by the city councils.
In the city of Cleveland, Ohio, the board of education
consists of two branches : a school director elected by the
people .for the term of two years, and a school council of
seven members, likewise elected by the people in three groups
with terms of three years each. This scheme was devised
in I892 by prominent business men of the city, and, having
been enacted by the legislature, has been in very satisfactory operation since.
It must be said that there has been much dissatisfaction
with the way school affairs have been managed in the larger
cities. In the smaller places, even in · cities of a hundred
thousand or more inhabitants, matters have gone well enough
as a general rule, but in the greater cities there have .been
many and serious complaints of the misuse of fonds, of
neglect of property, of the appointment of unfit teachers,
and of general incapacity, or worse, on the part of the
boards. Of course it is notorious that the public business
of American cities has very commonly been badly managed.
It would not be true to say that the business of the schools
has suffered as seriously as municipal business, but it certainly has been managed badly enough.
. All this has come from the amounts of money that are
mvolved and the numb_er of . appointments that are constantly to be made. Moie than a hundred millions of
dollars are paid annually for teachers' wages alone in the
United States. People who are needy have sought positions
as teachers without much reference to preparation, and the
kindly disposed have aided them without any apparent appreciation of the injury they were doing to the highest interests
of their neighbors. Men engaged in managing the organizations of the different political parties have undertaken to
control appointments in the interests of their party machines.
And the ~nright scoundrels have infested the school
organization in some places for the sake of plunder.

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·As cities have grown in size and multiplied in numbers,
the more scandal there has been. And American cities have
grown marvelously. In 1790 there was but one having
between eight and twelve thousand inhabitants: in 1890
there were one hundred and forty-seven such. By the census
of the latter year there were fourteen cities having between
seventy-five thousand and one hundred and twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Now there are certainly a dozen with
more than a half million of people each. The aggregate
population of a dozen cities exceeds the aggregate population of twenty states. But if the troubles have multiplied
and intensified as the cities have grown, so has the determination of the people strengthened to remedy the difficulties.
There has been no more decided and no more healthy
educational movement in the United States in recent years,
and none with greater or more strongly intrenched obstacles
in its way, than that for better school organization and
administration in the larger cities. Its particular features
·or objective points are pointed -out by the committee of fifteen of the National educational association in the following
declarations :
"In concluding this portion of the report, the committee
indicates briefly the principles which must necessarily be
observed in framing a plan of o;-ganization and government
in a large city school system.
First. The affairs of the school should not be mixed up
with partisan contests or municipal business.
Second. There should be a sharp distinction between legislative functions and executive duties.
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Third. Legislative functions should be clearly fixed by
statute and be exercised by a comparatively small board,
each member of which is representative of the whole city.
This board, within statutory limitations, should determine
the policy of the system, levy taxes, a~d control the expenditures. It should make no appointments. Every act should
be by a recorded resolution. It seems preferable that this
board be created by appointment rather than election, and

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that it be constituted of two branches acting against each
other.
Fourth. Administration should be separated into two
great independent departments, one of which manages the
business interests and the other of which supervises the
instruction. Each of these should be wholly directed by a
single official who is vested with ample authority and charged
with full responsibility for sound administration.
Fi.fth. The chief executive officer on the business side
should be charged with the care of all property and with the
duty of keeping it in suitable condition: he should provide
all necessary furnishings and appliances : he should make all
agreements and see that they are properly performed: ·he
should appoint all assistants, janitors, and workmen. In a
word, he should do all that the law contemplates and all that
the board authorizes, concerning the business affairs of the
school system, and when anything goes wrong he should
answer for it. He may be appointed by the board, but we
think it preferable that he be chosen in the same way the
members of the board are chosen, and be given a veto upon
the acts of the board.
Sixth. The chief ex~cutive officer of the department of
instruction should be given a long term and may be appointed
by the board. If-the board is constituted of two branches,
he should be nominated by the business executive and confirmed by the legislative branch. Once appointed he should
be independent. He should appoint all authorized assistants and teachers from an eligible list to be constituted as
provided by law. He should assign to duties and discontinue services for cause, at his discretion. He should determine all matters relating to instruction. He should be
charged with the responsibility of developing a professional
and ei/usiastic teaching force, and of making all the teaching scientific and forceful. He must perfect the organization
of his department and make and carry out plans to accomplish this. If he cannot do this in a reasonable time he
should be superseded by one who can."

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It ought to be said before passing from this phase of the
subject that these principles have made much headway, and
that the promise is excellent. There is not a city of any
, importance in the country in which they are not under discussion, and there are few in which some of them have not
been adopted and put in operation.
, The powers of the city boards of education are very
· broad, almost without limits as to the management of the
' schools. They commonly do everything but decide the
amount of money which shall be raised for the schools, and
in some cases even that high prerogative is left to them.
They purchase new sites, determine the plans and erect new
buildings, provide for maintenance, appoint officers and
teachers, fix salaries, make promotions, and, acting within
very few and slight constitutional or statutory limitations,
enact all of the regulations for the control of the vast system.
The high powers, cheerfully given by the people to school
boards, have arisen from the earnest desire that the schools
shall be independent and the teaching of the best. Of
course these independent and large prerogatives are exceedingly advantageous to educational progress when exercised
by good men : when they fall into the hands of weak or bad
men they are equally capable of being put to the worst uses.
And it is not to be disguised that in some of the foremost
cities they have fallen into some hands which are corrupt,
but more often into the hands of men of excellent personal
character, but who do not see the importance of applying
pedagogical principles to instruction, ~nd who are, in one
way or another, used by designing persons for partizan, selfish or corrupt purposes. Of course it is not to be implied
that there are not to be found in every school board men or
women with clear heads and stout hearts who understand the
essential principles of sound school administration and are
courageously contending for them. Nor must the serious
difficulty of holding together pupils from such widely different homes in common schools be lost sight of. And again,
he obstacles in the way of choosing and training a teaching

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force of thousands of persons, and of continually energizing
the entire body with new pedagogical life, must be remembered. And yet again, · the dangers of corruption where
millions of dollars are . being annually disbursed by boards
which are practically independent, are apparent. But, notwithstanding all of the hindrances, the issue is being joined
and the battle will be fought out to a successful result.
There can1be but one outcome. The forces of decency and
progress always prevail in the end.
The demands of the intelligent and sincere friends of
popular education in our great cities are for a m~re s~ientific
plan of organization which shall separate legislative and executive functions, which shall put the interests of teachers
upon the merit basis and le~ve the~ free to ~pply peda~ogi­
cal principles to the instruction, which shall give authon~y t_o
do what is needed and protect officers and teachers, while 1t
locates responsibility and provides the way for ousting the
incompetent or the corrupt. The trouble has been that the
boards were independent and the machine so ponderous and
the prerogatives and responsibilities of officials so co?fused
that people who were aggrieved could not get a hearing or
could not secure redress, perhaps for the reason that no one
official had the power to afford redress. What is demanded
and whaCis apparently coming is a more perfect system,
which will give one credit for good work in the schools a~d
enable a parent to point his finger at and procure the dismissal of one who inflicts upon his child a school room
which is not wholesome and healthful, or a teacher who is
physically, pedagogically or morally unfit to train his child.
THE STATES AND THE SCHOOLS

1'.ince the American school system has come to be suppfr."ted wholly by taxation, it has come to de.pend upon the
exercise of a sovereign power. In the United States the
sovereign powers are not all lodged in one place. Sue~ as
have not been ceded to the general government are retamed
by the states. The provision and supervision of schools is
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one of these. Hence the school system, while marked by
many , characteristics which are common throughout the
country, has a legal organization peculiar to each state.
The dependence upon state authority which has thus
arisen has gone farther than anything else towards the
development of a system and towards the equalization of
:n:h~ol privileges to the people of the same state. Naturally
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md1sposed to relinquish the management of their own school
' affairs in their own way, they have been obliged to bow to
the authority of their states, in so far as the state saw fit to
assert its authority, because they could not act without it, as
counties, citie~, townships and districts have no power whatever to levy taxes for school purposes except as authorized by
the state. They have become reconciled to the intervention of state authority, moreover, as they have seen that
such authority improved the schools.
Of such improvement by such intervention there can be
no doubt. In many cases state school funds have been
created, or large sums are raised by general levy each year,
which are distributed so as to give the most aid to the sections which are poorest and most need it. In the state of
New York, for example, the cities pay more than half a million of dollars every year to the support of the schools in
the country districts. In practically all of the states excellent normal schools are maintained to prepare teachers for
the elementary and secondary schools. In all of the southern and western states great state uTJ.iversities are sustained
as parts of the state school systems. In ten universities of
the North-Central division of states there are twenty thousand students in college and professional courses, and the
work is of as high grade and of as broad range as in the
oldest universities of the country. These things are exerting strong influences upon the sentiment of the people of
the different states and increasing their respect for the
authority of their states over their schools.
And the application of state authority to all of the schools
supported by public moneys of course makes th.e m more

19]

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

alike and better. The whims of local settlements disappear.
The schoolhouses are better. More is done for the preparation of teachers, and more uniform exactions are put upon
candidates for the teaching service. The courses of study
are more quickly and symmetrically improved. There is
criticism and stimulus from a common center for all of the
educational work of the state.
The different states have gone to very different lengths
in exercising their authority. The length to which each has
gone has depended upon the necessity of state intervention
by the exercise of the taxing power, or of delegating that
power to subdivisions of the territory, and upon the sentiment of the people. In most cases it has been determined
by the location of the point of equipqse between necessity
and free consent. The state government has, of course,
not been disposed to go farther than the people were willing,
for all government is by the people. The thought of the
people in the different states has been somewhat influenced
by considerations which arise out of their early history, but
doubtless in most cases it is predicated upon their later
experiences.
All of the state consti1.u.t ions now contain provisions
relatil!g to popuiar--ed-~s~tion. This was -not true of the
original constitutions of all of the older states, for when
they were ~d the maintenance of schools was .19~
upon as a person?-! or Jocal .. rath.~L than a state_ co~ci:_rn.
But later amendments have since introduced such provisions
into all of the older state constitutions. And all of the
newer ones have contained stro~g and elaborate sections,
making it a fundamental duty of the government they established to encourage education and provide schools for all.
Of course, all of the states have legislated much in reference to the schools, and there is scarcely a session of one of
the state legislatures in which they do not receive considerable attention. In all of the states there is some sort of a
state school organization established by law. In practically
all there is an officer known as the state superintendent of

20

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

[20
2I

public instruction, or the state school commissioner. In
some there is a state board of education. In New York
there is a state board of regents in charge of the private
academies, in some measure of the public secondary schools,
and of all of the higher institutions; and also a state superintendent of public instruction, with very high authority
over the elementary schools and in a large measure over
the public high schools.
The officer last ref erred to doubtless is vested with larger
a!-lthority than any other one educational official in the ·
country. He apportions the state schools funds; he determines the conditions of admission, the courses of work and
the employment of teachers, and audits all the accounts of
the twelve normal schools of the state; he has unlimited
authority over the examination and certification of teachers;
he regulates the official action of the school commissioners
in all of the assembly districts of the state; he appoints the
teachers' institutes, arranges the work, names the instructors,
and pays the bills. He determines the boundaries of school
districts. He provides schools for the defective classes and
for the seven Indian reservations yet remaining in the state.
He may condemn schoolhouses and require new ones to be
built. He may direct new furnishings to be provided. He
is a member of the state board of regents and of the board
of trustees of Cornell university. He may entertain appeals
by any person conceiving himself aggrieved from any order
or proceeding of local school officials, determine the practice
therein, and make final disposition of the matter in dispute,
and his decision cannot be " called in question in any court
or in any other place."
All this, with the splendid organization of the state board
of regents, unquestionably provides New York with a more
complete and elaborate educational organization than any
other American state.
There are some who think that it is more elaborate and
authoritative than necessary; that it unduly overrides local
freedom and discourages individual initiative. One who has

;

'

J

'

EDUCATIONAL o'RGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

2

been a part of that syst~m, and who has also been ~sociate•
with educational work \yhere there is bu~ very slight ~ta~
supervision, will hardly be disposed to thmk so. But it 1
certainly exceptional ·am.o ng the states. M?st of ther
undertake to regulate school affairs but very little. . In th
larger number of cases the state boar_d o_f e~ucation on!
controls the purely state educational institutions,_ and th
principal functions of the leading ed_ucational official of th
state are to inspire action through his addre~ses and gatht
· statistics and disseminate information deducible therefron
However there can be. no doubt about the general te1
dency bein~ strongly towards .!reater c~!.!3li-z.ation. ~
ollfYare its advantages quite app~nt, but the overwhelmm
current of legisTation and of the ~~1!-~ ?.L}~~-~~l.!.~ts
maki~ it imperative. These are practically m accor~, an
are"io the effect.~fnat in_each state the school system is~'
local but general ; not individual schools controlled by sep
rate 'co~~~. but a closely related sy~tem of schoo
which has become a state system and is entirely under sta
authority. Local school officials are now uniformly held ·
be agents of the state for the administration of a state S)
tern of education .
. The granting of aid by the state, the necessity of .tl
exercise of powers without which the schools c~nn~t II\
and which powers reside exclusively in the state, i_mphes tl
right of the state to name the conditions _upon which t~e a
shall be received, and the duty to see that the exercise
such powers shall result in equal advant~ges to all.
Widely dissimilar conditions lea~ differe~t states to
greater or lesser appreciation of · their educa_t10nal respon
bilities and make them more or less able or disposed_ to ex,
cise their legal functions to the full measure o_f t~e1r goc
yet all are appreciating the fact that a constitutional, S(
governing state exists for the moral and intellectual adv;
tage of every citizen and for the common progress of t
whole mass. All are moving as best they are able, a
according to the light they have, in fulfillment of wise pub

22

.....

EDUCATION AL ORGA NIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

[

22

. policy_ and co~stitutional obligation. They have employed
and ~ill continue to employ different methods. Some will
act directly through state officials : some will delegate a
large measure of authority to local boards and officials so
long as it seems well: but all have the highest authority the
supreme responsibility in the matter, and under the inftu~nce
of the later knowledge will undo whatever may be necessary
and take w?atever new steps may be necessary, to carry th~
best educational opportunities to every child.
And it is the purpose of the people and the law of most
of the states that such educational opportunities shall not
only be provided for every American child but that every
one shall be required to take advantage of ~hem. Compulsory attendance laws have been enacted in most of the states.
These. are not ~s . care~ully framed as a good knowledge of
educat10nal admm1strat1on might very easily lead them to
be, and they are not as completely enforced as the true interests of many unfortunate children require, yet it may be said
safely that the right and the duty of the state to educate
them is recog_nized, and that the tendency towards greater
thoroughness m the way of making education universal as a
safeguard to our free citizenship is general.
It was not so in the beginning, but American public
schools are rapidly coming to be related together in a system of sc?ools, that system a state system, and at once the
mo~t ~ex1ble and adap:able to our manner of living, our
social ideals and our nat10nal aml:iitions.
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATION

As already pointed out, the authoritative management of
the schools ha~ never been conferred upon the general government, but 1s reserved to and exercised by the several
state~. What might have been done at the time of the
fram~ng of the federal constitution, if it had been supposed
that m a few years the support and management of schools
would develop into a government function, can only be
speculated upon. It is well known that the members of the

23]

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

first constitutional convention were not indifferent to ed
cation. But their view of the subject was the view of ;
men of their time, £. e., that it was highly desirable that ;
social organizations should encourage, perhaps even by th
time that it was proper for government to see that schoc
were maintained, but that the real responsibility, and
course the expense, should fall upon people legally charg
able with the custody of children. The functions of g c
ernment touching education were not then under conside1
tion at all, and when they forced themselves upon pub:
attention the towns, and, when the exercise of the power
taxation became imperativ~, the states assumed them
they were bound to do.
Accordingly, the federal government has never exercis
any control over the public educational work of the count1
But it may be said with emphasis that that government h
never been indifferent thereto. It has shown its interest
different times by generous gifts to education, and by t
organization of a bureau of education for the purpose
gathering the fullest information from all of the states, a1
from foreign nations as well, and for disseminating the sar
to all who would be interested therein. '
The gifts of the United States to the several states
encourage schools have been in the form of land rights frc
the public domain. In the sale of public lands the practi
of reserving one lot in every township "for the maintenan
of public schools within the township" has uniformly be
followed. In 1786 officers of the revolutionary army pe
tioned congress for the right to settle territory north a
west of the Ohio river. A committee reported a bill
favor of granting the request, which provided that one s
tion in each township should be reserved for common schoc
one section for the support of religion, and four townsh i
for the support of a university. This was modified so as
give one section for the support of religion, one for comm
schools, and two townships for the support of a "liter;;
institution to be applied to the intended object by the lt
1

1

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

islature of the state."

[2

4

This provision, coupled with the

sp~endid declaration that "religion, morality and knowledge

being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged," foreshadowed the general disposition and
policy of the central government and made the " Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest territory" famous. The precedent here established became
national policy, and after the year r 800 each state admitted
to the Union, with the exception of Maine, Texas and West
Virginia, received two or more townships of land for the
founding of a university. In r 836 congress passed an act
distributing to the several states the surplus funds in the
treasury. In all $28, ror,645 was so distributed, and in a
number of the states this was devoted to educational uses.
But the most noble, timely, and carefully guarded gift of
the federal government was embodied in the land grant
act of 1862 for colleges of agriculture and the mechanic
arts. This act gave to each state thirty thousand acres of
land for each senator and representative in congress to
which the state was entitled under the census of r 860 for
the purpose of founding "at least one college where' the
leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific
and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach
such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and
the mechanic arts, in such mann er as the legislatures of the
states shall respectively prescribe, in order to promote the
li~eral education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." This act has been added to
by other congressional enactments and the proceeds of the
sales of lands have been generously suppleme~ted by the
state legislatures until great peoples' colleges and universities have arisen in all of the States.
The work of the United States bureau of education is a
most exact, stimulating and beneficent one. Without exercising any authority, it is untiring and scientific in gathering
data, in the philosophic treatment of educational subjects,

2 5]

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

and in fornishing the fullest information upon every conceivable phase· of educational activity to whomsoever would
accept it. Its operations have by no means been con~ned
to the United States. It has becbme the great educat10nal
clearing house of the world. The commissio~ers who have
been at the head of this bureau have been emment i:ien and
great educational leaders. The present commissioner, ~r~
William T. Harris, stands without a peer as the most philosophical thinker and the readiest writer upon .edu~ational
subjects in the world. Under such fortunate direct10n the
bureau of education has collected the facts and made most
painstaking research into every movement in America and
elsewhere which gave prorµise of advantage to the good cause
of popular education.
"
.
.
So, while the government of the U mte~ ~tates is not
chargeable under the constitution with ~rovidmg ~r :upervising schools, and while it does not .exercise authont~ in the
matter it will be quickly seen that it has been steadily and
intelli~ently and generously true to the nat~on~l instinct to
advance morality and promote culture by its influence and
its resources.
PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS

Up to this time we have been trea~in~ of t~e American
public school system, using the term in its strictest sens~.
We have been referring to the schools suppqrted by public
moneys and supervised by public officers. Yet there is an
infinite number of other schools which comprise an important part of the educational system of the country and ~re
of course subject to its laws. Any statement concerning
American school organization and administration, e:'en ?f
the most general character, wou~d be inco.mplet~ whi~h did
not cover these, but obviously it is not desirable m this ·connection to do more than touch upon the relation in which
they stand, by common usage and under the laws, to American education.
·
In the first half of the century just closing many private
"academies" or "seminaries" sprang up in all directions

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

J

27

[26

where the country had become at all settled. This was in
response to a demand from people who began to reach out,
but could not get what they wanted in the common schools.
Any teacher with a little more than ordinary gifts could open
one of these schools upon a little higher plane than usual
and very soon have an abundance of pupils and a profitable
·income. Many of these institutions did most excellent work.
Not a few of the leading citizens of the country owe their
first inspiration and much help to them. The larger part of
these schools served their purpose and finally gave way to
new public high schools. Some yet remain and continue to
meet the desires of well-to-do and select families who pref er
their somewhat exclusive ways. A considerable number have
been adopted by their states and developed into state normal schools, and not a few have by their own natural force
grown into literary colleges.
The earlier American colleges were, in the beginning, in
a large sense the children of the state. Yale, Harvard,
Princeton, Columbia were all chartered by and in some measure support~d by their states at the start, and are yet sub-'
, ject to the law, though they have become independent of
such support. A vast number of colleges has been established by the religious denominations for the training of their
ministry, and, so far as possible, for giving all their youth a
higher education while keeping them under their denominational influence.
In recent years innumerable schools have arisen out of
private enterprise. Every conceivable interest has produced
a school to promote its own ends and accordingly adjusted
to its own thought. So professional, technical, industrial and
commercial schools of every kind have sprung up on every
hand.
All such schools operate by the tacit leave of the states
in which they exist. The states are not disposed to interfere with them, as they ask no public support. Some of
them hold charters granted by the legislature, and more
secure recogniz~d standing by organizing under general <;OJ;"•

EDUCATION AL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

27

poration laws enacted to cover all such enterprises. In some
cases the states distribute public moneys to some of these
institutions by way of encouragement, and perhaps impose
certain conditions upon which they shall be eligible to share
in such distributions. But ordinarily a state does no more
than protect its own good name against occasional impostors
who wear the livery of heaven to serve the devil more effectually and it is feared that some states have not yet come to
'
do this
as completely as they ought.
·
The tendency to regulate private schools by legislation, to
the extent at least of seeing that they are not discreditable
to the state, is unmistakable. New Yark, for example, has
prohibited the use of the name "college" or "university"
except when the requirements of the state board of regents
are met. All of the reputable institutions,- and they constitute nearly the whole number,- desire reasonable supervision, for it certifies their respectability and constitutes them
a part of the public educational system of the state.

'

J

EXPERT SUPERVISION

•

It has not been convenient in tracing the preceding pages
to treat of an exceedingly important phase of the American
school system which distinguishes that system from any other
national system of education, and which has come to be well
established in our laws ; that is, supervisi'on by professional
experts, both generally and locally.
From the beginning the laws have provided methods for
c~rtificating persons deemed to be qualified to teach in the
schools. This has ordinarily been among the functions of
state, city, · and county superintendents or commissioners.
Sometimes boards of examiners have been created whose
only duty should be to examine and certificate teachers. The
functions of certificating and of employing teachers have,
for obvious reasons, not commonly been lodged in the same
officials. Superintendents began to be provided for by law
in the early part of the Gentury. The first state superin-

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

[ 28

tendency was established by New York in 18 I 2 . Other
states took similar action in the next thirty years. Town,
city and county superintendencies came along rapidly, and
by or soon after the middle of the century had been set in
operation in most parts of the then settled country.
', · The main duty of these officials in the earlier days was to
, examine candidates for teaching, report statistics, and make
, addresses on educational occasions. In later years however
. they are held in considerable measure responsible for th~
quality of the teaching. In the country districts the superintendents hold institutes, visit the schools, commend and
criticise the teaching, and exert every effort to promote the
efficiency of the schools, until a discreet and active county
superintendent comes to exert almost a controlling influence
over the school affairs of his county.
In the cities, and particularly the larger ones, the prQblem
is much more difficult. The teachers are much greater in
number and the task of securing persons of uniform excellence is much enlarged. The schools are less homogeneous
and instruction less easy. Frequently the superintendent
cannot kn~w the personal qualities of each teacher, or even
visit all of the schools. Yet a system must be organized by
which, through the aid of assistants, the superintendent's
office will be advised fully of the work of every teacher in
he system. And if the system is to have anything like uniorm excellence, if the rights of children are to be met, and
he instruction is to have life in it, all teachers must be upon
he merit basis, the most deserving must be advanced in rank
nd pay as rapidly as practicable, and the weak must be
elped and trained into efficiency or removed from their
ositions.
The laws are coming to recognize the responsibilities and
ifficulties of the superintendent's position, and are continully throwing about that officer additional safeguards and
iving him larger powers and greater freedom of action.
he great issue that is now on in American school affairs is

2

9

]

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

betwe.e n education and politics. The school men are insisting upon absolute immunity from political influence in their
work. It would doubtless seem strange to people of other
nations not familiar with our political conditions, that such
insistence may be necessary. Pure democracy has its
troubles. The machinations of men who are seeking political influence constitute the most serious of them. However,
the good cause of education against pojitical manipulation
is making substantial progress. The law books of all of the
states show provisions recognizing the professional school
superintendent: in many of the states they contain provisions directing and protecting his work : and in some of them
they are beginning to confer upon him entire authority over
the appointment, assignment and removal of teachers, while
they impose upon him entire responsibility for the quality of
the teaching.
It is this professional supervision, by states and counties
as well as by towns and cities, taken up almost spontaneously at the .beginning and early established and compensated by law, which has given the American schools their
peculiar spirit. As intelligence has advanced and the people
have come to know the worth of good teaching and have
been unwilling that their children should be associated with
teachers who have not the kindly spiri.t of a true teacher, or
be kept marking time by incompetents, they have favored
larger exactions and closer supervision over the teachin?" to
the end that it might be in accord with the best educational
opinion. All this is yearly becoming more and more apparent in the laws, and it is advancing the great body of
American teachers along philosophical lines more steadily
and rapidly than any other great . body of teachers in the
world is advancing. American teachers have always had
freedom. Now they are learning to exercise it, and they are
being permitted to exercise it, in accord with educational
principles.

0

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

3IJ

[30

31

students in universities and colleges of the United States
for 2 5 years and down to as late a time as the figures are
available:

CONCLUSION

In conclusion a few facts touching the great school sys'em, the legal organization of which we have briefly tried to
ketch, and which has produced that organization and in
urn has in part been produced by it, will be of interest.
he enrollment of pupils in the state common schools alone
. as, in I895-6, I4 379,078. These schools were kept open
n average of I40·5 days in the year. The number of teachrs employed was I30,366 males and 269,959 females, a total
f 400,325. The total value of the public school proprty was $455'948,I64, and the running expenses for the
ear were $I 84,453, 780. There was raised by taxation
I63,023,294. Of institutions above the grade of elemenry schools there were 677 colleges and universities, with
7,I34 collegiate students and 69,014 preparatory-students.
ome of these are too ambitious in calling themselves
colleges," it is true, yet all are doing work that counts, and
ducatiod'al nomenclature is straightening itself out slowly
ut steadily. There were 5, 108 public high schools with
09,433 secondary pupils, and there were 2, 100 private high
hools and academies with 107,633 secondary pupils.
here were 77 law schools with 10,449 students, 148 medischools with 24,265 pupils, l 57 theological schools with
,173 students, and 362 normal schools with 67,380 students.
cities of over 8,ooo inhabitants there were 601 schools
ith 3,590,875 pupils. In the whole country there were
,184 public libraries with 34,596,258 volumes.
In the year 1896 there was paid for teachers' and superinndents' wages in the common schools $116,377,778, or 63.1
er cent of the total expenditure for school purposes.
Laws making attendance at· school compulsory have been
aeted in 32 states and territories.
One of the most gratifying facts in connection with the
ucational work of the United States is the large increase
the number of graduate students in the colleges. The
llowing table exhibits the number of resident graduate

EDUCATION AL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINlSTRA TION

1871-'72 . .....
1872-'73 . . ....
1873-'74 . ....
1874-'7) .. .. ...
1875-'76 ......
1876-'77 .... . .
1877-'78 ... ..
1878-'79 .. .. ..
187sr-'80 . .. . . .

1

J

198
219
283
369
399
389
414
465
41 I

1880-'81 ..... 46o
1882-'83 ...... 522
1883-'84 . ..... 778
1884-'85 ..... . 869
1885-·80 ...... 935
1886-'87 . ..... 1,237
1887-'88 ... . . . 1,290
1888-'89 .. .. . . 1,343

188sr-'90 ......
1890-'91 ......
1891-'92 . . .. ..
1892-'93 ......
1893-'94 .....
1894-'95 . . ....
1895-'96 ......
1896-'97 ......

l,717
2,131
2,499
2;851
3,493
3,999
4.363
4,919

The United States bureau of education, to which I am
indebted for the foregoing figures and much other information, is aided by a corps of I 5,000 voluntary correspondents
who furnish printed reports and catalogs and cheerfully
answer the bureau's inquiries upon every phase of educational work.
It is of course difficult
one not familiar with American
institutions and American ways to understand or appreciate
the American school system. To him it seems anything but
a system. It is a product of conditions in a new land, and
it is adapted to those conditions. It is at once expressive of
the American spirit and it is energizing, culturing and ennobling that spirit. It is settling down to an orderly and symmetrical institution, it is becoming scientific, and it is doing
its work efficiently. It exerts a telling influence upon every
person in the land, and is proving that it is supplying an
education broad enough and "of a kind to support free
institutions.

for

D1v1s10N

or.·

DEPARTMENT
·. UNIVERSAL

EXHIBITS

OF

EDUCATION

EXPOSITION,

ST.

MONOGRAPHS ON

LOUIS,

1904

EDUCATION

IN TH&

STATES

UNITED

EDITED BY

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER

President of Columbia University in tlie City of New York

3
J

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

BY
... .

WILLIAM T. HARRIS:.

,,

United States Commissioner

• 41

..: i·

CC=i\\.:.('. E~ : ~,

of Education, Washington, D. C.

THIS MONOGRAPH IS PRINTED FOR LIMITED DISTRIBUTION BY THE LOUI SIANA PURCHASE
EXPOSITION COMPANY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

PART I -

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE
UNITED STATES

Two Cupie1 Rec•ived

FEB 23 1904
j

Copyd ~h t

I --C-ll..J.

LA ~

g

Entry

1

'"L i.;- _ f P 0 1..f-"
~
XXc. No,

6u"\;v 1i

J

COPYRIGHT BY

J.

B. LYON COMPANY
1899
C OPYRI GHT BY

J.

B. LYON COMPANY
1904

...... .......
~.

; .4.

] . B. LYON COMPANY
PRlNTEKS AND BlN OltKS

ALBANY, N, Y.

In all the schools of the United States, public and private,
elementary, secondary and higher, there were enrolled in the
year 1898 about sixteen and cine-half millions ( 16,687,643)
pupils. (Sec appendix I.) This number includes all who
attended at any time in the year . for any period, however
short. But the actual average attendance for each pupil
in the public schools (supported by ta~ es) did not exceed
98 days, although the average length of the school session
was 143. 1 days. There were enrolled in the aggregate
of public and private schools out of each 100 of the population between the ages of 5 and 18 years, 7J pupils.
Out of the entire number of sixteen and a half millions
of pupils deduct the pupils of private and parochial schools
of all kinds, elementary, secondary, higher, and schools for
art, industry and business, for defective classes and Indians,
there remain over 1 5,000,000 for the public school enrollment, or nearly 91 per cent of the whole. (See appendix I.)
-{/In the 28 years since 1870 the attendance on the public
schools has increased from less than 7,000,000 to 15,000,000.
(Appendix I I.) The expenditures have increased somewhat more, namely, from 63;000,000 to 199,000,000 of dollars per annum, an increase from $1.64 per capita of population to $2.67. To account for this p -xo rata increase of
61 per cent in the cost of the commo~ schools one must
allow for a slight increase in the average length of the school
term, and for the increase of enrollment from less than 1 7
per cent to more than 20 per cent of the population. But
the chief items of increase are to be found in teachers'
wages for professionally educated teachers, and the cost of

4

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[80

expert superv1s10n. These account for more than two-thirds
of the 50 per cent, while the remaining one-sixth (of the
whole) is due to better apparatus and more commodious
school buildings.
.
The increase of cities and large villages, owing to the
influence of the railroad, has brought nearly one-half the
school population within reach of the graded school holding
a long session of from 180 to 200 days per 'y ear, and taught
by professional teachers. (See appendix 111.) In 1870
there were for each w,ooo inhabitants 12.7 5 miles of
railway, but in 1890 the number of miles of railway for the
same number of inhabitants had risen to 26. 1 2 miles, or
more than double the former amount. The effect of this
increase of railway is to extend the suburbs of cities and
vastly increase the urban population. The rural schools in
sparsely settled districts still continue their old practice of
holding a winter school with a session of 60 to 80 days
only, and taught by the makeshift teacher who works at
some other employment for two-thirds of the year. The
school year 'Df ideal length should be about 200 days, or
5 days per week for 40 weeks, i. e., nine and one-half months.
In the early days of city schools the attempt was made
to hold a session of over 46 weeks in length, allowing only
six weeks or less for three short vacations. But experience of their advantage to the pupil has led tQ the .increase
of the holidays to nearly double the former amount.
Reducing the total average attendance in all the schools,
public and private, to years of 200 school days each, it
is found that th e average total amount of schooling each
individual of the population would receive at the rates
of attendance and length of session for 1 898, is five years,
counting both private and public schools.
The average schooling, it appears from the above showing, amounts to enough to secure for each person a l~ttle
more than one-half of an elementary school course of eight
years,- enough to enable the f11ture citizen to read the
newspaper, to write fairly well, to .•count, add, subtract, mul-

81]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

5

ti ply and divide, and use the simplest fractions. In addition
he acquires a little geographical knowledge, so important to
enable him to understand the reforences or allusions in his
daily newspaper to places of interest in other parts of the
world. But the multiplicity of cheap books and periodicals
makes the life of the average citizen a continuation of school
to some extent. His knowledge of reading is called into use
constantly, and he is obliged to extend gradually his knowledge of the rudiments of geography and history. Even his
daily gossip in his family, in the shop, or in the field is to
some extent made up of comments on the affairs of the state,
the nation, or distant peoples,- China, Japan, N icaraugua,
or the Sandwich islands, as the case may be,- and world
interests, to a degree, take the place of local scandals in his
thoughts. Thus, too, he picks up scraps of science and
literature from the newspaper, and everything that he learns
becomes at once an instrument for the acquirement of
further knowledge. In a nation governed chiefly by public
opinion digested and promulgated by the daily newspaper,
this knowledge of the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic and geography is of vital importance. An illiterate
population is impenetrable by newspaper influence, and for
it public opinion in any wide sense is impossible; its local
prejudices are not purified or eliminated by thought and
feeling in reference to objects common to the whole civilized
world.
The transformation of an illiterate population into a
population that reads the daily newspaper, and perforce
thinks on national and international interests, is thus far the
greatest good accomplished by the free public school system
of the United States. It must be borne in mind that the
enrollment in school of one person
every five of the entire
population of the country means the same result for the
southern states as for the northern, since the states on the
Gulf of Mexico enroll nearly 22 per cent of their total population, colored and white, and the south Atlantic 20.70 per
cent, while the north Atlantic and the western, mountain and

in

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[82

Pacific divisions enroll only 1 8 per cent, having a much
smaller ratio of children of school age.
In a reading population one section understands the
motives of the other, and this prevents political differences
from becoming too wide for solution by partisan politics.
When one section cannot any longer accredit the other with
honest and patriotic motives, war is only a question of time.
That this general prevalence of elementary education is
accompanied by a comparative neglect of the secondary and
higher courses of study is evident from the fact that out of
the number of pupils enrolled more than ninety-five in every
hundred are pursuing elementary studies; less than four in
a hundred are in secondary studies in high schools, academies and other institutions; only one in a hundred ( 13 in
one thousand) is in a college or a school for higher studies.
In considering the reasons for the increase of the length
of the term of the elementary school and its adoption of a
graded course of study, one comes upon the most important
item of improvement that belongs to the recent history of
education, namely, the introduction of professionally trained
teachers. The first normal school established in the United
States recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. It was
founded at Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1839. The number of public normal schools supported by the state or
municipal governments has increased since that year to 167,
enrolling 46, 245 students, and graduating nearly 8,ooo per
annum. To this number are to be added I-78 private normal
schools, with an aggregate of 2 1, 293 students and 2,000
graduates. In 1880 there were 240 normal school students
in each million of inhabitants; in r 897 there were 936, or
nearly four times as many in each million.
·The professionally educated teacher finds his place in the
graded schools, above mentioned as established in cities and
large villages, and kept in session for the entire scholastic
year of 200 days. It is the experience of school superintendents that graduates of normal schools continue to
improve in skill and efficiency for many years. The advan-

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

7

tage of the professionally educated teacher above others is
to be found in the fact that he has been trained to observe
methods and devices of instruction. On entering a school
taught by another teacher he at once sees, without special
effort, the methods of teaching and management, and notes
the ; defects as well as the strong points if there are any.
He · is constantly increasing his number of successful
devices to secure good behavior without harsh measures,
and to secure industry and critical attention in study. Every
normal school has a thorough course of study in the elementary branches, taking them up in view of the higher
branches from which they are derived, and explaining their
difficult topics. This kind of work prepares the teacher in
advance for the mishaps of the pupil, and arms him with the
skill to assist self-activity by teaching- the pupil to analyze
his problem into its elements. He can divide each step that
is too long for the pupil to take, into its component steps,
down to any required degree of simplicity. The normal
school graduate, too, other things being equal, has a better
idea than other: teachers of the educational value of a branch
of study. He knows what points are essential, and what are
accidental and subsidiary. He therefore makes his pupils
thoroughly acquainted with those strategical positions, and
shows him how to conquer all the rest through these.
As it would appear from the statistics given, the rural districts are precluded by their short school terms from securing
professional teachers. The corps of teachers in a highlyfavored city will be able to claim a large percentage of its
rank and file as graduates of its municipal training schools
- perhaps 50 to 60 per cent. But the cities and villages as
a whole in their graded schools cannot as yet show an average of more than one teacher in four who has received the
diploma of a normal school.
Another important advantage has been named as belong.
ing to the · schools of the village or city. They ;;i.re graded
schools, and have a regular course of study, uniformity of
text-books, and a proper classification of pupils, In the

8

ELEM E NTARY EDUCATION

small rural schools some 20 to 50 pupils are brought together
under one teacher. Their ages vary from 4 years to 20, and
their degree of advancement ranges from new beginners in
the alphabet up to those who have attended school for IO or
1 2 winters, and are now attempting Latin and algebra.
It
often happens that there is no uniformity of text-books, except
perhaps in the spelling-book and reader, each pupil bringing .
such arithmetic, geography or grammar as his family at home
happens to possess. Twenty pupils are classified in three
classes in reading, three in spelling, and perhaps as many
classes in arithmetic, grammar, geography, and other studies
as there are pupils pursuing those branches. The result is
from 20 to 40 separate lessons to look after, and perhaps five
or 10 minutes to devote to each class exercise. The teacher
finds himself limited to examining the pupil on the work
done in memorizing th e words of the book, or to comparing
the answers he has found to the arithmetic problems with
those in the printed key, occasionally g iving assistance in
some difficult problem that has baffled the efforts of the
pupil - no probing of th e lesson by analytical questions, no
restatement of the ideas in th e pupil's own words, and no
criticism on the data and methods of the text-book.
This was the case in th e old-time district school - such
as existed in r 790, wh en 29 out of 30 of the population
lived in rural districts; also as late as 1840, when only one
in twelve lived in a city. As the railroad has caused villages to grow into cities, so it has virtually moved jnto the
city a vast population living near railway stations- in the
country by giving them the morning newspaper and rapid
transportation. In r 890 one-third of the population were
living in cities of not less than 8,ooo inhabitants. But the
suburban populations made urban by the railroad-as indi. cated above -would swell the city population to one-half
of the whole nation. Hence the great change now taking
place in methods of building school houses and in organizing schools.
In the ungraded schools the naturally bright pupils accom-

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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

plished a fair amount of work if they happened to have goc
text-books. They were able to teach themselves from tr
books. But the rank and file of the school learned a litt
reading, writing and arithmetic, and probably studied tlsame book for sever.al winters, beginning at the first pag
on the first day of school each year. Those who needed n
help from the teacher learned to help themselves and enjoye
a delightful freedom. Those who were slow and dull di
not get much aid. Their industry may have been stimulate
by fear of the rod, which was often used in cases of real c
supposed indolence. Harsh measures may succeed in for,
ing pupils to do mechanical work, but they cannot secur
much development of the power of thought. Hence th
resources of the so-called "strict" teacher were to compt
the memorizing of the words of the book.
With the growth from the rural to the urban condition c
population the method of "individual instruction," as it i
called, giving it a fine 'name, has been supplanted by clas
instruction, which prevails in village and city schools. Th
individual did not get much instruction under the old plar
for the simple reason that his teacher had only five or te1
minutes to examine him on his daily work. In the proper!:
graded school each teacher has two classes, and hears on•
recite while the other learns a new lesson. Each class i
composed of twenty to thirty pupils of nearly the sami
qualifications as regards the degree of progress made i1
their studies. The teacher has thirty minutes for a recita
tion (or " lesson" as called in England), and can go into th•
merits of the subject and discuss the real thoughts that i
involves. The meaning of the words in the book is probed
and the pupil made to explain it in his own language. Bu
besides this all pupils learn more by a class recitation tha1
by an individual recitation. For in the class each can se<
the lesson reflected in the minds of his fellow-pupils, anc
understand his· teacher's views much better when drawn ou
in the form of a running commentary on the mistakes of tht
duller or more indolent pupils. The dull· ones are encour

IO

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[86

aged and awakened to effort by finding themselves able to
see the errors and absurdities of fellow-pupils. For no two
minds take precisely the same view of a text-book exposition
of a topic. One child is impressed by one phase of it, and
another by a different phase. In the class recitation each
one has his crude and one-sided views corrected more or
less by his fellows, some of whom have a better comprehension of this point, and some of that point, in the lesson. He,
himself, has some glimpses of the subject that are more adequate than those of his fellows.
The possibilities of a class recitation are, therefore, very
great for efficient instruction in the hands of a teacher who
understands his business. For he can marshal the crude
notions of the members of the class one after another, and
turn on them the light of all the critical acumen of the class
as a whole, supplemented by his own knowledge and experience. From beginning to end, for thirty minutes, the class
recitation is a vigorous training in critical alertness. The
pupil afterwards commences the preparation of his next lesson from the book with what are called new "apperceptive"
powers, for he finds himself noticing and comprehending
many statements and a still greater number of implications
of meaning in his lesson that before had not been seen or
even suspected. He is armed with a better power of analysis, and can "apperceive," or recognize and identify, more of
the items of information, and especially more of the thoughts
and reflections, than he was able to see before the discussions that took place in the recitation. He has in a sense
gained the points of view of fellow-pupils and teacher, in
addition to his own.
It is presupposed that the chief work of the pupil in school is
the mastery of text-books containing systematic treatises giving the elements of branches of learning taught in the schools.
For in the United States more than in any other country
text-book instruction has predominated over oral instruction,
its method in this respect being nearly the opposite of the
method in vogue in the elementary schools of Germany,

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

II

The evil of memorizing words without understanding their
meaning or verifying the statements made in the text-book
is incident to this method and is perhaps the most widely
prevalent defect in teaching to be found in the schools of the
United States. It is con,demned universally, but, nevertheless, practiced. The oral method of Germany escapes this
evil almost entirely, but it encounters another evil. The
pupil taught by the oral method exclusively is apt to lack
power to master the printed page and get out of it the full
meaning ; he needs the teach.er's aid to explain the technical phrases and careful definitions. The American method
of text-book instruction throws the child upon the printed
page and holds him responsible for its mastery. Hence
even in the worst forms of verbal memorizing there is perforce acquired a familiarity with language as it appears to
the eye in printed form which gradually becomes more useful for scholarly purposes than the knowledge of speech
addressed to the ear. This is the case in all technical, or
scientific language, and in all poetry and literary prose; the
new words or new shades of meaning require the mind to
pause and reflect., This can be done in reading but not in
listening to an oral delivery.
In the United States the citizen must learn to help himself in this matter of gaining information, and for this reason
he must use his school time to acquire the art of digging
knowledge out of books. Hence we may say that a deep
instinct or an unconscious need has forced American schools
into an excessive use of the text-book method.
In the hands of a trained teacher the good of the method
is obtained and the evil avoided. The pupil is taught to
assume a critical attitude towards the statements of the book
and to test and verify them, or else disprove them by appeal
to other authorities, or to actual experiments.
This ideal · hovers before all teachers, even the poorest,
but it is realized only by the best class of teachers found in
the schools of the United States,- a class that is already
large and is constantly increasing, thanks to the analytic

ELEME~TARY

12

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

'.EDUCATION

13

[88

methods taught in the normal schools. Text-book memorizing is giving place to the method of critical investigation.
This review of methods suggests a good definition of
school instruction. It is the process of re-enforcing the
sense-perception of the individual pupil by adding the experience of the race as preserved in books, and it is more especially the strengthening of his powers of thought and insight
by adding to his own reflections the points of view and the
critical observations of books interpreted by his teachers and
fellow-pupils.
In the graded school the pupil is held responsible for his
work in a way that is impossible in the rural school of
sparsely-settled districts. H ence the method of investigation, as above described, is found in the city schools rather
than in the rural schools. Where each pupil forms a class
by himself, there is too little time for the teacher to ascertain
the character of the pupil's understanding of his book.
Even if he sees that there has been a step missed somewhere
by the child in learning his lesson, he cannot take time to
determine precisely what it is. Where the ungraded school
makes some attempt at classification of pupils it is obliged
to unite into one class say of arithmetic, grammar, or geography, pupils of very different degrees of progress. The
consequence is that the most advanced pupils have not
enough work assigned them, being held back to the standard
of the average. They must " mark time " (or go through
the motions of walking without advancing a step) while the
rest are coming up. The least advanced find the average
lesson rather too much for th em, and become discouraged
after trying in vain to keep step with their better prepared
fellow-pupils. This condition of affairs is to be found in
many rural districts even of those states where the advantages
of classification are seen and appreciated in city schools, and
an effort is in progress to extend those advantages to the
rural schools. But the remedy has been, in many cases,
worse than the disease. For it has resulted that classification gets in the way of self-help which the bright pupil is

capable of, and the best scholars " mark time" listlessly,
while the poorest -get discouraged, and only the average
pupils gain something.
It must be admitted, too, that in many village schools just
adopting the system of grading, this evil of holding ~ack
the bright pupils and of over-pressure on the dull ones exists,
and furni~hes just occasion for the criticism which is ~ade
against the so-called "machine" character of the American
public school. The school that permits such poor classification, or that does not. keep up a continual process of readjusting the classification by promoting pupils from lower
classes to those above them, certainly has no claim to be
ranked with schools organized on a modern ideal.
I have dwelt on this somewhat technical matter because
of its importance in understanding the most noteworthy
improvements in progress in the schools of the United
States. Briefly, the population is rapidly becoming urban,
the schools are becoming "graded," the pupils of the lowest
year's work placed under one teacher, and those of the next
degree of advancement under a second ~ea~her ; perhaps
from eight to twenty teachersjn the same buildmg, thus forming a "union school," as it is called in some sections. H:re
there is division of labor on the part of teachers, one takmg
only classes just beginning to learn to read and write, another
taking the pupils in a higher grade. The inevitab~e consequence of such division of labor is increase of skill. The
teacher comes to know just what to do in a given case of
obstructed progress - just what minute steps of work to
introduce - just what thin wedges to lift the pupil over the
threshold that holds back the feeqle intellect from entering
a new and higher degree of human learning.
It will be asked : What proportion of the teachers of
cities and villages habitually use this higher m ethod in conducting recitations. According to a careful estimate, at
least one-half of them may reasonably claim to have .some
skill in its use; of the one-half in the elementary schools
who use it perhaps two-fifths conduct all their recitations so

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[90

as to make the work of their pupils help each individual in
correcting defects of observation and critical alertness. Perhaps the other three-fifths use the method in teaching some
branches, but cling to the old memoriter system for the rest.
It may be claimed for graduates of normal schools that a
large majority follow the better method.
The complaint urged against the machine character of the
modern school has been mentioned. I suppose that this
complaint is made quite as often against good schools as
against poor ones. But the critical-probing method of conducting a recitation is certainly not machine-like in its effects.
It arouses in the most powerful manner the activity of the
pupil to think and observe for himself. Machine-like schools
do not follow this critical method, but are content with the
memoriter system, that prescribes so many pages of the book
to be learned verbally, but does not inquire into the pupil's
understanding, or "apperception,'' as the Herbartians call it.
It is admitted that about 50 per cent of the teachers actually
teaching in the schools of villages and cities use this poor
method. But it is certain that their proportion in the corps
of teachers is diminishing, thanks to the two causes already
alluded to : first, the multiplication of professional schools
for the training of teachers ; and second, the employment of
educational experts as supervisors of schools.
The rural schools, which in the United States enroll onehalf of the entire number of school children, certainly lack
good class teaching, even when they are so fortunate as to
obtain professionally educated teachers, and not five per cent
of such schools in the land succeed in procuring better services than the " makeshift" teacher can give. The worst that
can be said of these poorly taught schools is that the pupils
are either left to help themselves to knowledge by reading
their books under the plan of individual instruction, or, in the
attempt at classification and grading, the average pupils
learn something, while the bright pupils become listless and
indolent for want of tasks commensurate with their strength
and the backward pupils lose their courage for their want of

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

I~

ability to keep step. Even under these circumstances the
great good is accomplished that all the pupils learn the
rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic, and all are
made able to become readers of the newspapers, the magazines, and finally of books.
Another phase of the modern school that more than anything else gives it the appearance of a machine, and the
American city schools are of ten condemned for their mechanism, is its discipline, or method of organization and government. In the rural school with twenty-five pupils, more or
less, it makes little difference whether pupils come into the
school room and go out in military order, so far as the work
of the school is concerned. But in the graded school with
three hundred to eight hundred pupils order and discipline
are necessary down to the last particular, for the safety of
the pupils as well as for the accomplishment of the ends for
which the school exists. There must be regularity and
punctuality, silence and conformity to order, in coming and
going. The whole school seems to move like a machine.
In the ungraded school a deligptful individuality prevails,
the pupil helping himself to knowledge by the use of the
book, and coming and going pretty much as he pleases, with
no subordination to rigid discipline, except perhaps when
standing in class for recitation.
Regularity, punctuality, silence, and conformity to order,
- military drill,- seem at first to be so much waste of
energy,- necessary, it is true, for the large school, but to be
subtracted from the amount of force available for study and
thought. But the moment the question of moral training
comes to be investigated, the superiority of the education
given in the large school is manifest. The pupil is taught
to be regular and punctual in his attendance on school. and
in all his movements, not for the sake of the school alone,
but for all his relations to his fellow-men. Social combination is made possible by these semi-mechanical virtues.
The pupil learns to hold back his animal impulse to chatter
or whisper to his fellows and to interrupt their serious

16

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

absorption in recitation or study, and by so much selfrestraint he begins to form a good habit for life. He learns
to respect the serious business of others. By whispering he
can waste his own time and also that of others. · In 'moving
to and fro by a sort of military concert and precision he
acquires the impulse to behave in an orderly manner, to stay
in his own place and not get in the way of others. Hence
he prepares for concerted action,- another important lesson
in citizenship, leaving entirely out of account its military
significance.
With the increase of cities and the growth of great industrial combinations this discipline in the virtues t~at lie at
the basis of concerted action is not merely important, but
essential. In the railroad system a lack of those semimechanical virtues would entirely unfit one for a place as
laborer or employee ; so, too, in a great mill or a great business house. Precision, accuracy, implicit obedience to the
head or directive power, are necessary for the safety of
others and for the production of any positive results. The
rural school does not fit its pupils for an age of productive
industry and emancipation from drudgery by means of
machinery. But the city school performs this so well that it
reminds some people unpleasantly of a machine.
The ungraded school has been famous for its harsh
methods of discipline ever since the time of the flogging
schoolmaster Orbilius whom Horace mentions. The rural
schoolmaster to this day often prides himself on his ability
to "govern" his unruly boys by corporal punishment.
They must be respectful to his authority, obedient and studious, or else they are made to suffer bodily pain from the
hand of the teacher. But harsh discipline leaves indurations on the soul itself, and is not compatible with a refined
type of civilization. The schoolmaster who bullies his
pupils into obedience does what he can to nurture them into
the same type as himstdf.
In the matter of school discipline the graded school has
an advantage over the school of the rural di~trict. A corps

93]

ELEME~'I'ARY

EDUCATION

of teachers can secure good behavior more efficiently than :
single teacher. The system, and what is disparaged as it:
"mechanism," help this result. In many cities of the larges
size in the United States, corporal punishment is seldon
resorted to, or is even entirely dispensed with. (See appen
dix V.) The discipline of the school seems to improv<
after the discontinuance of harsh punishments.· The ad op
tion of a plan of building better suited for the purpose o
graded schools has had ·much to do with the disuse of th<
rod. As long as the children to the number of one or twc
hundred studied in a large room under the eye of the prin
cipal of the school, and were sent out to small rooms to recitt
to assistant teachers, the order of the school was preserve(
by corporal punishment. When Boston introduced the neVI
style of school building with the erection of the Quine)
school in 1847, giving each class-teacher a room to herself,
in which pupils to the number of fifty or so prepared thei1
lessons under · the eye of the same teacher that conducted
their recitations (z: e., "heard their lessons"), a new era in
school discipline began. It is possible to manage a school
in such a building with little or no corporal punishment.
The ideal of discipline is to train the pupil into habits oi
self-gavernment. This is accomplished partly by perfecting
the habit of moving in concert with others, and by self.
restraint in all actions that interfere with the work of other
pupils.
That the public schools of cities have worked great and
favorable changes to the advantage of civil order cannot be
doubted. They have generally broken up the feuds that
used to prevail between the people of different precincts.
Learning to live without quarreling with school-£ellows is an
efficient preparation for an orderly and peaceful life with
one's neighbors.
The rural school, with all its shortcomings, was, and i~
to-day, a great moral force for the sparsely settled regions,
bringing together the youth of the scattered families, and
forming friendships, cultivating polite behavior, affording to

18

ELE MENT ARY ED UCATION

[94

each an insight into the motives and springs of action of his
neighbors, and teaching him how to co-operate with them in
securing a common good.
The city school is a stronger moral force than the rural
school because of its superi or training in the social habits
named- regularity, punctuality, orderly concerted action
a,nd self-restraint.
Take any country with a school system, and compare the
number of illiterate criminals with the total number of illiterate inhabitants, and also the number of criminals able to
read and write with the entire reading population, and it will
be found that the represe ntation from th e illiterate population is many times larger than from an equal number of
people who can read and write. In the U ni_ted States the pr.evailing ratio is about eig ht to one - that is to say, the illiterate population sends eig ht times its quota to jails. In the
prisons or penitentiaries it is found that the illiterate ~trat~m
of the population is represented by two and a half times its
quota. (See part IV of this monog raph.) School education is perhaps in this case not a cause so much as an index
of orderly tendenci es in the family. A wayward tendency
will show itself in a dislike of the restraints of school. If,
however, the wayward can be brought under the humanizing
influences of school, trained in goo d behavior, which means
self-restraint and orderly concerted action, interested in
school studies and the pursuit of truth, what can do more to
· insure a moral life, unless it is relig ion?
PART II-EDUCATIO N AL ORGAN I ZATIO N IN THE UNITED STATE S

The European student of education inquiring about
schools always asks concerning the laws and regulations
issued by the central g overnment at Washington, taking fo r
granted that things of such interest as education are regulated by the nation, as in Europe.
The central government of the United States, however,
has never attempted any control over education withir;i the
several states. It is further than ever from any such action

95]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

at the present time. The idea of local self-government is
that each individual shall manage for himself such matters
as concern him alone ; that where two or more persons are
concerned the smallest political subdivision shall have jurisdiction and legislative powers ; where the well-being of several towns is concerned the county or the state may determine
the action taken. But where the interests of more than one
state are concerned, the nation has ultimate control.
While the general government has not interfered to establish schools in the states, it has often aided them by donations of land, and in some cases by money, as in the acts of
1887 and 1890, which appropriate annual sums in aid of
agricultural experiment stations and increase the endowment
of agricultural colleges, which were formerly established in
1 862 by generous grants of land.
The total amount of land donated to the several states
for educational purposes since r 785 to the present have been
as follows:
1. For public or common schools :
Acres
Every 16th section of public land in states admitted
prior to 1848 and the 16th and 36th sections.since
(Utah, however, having four sections) ... . .' .. . ·.. 67,893 ,919
2. For seminaries or universities:
Two townships in each state or territory containing public land..... . ......... . ... . ........ ... . 1,165,520
3. For agricultural and mechanical colleges:
\
30,000 acres for each member of congress to \\\hich
the state is entitled. ............... . . . . . . . . . . . 9,6oo,ooo
Total number of acres . .. ...... . ........... . 78,659,439
==

At the rate of one dollar and a quarter an acre (the traditional price asked by the government for its lands) this
amounts to about one hundred millions of dollars.
Besides this a perpetual endowment by act of 1887 is
made of $ 1 5,000 per annum for each agricultural experiment
station connected with the state agricultural college, and
$25,000 perpetual additional endowment by act of 1890 for

20

ELEMEN TARY EDUCATION

each of the colleges themselves - this is equivalent to a
capitalized fund of one million dollars at four per cent for
each state and territory, or in the aggregate about fifty
millions more.
The general government supports the military school at
West Point, established in 1802, to which each congressional
district, territory (and the District of Columbia) is entitled
to send one cadet, the president appointing ten additional
cadets at large. Each cadet receives $540 a year to pay his
expenses. (The course of study is four years. The number of graduates between 1802 and 1876 was 2,640, about
fifty per cent of all admitted.)
The United States naval academy at Annapolis was established in 1845. I ts course of study in 18 73 was extended to
six years. Cadets are appointed in the same manner as at
West Point.
The general government provides for the education of
the children of uncivilized Indians and for all the children in
Alaska. There have been, besides the general grants
referred to, special grants of land for educational purposes
such as the "swamp lands " (Acts of 1849, 1850, 1860), by
which 62,428,419 acres were g iven to 14 states (Alabaria,
Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and
Wisconsin) and by some of these appropriated to education.
By the act of 1841 a half million of acres was given to
each of sixteen states (including all above named except
Indiana and Ohio, and besides these Kansas, Nebraska,
Nevada and Oregon). This gives an aggregate of 8,000,000
of acres, the proceeds of most of which was devoted to
education. The surplus funds of the United States treasury
were in 183 7 loaned to the older states for educational
purposes to the amount of $ 15,000,000 and this fund con. stitutes a portion of the school fund in many of the states.
The aggregate value of lands and money given for education in the several states is therefore nearly three _hundred
millions of dollars.

97]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

21

In 1867 congress established a national bureau of education " for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts
as shall show the condition and progress of education in the
several states and territo~ies, and of diffusing such information respecting the organi:zation and management of school
systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of
the United States in the establishment and maintainance of
efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of
education throughout the country." This bureau up to
1898 has published 350 separate volumes and pamphlets
including 30 annual reports ranging from 800 to 2,300 pcwes
each. The policy of the national government is to aid
education but not in anywise to assume its control.
The several states repeat in the general form of their state
constitutions the national constitution and delegate to
the subdivisions- counties or townships - the management of education. (See appendix VIII, The local unit of
school organization.) But each state possesses centralized
power and can exercise it when the public opinion of its
population demands such exercise.
Compulsory attendance -Even in colonial tim.es as far back
as 1642 a compulsory law was enacted in Massachusetts
inflicting penalties on parents for the neglect of education.
In the revival of educational interest led by Horace Mann
in the years after i837, it was felt that there must be a state
law, with specific provisions and penalties and this feeling
took definite shape and produced legislative action. A
truant law was passed in 1850 and a compulsory law in
18 5 2, requiring a minimum of 12 weeks attendance on school
each year for children between the ages of eight and fourteen under penalty of twenty dollars.
In the Connecticut ~olony in 1650 the Massachusetts law
of 1642 was adopted. Amendments were adopted in 1805
and 1821. By a law of 1813 manufacturing establishments
were compelled to see that "the children in their employ
were taught to read, write and cipher [arithmetical calculation], and that attention was paid to their morals." In

22

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

1842 a penalty was attached to a similar law which forbade
"the employment of children under the age of 15 years unless
they had been instructed at school at least three months of
the 12 preceding."
The efficiency of these early laws has been denied because
cases of prosecution have not been recorded. But a lawabiding people does not wait until prosecuted before obey. ing the law.
The existence of a reasonable law is sufficient to secure
its general obedience in most parts of the United States.
But in the absence of any law on the subject the parents
yield to their cupidity and do not send their children to
school. The efficiency of a law is to be found in its results
and if twenty parents in a district send their children to
.school in obedience to the law and would not otherwise have
sent them, it follows that the law is very useful though the
twenty-first parent is obdurate and refuses to send his children and yet is not prosecuted for it.
This explanation of the working of one compulsory law
will throw light on the working of compulsory laws in the
twenty-seven states and territories that have passed them.
There are exceptional localities in each state where an
obnoxious law is openly and frequently violated, but the
law is obeyed in all but a few places. In each locality, too,
there are individuals who are disposed to violate the law and
succeed in doing so, while all the citizens except these few
obey the law because they have a law-abiding disposition.
Abolish the law and the number who neglect the education
of their children will increase by a large per cent. More
and more attention has been given in later years to drafting
compulsory laws with provisions that are sure to be efficient. The advocates of these new laws are apt in their
pleas for more stringent laws to do injustice to the old laws.
The following paragraphs show what states have adopted
compulsory laws and the dates of adoption (the earlier dates
in Connecticut and Massachusetts being unnoticed) :
Statistics of compulsory attendance -Thirty states, onE:

99]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

23

territory and the District of Columbia have laws making
education compulsory, generally at a public or approved
private school. Sixteen $tates and one territory do not
make education compulsory, although all of these have fully
organized systems of schools free to every child of school
age of whatev~r condition.
The most general period of required attendance at school
is from eight to fourteen years of age, as is the case in Vermont, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota,. South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, l'v¥fntana, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and California.
It begins likewise at - eight, but is extended to l 5 in Maine
and Washington, and is from eight to 16 in New Hampshire,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New
Mexico.
The child is required to begin attendance at the earlier age
of seven, and continue to l 2 in New Jersey, to l 3 in Wisconsin, to 14 in Massachusetts, Kentucky and Illinois; to l 5 in
Rhode Island, and to 16 in Wyoming.
This is a general statement of age limits ; the required
time period is in some states .shortened in the case of children employed to labor, or extended in the case of those not
so employed, or growing up in idleness, or illiterate.
In Massachusetts and Connecticut the child is required to
attend the full time that the schools are in session ; in New
York and Rhode Island, also, the full term, with certain
exceptions in favor of children employed to work. In Pennsylvania the attendance is required for 70 per cent of the
full term ; in California for 66 2-3 per cent; for 20 weeks
annually in Vermont, New Jersey, Ohio and Utah; 16 weeks
annually in Maine, West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan and
Nevada; l 2 weeks annually in New Hampshire, District of
Columbia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, North Dakota, South
Da¥ita, Nebraska, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington, Oregon ; and eight weeks annually in Kentucky.
In the following states habitual truants are sent to some
special institution (truant qr indu~triaJ school, reformatory,

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[100

parental home, etc.) : Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan.
Massachusetts requires counties, and New York requires
cities to maintain truant schools, or provide for their truants in
the truant schools of neighboring localities. Illinois requires
cities of over 100,000 inhabitants to maintain truant schools.
In Rhode Island towns and cities must provide suitable places
for the confinement and instruction of habitual truants.
Clothing is furnished in case of poverty to enable children
to attend school in Vermont, Indiana and Colorado.
Laws absolutely prohibiting the employment of children
under a specified minimum age in mercantile or manufacturing establishments are in force in New Hampshire (under
10 years), Rhode Island (under 12), and Massachusetts and
Connecticut (under 14). These states, together with Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan,
North and South Dakota, have laws permitting the employment of children of a certain age only while the schools are
not in session, or provided they have already attended school
a given number of weeks within the year.
Statistics of supervision - There are county superintendents of schools in all those states where the county is a
political unit for the administration of civil affairs other than
courts of law. About thirty-five states have this form of
organization. But in the six New England states and in
Michigan the only supervision is that of the township, and
the counties in those states are units almost solely for the
administration of justice through county courts. In Arkansas, Texas and North Carolina supervision is only that of
the subdivisions of townships described as districts. Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia have a modified township supervision. The county superintendents are elected by
the people in only 1 3 states. In the rest they are appointed
by some state or county officers, or chosen by the combined
vote of the school boards. (See appendix VI I I for an explanation of the local unit of school organization.)

101]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Each state has a superintendent of public instruction.
He has this title in 29 states; in the remaining states other
designations, as "superintendent of common schools," "of
free schools," or "of public schools," "of education" or
"commissioner of public schools," are used; he is called
" secretary of state board of education " in Massachusetts
and Connecticut.
Eight hundred and thirty-~ix (836) cities have superintendents of their public schools.
11
School boards - In cities the local boards which have the
management of the schools are generally termed "boards
of education ; " in towns and districts the designations most
generally used are "school directors" and " school trustees."
They are termed "school directors" in Arkansas, Illinois,
Iowa, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington ;
"school trustees" in Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New
York, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas;
"school boards" in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska and New
Hampshire; "school committees" in Massachusetts and
Rhode Island; "school visitors 1' in Connecticut; "superintending school committees" in Maine ; '\ boards of education" in Ohio ; and "prudential committee~" in Vermont.
These boards are similar in their constitution, powers and
duties, and are generally chosen by the voters at elections.
They are corporate bodies and can make contracts, acquire,
hold and dispose of property.
They employ teachers (and superintendents when such are
deemed necessary) and fix their salaries. They make the
·rules and regulations for the government of the schools and
fix the course of study and the list of text-books to be used.
They hold meetings monthly or oftener.
·
Women in school administration - There are at present
'
(I 899) two women holding the position of state superintendent of schools, 18 that of city superintendent, and 2 56
that of county superintendent. The last named are divided
between California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana,

ELEME NTARY EDUCATION

[102

Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. In all these states, women
hold minor school offices also. Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have
no officers corresponding to county superintendents, but in
all those states there are women who are members of county
examining boards, township superintendents and the like.
They may be district trustees or members of local school
boards in still other states, as in New Jersey. Women may
hold any school office in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Louisiana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming, and any office of school management in Minnesota.
One of the members of the Iowa educational board of examiners must be a woman.
Women have like suffrage, in all particulars, with men in
Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. With certain limitations specified, in some of the states they may vote at
school elections in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North
Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. The limitations, when there are any,
usually restrict the suffrage of women to widows with children to educate, guardians and taxpayers, or to certain kinds
of elections.
Salaries of teachers- The expenditure for salaries in the
. public schools, teachers aafd superintendents both included,
was $123,809,412, in 1897-98, or 63.8 per cent of the total
expenditure for school purposes. The highest average salaries are found in the western division, among the Pacific
states and territories, the average per month for men being
$s8.59, and for women $so.92, in that section of the union.
The lowest average salaries and the least variance between
the averages for men and women are found in the South
Atlantic section. The averages are, for men $3 I. 2 I, and
for women $31.45.

103]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

The length of the school year must be considered in
determining the annual salary. This period averages for
the whole country 143. 1 days, or about seven months of 20
days each, and ranges from 98.6 days in the south central
division to l 74.5 days in the North Atlantic. (See appendix
VI, Teachers' pensions, etc.)
Co-education of the sexes - In both the central and 'Ehe
western divisions the education of boys and girls in the same
schools is common and exceptions rare in the public schools.
In the North and South Atlantic divisions many of the older
cities continue to educate .the girls in separate schools. In
newly-added suburban schools, however, co-education is the
rule (as in Boston, for example). In the rural districts of
the Atlantic divis,ions north and south, co-education has
always been the custom. Considering the whole country, it
may be said that co-education, or the education of boys and
girls in the same classes, is the gene~al practice in the elementary schools of the United States. The cities that present exceptions to this rule are fewer, apparently, than 6
per cent of the total number. In the majority of these
cities the separation of boys and girls has arisen from the
position or original arrangement of buildings, and is likely
to be discontinued under more favorable conditions. Of
the 50 principal cities enumerated by the census of 1890,
4, namely, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Newark (New
Jersey); Providence (Rhode Island); and Atlanta (Georgia)- report separation of the sexes in the high schools
only ; 2 cities of this class, San Francisco (California), and
Wilmington (Delaware), reported in 1892, separation in
all grades above the primary. In 6 cities, New York and
Brooklyn (New York); Boston (Massachusetts); Baltimore (Maryland) ; Washington (District of Columbia), and
Louisville (Kentucky) - both separate and mixed classes
are found in all grades. Five cities of the second class, having a population of 8,ooo or more, report separation of the
sexes in the high schools, and 10 cities of the same group
separate classes in other grades. Of cities whose population

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

is less than ·8,ooo, nine report separate classes for boys and
girls in some grades.
Co-education is the policy in about two-thirds of the total
number of private schools reporting to this bureau, and in 65
per cent of the colleges and universities.
Sectarian division of school funds - In connection with this
'matter of state compulsory laws against neglect of schools it
is well to mention the provisions made in the several states
prohibiting appropriations of money to aid denominational
schools.
There are forty states with constitutional provisions forbidding all, or at least sectarian diversion of the money
raised for the support of education.
I. Consti'tut£ons wh£ch prohibit sectarian appropriat£ons
- California,' Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana: Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,J Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon,•
South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin,2 Wyoming,
21 states.
2. Const£tut£ons which do not prohibit sectarian appropriat£ons -Alabama,4 Arkansas, 4 Connecticut Delaware Iowa•
Kansas, Kentucky, 5 Maine, Maryland: Massachusett~,
Nebraska, 6 Nevada,6 New Jersey, 1 New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,4 Rhode Island, South Carolina, 6
Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia,- 23 states.
3 . Const£tutions wh£ch prohi"bz"t any d£verszon of the school
fund - Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illirtis, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
1 Can make per capita grants to institutions.
'Covers only religious and the ological ins titutions .
8
Prohibits any devise , legacy, o r gift by last will and testament to religious or
ecclesiastical corporations or societies.
4
Sectarian appropriations can be made by two-thirds vote of all the members
of both houses of the legislature .
•Has a revised constitution pending popular adoption.
•Prohibits sectarian instruction in public schools.
'Prohibits appropriations to societies, associations or corporations,

105]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Vir.
ginia, Wisconsin,- 36 states.
The local unit of school organization - The state exercises
remote authority over all public schools in its borders.
The county in most states has a closer supervision of all
schools in its limits, but has very little to do with schools in
New England. In certain states it becomes the unit for the
entire local administration of public schools. The town or
township takes more or less of the local functions in other
states' and the district becomes a local
unit for variable
.
functions in yet others. In 35 counties of Texas there is a
community system. Counties generally receive, hold and
disburse moneys for townships and districts formed by subdivision of counties. Towns or townships generally hold
the same relation to districts formed by division of towns
or townships. In a few states districts have their own tax
collectors and treasurers.
The summarized statement below shows the principal
agency through which local support and control of schools is
exercised, special laws excepted, under which cities, towns
and independent districts exist.
County -Alabama, with either town or township; Florida,
with provision for districts of limited power; Georgia; Louisiana, recognizing congre~sional townships in accounts of
sixteenth section land funds; Maryland; Mississippi, with
provision for separate districts; North Carolina, with districts capable of holding real estate; Tennessee, with some
local functions in districts and only supervisory powers in
sub-districts ; Utah, with provision for division.
Town or township-Alabama, the congressional township'
for administrative convenience, its officers appointed and its
accounts kept by county officers; Connecticut, the town may
abolish districts; Illinois, township based on congressional
township or district, optional; Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio
'The expression "congressional township" refers to the division established in
new territories by the government survey. Lines of latitude and longitude cross
one another six statute miles apart, making townships exactly six miles square .

30

\.:. .. .
ELEME NTARY ED UCATION

[106

and Pennsylvania, each township, incorporated town or city
(or borough in Pennsylvania), a district corporation for
school purposes; Iowa, township based on congressional
township, with sub-districts for supervisory convenience a~d
independent districts, both in use · Maine Massachusetts ·
Minnesota, township may be a dist/ict as a ~art of a county;
New Hampshire ; New York, recognized for certain land
£un4s, but districts generally; North Dakota, based on congressional township; Rhode Island, may create or abolish
districts; South Dakota, based on congressional township;
Vermont, Wisconsin, optional in formation of districts.
Distrz"ct - Arkansas, Arizona, California Colorado · Connecticut, where not abolished by the t~wn · Del~ware
Florida, Idaho; Illinois, optional with townships; Iowa:
independent districts as well as townships; Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, districts may be less than townships; Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, optional; Montana, Nebraska;
Nevada, each village, town or city is a district; New Mexico ;
New York, commissioner's district, a county or part of a
county, has supervisory authority, school districts are parts
of commissioners' districts, towns recognized for certain
land funds; North Carolina, with limited powers as stated
under county; Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina; Tennessee, with limited powers as stated under county· Texas
but cities may acquire exclusive control of their 'schools
towns and villages may be incorporated for school purpose~
only, in 35 community counties families associate f11>m year
to year to support schools and draw their share of public
money ; . U ~a~, permissible as stated under county; Virginia,
West V 1rgm1a, corresponding geographically to magisterial
dis.tricts ;. W as~ington, each city or town (incorporated) ;
W 1sconsm, opt10nal, see town or township ; Wyoming.
1

PART III -THE ELEMENTARY COURSE OF STUDY

A committee appointed by the National Educational Association in 1 894 prepared a course of study for the eight years
of the elementary schools recommending two innovations,
i.

107]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

namely, the introduction of Latin, French or German in tht
eighth year and algebra in the seventh and eighth years
~e following presents the course as given in the report*o
i'he~ £C>mmittee together with a conspectus in the nature of <
yearf}r programme.
'

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COURSE

Reading. , Eight years, with daily lessons.
Penmanship. Six years, ten lessons per week for firs.t two years
five for third and fourth, and three for fifth and sixth.
Spelling Lists. Fourth, fifth and sixth years, four lessons per we~k
Grammar. · Oral; with composition or dictation, first year to mid
. dle of fifth year, text-book from middle of fif th year to dos<
of seve~th year, five lessons per week. (Composition writin~
should b~ included under this head. But the written exami
nations 'bi1. the several branches should be counted under th<
head of c~mposition work.)
.
Latin or French or German. Eighth year, five lessons per week.
Arithmetic. Oral first and second year, text-book third to sixtl:
year, five lessons per week.
Algebra. Seventh and eighth years, five lessons per week.
Geography~ Oral lessons second year to middle of third year
text-book from middle of third year, five lessons weekly t c
seve~th year, and three lessons to close of eighth.
Natural Science and Hygiene. Oral lessons, 6o minutes per week
eight years.
·
.
.
History of United States. Five hours per weeks efenth year anc
first half of eighth year.
Constitution of United ~tates. Las0J.al of the eighth ~ear.
General History and BiographY:-Oral lessons, 6o mmutes
week, eight years.
Physical Culture. 6o minutes a week, eight years.
Vocal Music. 6o minutes a week, eight years.
Drawing. 6o minutes a week, eight years.
Manual Training or Sewing and Cooking. One-half day each wed
in seventh and eighth years.

32

!WU CA T ION

E L EMEN T ARY

. [108

GENERAL PROGRAM
BRANCHE S

'5t

y e ar

I

2d
y ea r

Reading . . . .. .. . . . .. . . . . ..

10

l essons a
wee k

Writing . . . ... . ..... ... .. .

10

l es so n s a
week

Spoiling lists . .... .. •... . .
English grammar .... ... ..

3d
y e ar

4th
year

5t h
year

6th
y ea r

I I I I I
7th
y e ar

8th
ye a r

5 l esso ns a week
a
I 3 l essons
w eek

5 l essons a
week

I

I

4 l esso ns a w eek

Oral, wi t h com posi t io n
l es so ns

/s lesso n s a w eek
wi t h te xt-b oo k

-L ati n, Fre n ch, or Ger m an .

I

I

Arithmeti c . .. ..... ... .... Ora l, 60 mi n u te s a we ek

I

5 l essons a week with
t ex t-b ook

Alg ebra ... .. . •. . . . . . .. . . .
Or al, 60
mi nut es
a wee k

Geography .. .. . ... ... . . . . .

I

Na t ural Scien ce+Hyg i e n e

I

I

I

5 Jess ons

---

-

5 less o ns a
week

I

5 lessons a w ee k
w ith t ex t-b ook

3 l ess ons a
week

Six t y m i nu tes a w eek

Un it ed States Hi s t ory . . . .

---

-

5 l essons/
a w ee k

---

-

United Sta tes Co n s t i t ut i o n

I I1;

Gen er al Hi st or y . . . . . . ... .

Or al , six t y m inutes a week

P h ysical Cultu re . . . . . .....

Sixty minut es a w eek

Vocal Musi c . ... ..... • . . . .

Sixty m inutes a week divided into 4 l esso ns

D r a \v1ng
. . . . . .. . , . .. . . . ....

Six ty minutes a week

...

'

Manu a l Traini ng o r S ewi ng+ Cooker y .... . . . . . .

On e-half d a y
each we ek

20+7 2o+ 7 2o+s 24+ s 27+ 5 27+5 23+6 23+6
Number of Less o n s . . . . . . . daily dai ly dail y ciail y dai ly daily dail y dail y
ex e r . e x e r . exe r. ex er . e x e r . exer. exer . ex er.

----- -

T o t a l H o urs of R e citati o n s

12

12

II

2-3

13

==== ====== -=====

- 16

1-~

---

-

--

16 1-4 17 1-2 17 1-2

L e ng th of Re ci t a ti ons . . . . 15 min 15 min 2omin 2om in 25 min 25m i n 3om in ,30°min

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

33

The subjects actually taught in the elementary schools - In
the report of the N a.t ional bureau of education for 1888-89
(pp. 373'-410), from a selected list of 82 of the most
important cities of the nation, statistics are given showing
the amount of time consumed in the entire eight years of
the elementary course on each of the branches constituting
the curriculum. The returns included 26 branches, one
of which was spelling. The total number of hours of
instruction in the entire eight years varied in the diffe,rent ·
cities from 3,000 to 9,000, with a general average of about
7,000 hours, which would mean that each pupil used about
four and a half hours per day for 200 days in actual study
and in recitation or class exercises. The amount of time
reported as used by pupils in studying and reciting spelling
during the eight years varied from about 300 to 1,200 hours,
with an average of 516. This means that from 37 to 150
hours a year, with average of 77 hours a year for eight years,
was devoted to spelling. The English speaking child who
learns to read has to use an inordinate amount of time in
memorizing the difficult combinations of letters used to represent English words.
This report of the bureau of education gives the time
devoted to reading in 82 cities as ranging from about 600 to
about 2,000 hours, and the average as 1, 188 hours. Thus
from 75 to 250 hours a year, with an average of 150, are
spent in learning to read.
Geography is reported as using from 200 to 1,000 hours,
with an average of about 500, or 25 to 125 hours per year,
the average being rather more than 60 hours a year. This,
we see, is less than the time devoted to spelling.
Arithmetic, as shown by the report, still receives more
attention than any other branch. The amount of time used
varies from 600 to 2,240 hours, with an average of about
1, 190 hours - that is to say, from 75 to 280 hours per year
- an average of 1 50 hours a year. No other nation gives
so much time to arithmetic. The question naturally arises
whether corresponding results are obtained in the mastery

34

ELEMENTARY

HJUCATION

[r IO

of this difficult branch, and whether so much arithmetic
strengthens or weakens the national character on the whole.
Turning from arithmetic to grammar, we find a great
falling off in the amount of attention it receives compared
with the time assigned to it a few years ago. The 82 cities
rep~rt a very large substitution of "language lessons" for
technical grammar. Grammar proper gets from 6 5 to 680
hours of the course, with an average of about 300 hours.
This would allow from 8 to 80 hours, with an average of 38
hours per year, if distributed over the entire course. But it
is evident that grammar proper is, as a study, not profitable
to take up until the seventh year of the course of study.
But the language lessons, which are practiced in all the
grades above the lowest two, more than compensate for any
curtailment in technical grammar and "parsing."
Mathematics gives an insight into the nature of matter
and motion, for their form is quantitative. But the form of
mind on the other hand is shown in consciousness - a subject and object. The mind is always engaged in predicating
something of something, always modifying something by
something, and the categories of this mental operation are
the categories of grammar, and appear as parts of speech.
The child by the study of grammar gets some practice in the
use of these categories and acquires unconsciously a power
of analysis of thoughts, motives and feelings, which is of
the most practical character.
History, which gives an insight into human nature as itis
manifested in social wholes - tribes, nations and peoples is a study of the elementary school, usual~ placed in the
last year or two of the course, with a text~ook on the history of the United States. The returns from the 82 cities
show that this study everywhere holds its place, and that it
receives more than one-half as much time as grammar. Considering the fact that grammar is begun a year earlier, this is
better than we should expect. With history there is usually
joined the study of the constitution of the United States for
one-quarter of the year. Besides this, some schools have

I II]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

35

taken up a special text-book devoted to civics, or the duties
of citizens. History ranges from 78 to 460 hours, with an
average of about r 50.
General history has not been introduced into elementary
schools, except in a few cases by oral lessons. Oral lessons
on physiology, morals and manners, and natural science have .
been very generally introduced. The amount of time
assigned in 66 cities to physiology averages l 69 hours ; to a
course of lessons in morals and manners in 27 cities 167
hours ; to natural science on an average in the 39 cities that
give a systematic course of lessons, l 76 hours.
Singing is quite general in all the schools, and instruction
in vocal music is provided for in many cities. Lessons in
cookery are reported in New Haven (80 hours) ; and Washington, D. C. (114 hours). It is also taught in Boston, and
many other cities not reporting it in the list of 82.
Physical culture is very generally taught. Of the 82 cities,
63 report it as receiving on an average 249 hours a year.
Manual training - Manual training is by no means a novelty in American schools. Thomas Jefferson recommended
it for the students of the University of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin included it in his plan for an academy in
Philadelphia. An active propaganda was carried on in
behalf of manual labor in educational institutions for many
years, beginning about 1830, and some of our foremost
institutions had their origin under its influence. But what
is now known as "manual training" is traced to an exhibit
of a Russian institution at the centennial exposition in
1876. The value of the system of hand training there suggested was recognized by such men as John D. Runkle and
! C. M. Woodward, who became advocates of the new idea
and introduced it into the institutions under their charge.
Strong .opposition was met among schoolmen for a time, but
manual training has steadily grown in popularity, and with
its growth it has constantly improved in matter and method,
and consequently in usefulness. In r 898 manual training
was an essential feature in the public school course of 149

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[II2

it1es. In 359 institutions other than city schools there is
raining which partakes more or less of the nature of inanal training, and which belongs in a general way to the same
ovement. These institutions embrace almost every class
nown to American education, and the manual features vary
'rom the purely educational manual training of the Teachrs college in New York city to the specific trade instruction
f the apprentice schools.
· In many cases the legislatures have taken cognizance of
he movement. Massachusetts requires every city of 20,000
habitants to maintain manual training courses in both eleentary and high schools. Maine authorizes any city or
wn to provide instruction in industrial or mechanical draw~
g to pupils over I 5 years of age ; industrial training is
uthorized by general laws in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana
·n cities of over 100,000 population), Maryland, New Jery, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoing. Congressional appropriations are regularly made for
anual training in the District of Columbia; Georgia authores county manual labor schools, and in Washington manual
aining must be taught in' each school under the control of
e State normal school.
Kindergartens - -Kindergartens are authorized by general
w in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois,
diana, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylnia, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Cities also establish kindergartens through powers inherent
. their charters. In I 897-98 there were public kinderrtens in I89 of the 626 cities of 8,ooo population and over.
these I89 cities there were I,365 separate kindergartens
pported by public funds. The number of kindergarten
achers employed was 2,532, and under their care were
,867 children, 46,577 boys and 49,290 girls.
Information was obtained concerning 2,998 private kinderrtens in I897-98 and it is probable that at least 500 others
re in existence. The 2,998 private kindergartens had
05 teachers and 93,737 pupils. It will be seen that the

I I

3]

·ELEMENTARY EDUCATION·

37

total number of kindergartens, public and private, was 4,363,
with 8,937 teachers and · I 89,604 pupils. The actual number
of pupils enrolled in kindergartens in the United States in
I 897-98 must have exceeded 200,000.
PART IV----' THE PLACE OF POPULAR EDUCATION IN THE IDEALS
OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Education in the United States is regarded as something
organic - something belonging essentially to our political
and social structure. Daniel Webster announced, ·in his
clear and incisive manner, this necessity that_ appertains to
the American form of government. He said : "On the
diffusion of education among the people rests the preservation and perpetuation of our free institutions. I apprehend
no danger to our country from a foreign foe. * * * Our
destruction, should it come at all, will be from another
quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of the government, from their carelessness and negligence, ·I con{ess I do apprehend some danger. I fear that
they may place too implicit confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in
this way they may be the dupes of designing men and
become the instruments of their undoing. Make them intelligent and they will be vigilant; give them the means of
detecting the wrong and they will apply the remedy."
We are making the experiment of self-government- a
government of the people by the people - and it has seemed
a logical conclusion to all nati9ns of all times that the rulers
of the people should have the best education attainable.
Then, of course, it follows that the entire people of a democracy should be educated for they are the rulers.
Quoting again from Webster's Plymouth oration in ·1822 :
" By general instruction we seek as far as possible to ·purify
the whole atmosphere, to keep good sentiments uppermost,
and to turn the strong : currerit of feeling and opinion, as
well as the censures of the law and the denunciations of
religion, against immo~ality and crime;"

8

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[114

. This necessity for education has been felt in all parts of
e nation, and the whole subject is reasoned out in many a
hool report published by city or state. By education we
d to the child's experience the experience of the human
ce. His own experience is necessarily one-sided and
allow; that of the race is thousands of years deep, and it
rounded to fullness. Such deep and rounded experience
'what we call wisdom. To prevent the child from making
,stly mistakes we give him the benefit of seeing the lives of
hers. The successes and failures of one's fellow-men
struct each of us far more than our own experiments.
The school attempts to give this wisdom in a systematic
anner. It uses the essential means for its work in the
ape of text-books, in which the experience of the race is
ested and stated in a clear and summary manner, in its
era! departments, so that a child may understand it. He
s a teacher to direct his studies and instruct him in the
oper methods of getting out of books the wisdom recorded
them. He ~s taught first in the primary school how to
11 out the words and how to write them himself. Above
, he is taught to understand the meaning of the words.
I first use of wo~ds reaches only a few of their many sigcations ; each word has many meanings and uses, but the
Id gets at only one meaning, and that the simplest and
uest, when he begins. His school work is to train him
o accuracy and precision in the interpretation of language.
learns gradually to fill each word of the printed page
h its proper meaning. He learns to criticise the statents he reads, and to test them in his own experience and
comparison with other records of experience.
n other words, the child at school is set to work to enlarge
own puny !ife by the addition of the best results of
er lives. There is no other process so w.ell adapted to
re a growth in self-respect as the mastery-of the thought
the thinkers who have stored and systematized the expece of mankiqd.
his is the clue to the hopes founded on education. The

115]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

39

patriotic citizen sees:that a government managed by illiterate
people is a government. of one-sided and shallow experience, and that a government by the educated classes insures
the benefits of a much wider knowledge of the wise ways of
doing things.
The work of the school produces self-respect, because the
pupil makes himself the measure of his fellows and grows to
be equal to them spiritually by the mastery of their wisdom.
Self-respect is the root of the virtues and the active cause
of a career of growth in power to know and power to do.
Webster called the free public school "a wise and liberal
system of police, by which property and the peace of society
are secured." He explained the effect of the school as exciting "a feeling of responsibility and a sense of character."
This, he saw, is the legitimate effect ; for, as the school
causes its pupils to put on the forms of thought given them
by the teacher and by the books they use - causes them to
control their personal impulses, and to act according to rules
and regulations - causes them to behave so as to combine
with others and get help from all while they in turn give
help; as the school causes the pupil to put off his selfish
promptings, and to prefer the forms of action based on a
consideration of the interests of others - it is seen that the
entire discipline of the school is ethical. Each youth educated in the school has been submitted 'to a training in the
habit of self-cc:mtrol and of obedience to social order. He
has become to some extent conscious of two selves ; the one
his immediate animal impulse, and the second his moral
sense of conformity to the order necessary for the harmonious action of all.
The statistics of crime confirm the anticipations of the
public in regard to the good effects of education. The jails
of the country show pretty generally the ratio of eight to
one as the quotas of delinquents furnished from a given
number of illiterates as compared with an equal nUJ.l)ber of
those who can read and write. Out of 10,000 illiter;ites
there will be eight times as many criminals as out of 10,CXX>

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[116

ho ..can read and write. In a state like Michigan, for examle, where less than five per cent of the people are illiterate,
here are 30 per cent of the criminals in jail who are illiterte. The 95 per cent who are educated to read and write
urnish the remaining 70 per cent.
In comparing fractions, it is necessary to consider the
enominators as well as the numerators. Comparing only
e numerators, we should say education produces more
, ime than illiteracy; for here are only 30 per cent of those
iminals from the illiterate class, but 70 per cent are from
ose who can read and write. On the other hand, taking
e denominators also into consideration, we say: But there
e less than five per .cent illiterates and more than 95 of
ucated persons in the entire adult population. Hence the
ue ratio is found, by combining the two fractions, to be
e-eighth, or one to eight for the respective quotas fur70
hed • c~5 • 9s
•• .• 8 .· I) .
"The penitentiaries, or state prisons, contain the selected
iminals who have made more serious attacks on person
d property and on the majesty of the law than those left
the jails. These, therefore, come to a larger extent from
e 70 per cent of arrests which are from the educated class ·
d it is found, by comparing the returns of the 20 odd state~
at keep records of illiteracy, that the illiterates furnish
m two to four times their quota for the prisons, while
y furnish eight times their quota for the jails and houses
correction.
But it is found on investigation that the criminals who can
d and write are mostly from the ranks bordering on illitcy. They may be described as barely able to read and
ite, but without training in the use of those arts for
uainting themselves with the experience and wisdom of
ir fell ow-men. r

·

point is made that those states which have the completest systems of educa ..
have the most criminals in their jails and prisons. This is true, but its sigance •is not read aright until one secs by an analysis of the causes of arre5t
it is not a real increase of crime, but an increase of zeal on the part of the
~unity to abolish the seeds of crimes, to repre•s the vices that lead to crime.

I I

7]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

41

It is against all reason and all experience that the school
whose two functions are to secure good behavior and anintelligent acquaintance with the lessons of human experience should not do what Webster said, namely, " Prevent
in s;me measure the extension of the penal code, by inspiring a salutary and conservative principle of virtue and of
knowledge in an early age."
Thus the political problem, which proposes to secure the
general welfare by intrusting the management of the government to representatives chosen by all the people, finds
its solution in the establishment of schools for the people.
PART V -

HISTORICAL BEGINNINGS OF SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED
STATES

All who becom:e interested in the system of education prevailing in the United States and see the direct bearing it has
on the realization of the ideal of self-government, feel an
interest in the question of its origin. Anything is best
understood when seen in the perspective of its history. We
see not only what is present before us but its long trend
hitherward.
The school is the auxiliary institution founded for the
purpose of reinforcing the education of the four fundamental institutions of civilization. These are the family,
civil society (devoted to providing for the wants of food,
clothing, and shelter), the st~te, the church. The characteristic of the school is that it deals with the m.e ans necessary
for the acquirement, preservation, and communication of
intelligence. The mastery of letters and of mathematical
symbols; of the technical terms used in geography and grammar and the sciences ; the conventional meaning of the lines
used on maps to indii:;ate water or mountains or towns or
latitude and longitude, and the like. The school devotes
In Massachusetts, 'for example·, there were in 1850, 3,351 a·r rests for drunkenness,
,;,.hile in 1885, the numbei had infreased to 18,701 . But meanwhile the crimes
against person and property had decreased from 186o to 1885 forty-four per cent,
making allowance .for incre":se of popul~~ion . Life and property had become
more safe, but drurikenness had b.ecome le·ss safe.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[II8

elf to instructing the pupil on these dry details of arts
t are used to record systematic knowledge. These contionalities once learned, the youth has ac;quired the art
self-help; he can of his own effort open the door and
er the treasure-house of literature and science. Whatr his fell ow-men have done and recorded he can now
rn by sufficient diligence of his own.
he difference between the part of education acquired in
family and that acquired in the school is immense and
alculable. The family arts and trades, manners and
toms, habits and beliefs, form a sort of close-fitting
ritua_l vesture: a garment of the soul always worn, and
ressive of the native character not so much of the indiual as of his tribe or family or community. The indiual has from his birth been shaped into these things as
a mould ; all his thinking and willing and feeling have
n moulded into the form or type of humanity looked
n as the ideal by his parents and acquaintances.
his close-fitting garment of habit gives him direction but
self-direction or freedom. He does what he does blindly,
the habit of following custom and doing as others do.
ut the school gives a different sort of training,- its
ipline is for the freedom of the individual. The educaof the family is in use and wont and it trains rather'fhan
ructs. The result is unconscious habit and ungrounded
udice or inclination. Its likes and dislikes are not
nded in reason, being unconscious results of early trainBut the school lays all its stress on producing a conusness of the grounds and reasons of things. I should
say all its stress ; for the school does in fact lay much
s on what is called discipline,- on habits of alert and
cal attention, on regularity and punctuality, and selfrol and politeness. But the mere mention of these
ents of discipline shows that they, too, are of a higher
r than the habits of the family, inasmuch as they all
ire the exertion of both will and intellect consciously
der to attain them. Th·e discipline of the scho'Ol forms

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

43

a sort of conscious superstructure to the unconscious basis
of habits which have been acquired in the family.
School instruction, on the other hand, is given to the
acquirement of techniques ; the technique of reading and
writing, of mathematics, of grammar, of geography, history,
literature, and science _in general. ·
One is astonished when he reflects upon it at first, to see
how much is meant by this word technique. All products of
human reflection are defined and preserved by words used in
a technical sense. The words are taken out of their colloquial sense, which is a loose one except when employed as
slang. For slang is a spontaneous effort in popular speech
to form technical terms.
The technical or conventional use of signs and symbols
enables us to write words and r~cord mathematical calculations ; the technical use of words enables us to express
clearly and definitely the ideas and relations of all science.
Outside of technique all is vague hearsay. The fancy pours
into the words it hears such meanings as its feelings prompt.
Instead of science there is superstition.
The school deals with technique in this broad sense of
the word. The mastery of the technique of reading, write
ing, geography and history lifts the pupil into a plane of
freedom hitherto not known to him. He can now by his
own effort master for himself the wisdom of the race.
By the aid of such instruments as the family education has
given him he cannot master the wisdom of the race, but only
pick up a few of its results, SU\:h as the custom of his community preserves. By the process of hearsay and oral
inquiry it would take the individual a lifetime to acquire
what be can get in six months by the aid of the instruments
which the school places in his hands. For the school gives
the youth the tools of thought.
Immigrants to America in the colonial period laid stress
on the establishment of schools; The ideas of Luther
were echoed by reformers in Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and elsewhere. . Education . is called " the foundation

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

[120

the commonwealth," in 1583, in a school law of Holland.
that time there was a stringent school law passed. In
eden education was common before 1650, and every peas's child was taught to read.
oston, in 1635, voted a school and funds to support a
.ster. Roxbury was quite active in the founding of free
ools. Plymouth, Weymouth, Dorchester, Salem, Camge, and other towns had schools before 1650. A law of
general court ,of Massachusetts decreed that in every
n the selectmen should prosecute those who refused to
ain their children in learning and labor," and to impose a
of 20 shillings on those who neglected to teach their
dren "so much learning as may enable them perfectly
ead the English tongue."
chools were established in the Connecticut colonies
ediately after their settlement. The Rhode Island cols had schools by 1650. In 1636 occurred the important
of the general court of Massachusetts, setting apart
hundred pounds for the establishment of a college which
endowed two years afterward ·by John Harvard, receiv1700 pounds and named from its benefactor. The
ic Latin school of Boston dates from 1635. Meanwhile
ew York the Dutch had brought over their zeal for
ation. The Dutch West India company, in 1621,
ged its colonists to maintain a clergyman and a schooler. It seems that in 1625 the colonial estimate included
rgyman at 1440 florins, and a schoolmaster at 360
s. In 1633 the first schoolmaster arrived-Adam
andson. His name is revered like that of Ezekiel
ver and Philomon Purmont, schoolmasters of early
on.
regards common schools in Virginia, the opinion of the
governor, Berkeley, is often quoted : " I thank God
be no free schools nor printing-presses, and l hope we
not have them these hundred years; for learning has
ht disobedience and heresy and sects into the world,
rinting has divulged them and libels against the best

121]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

45

of governments : God keep us from both." T~e governor
of the Connecticut colony answered to a question (apparently of the commissioners of foreign plantations): "Onefourth of the annual revenue of this colony is laid out in
maintaining free schools for the education of ~ur children."
Apropos to this utterance of Berkeley, agams: w~om the
more progressive spirit of. Virginia arose in rebellion m 1676,
there should be quoted a more noteworthy sentence from t~e
Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote (to J. C. Cabell) m
1 8 1 8 : " A syst:!m of general instruction which shall reach
every description of our citizens from the richest to the
poorest, as it was my earliest, so shall it .be the latest of all
the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take
an interest."
In 1647 the Massachusetts general court passed what has
become the most celebrated of the early school laws of the
colonies. In it occurs the often-quoted passage: "To the
_sind that learning may not be buried in the graves of o~r
forefathers,
* * * it is ordered .that every township
within this jurisdiction * * * of the number of fifty-~
households shall appoint one within their town to. teach all
- ··
such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose
wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such
children, or by the inhabitants in general i< * * further
ordered that any town * * * of one hundred * * *
householders * * * shall set up a grammar school, the
master thereof being able to instruct youths so far as they
may be fitted for the university." This law attached a penalty to its violation. " Grammar" meant Latin grammar at
that period.
New Jersey established schools as early as 1683, and an
example oy a permanent school fund is found in an ~~pro­
priation made that year. In 1693 a law compelled c1t1zens
to pay their shares for the maintenance of a school. In
1726 a clergyman from Pennsylvania established in New
Jersey a classical school that grew in after times into Princeton college.

6

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

The original charter given William Penn required that
e government of his colony should erect and aid public
hools. Within 20 years after its settlement, schools were
uncled in Philadelphia, and others in towns of that colony.
The management of the district (elementary) schools
gan in most cases with the church and gradually came
to the hands of the smallest political subdivision, known as
districts." Ea~h township was divided into districts for
hool purposes, and for minor political purposes such as
pair of the public highways. Each district contained an
erage of four square miles, with a schoolhouse near the cenr of population, usually a little distance from some village,
d holding a maximum of forty or fifty pupils. The school
mmittee employed teachers. The schools held a three
nths' session in the winter, and sometimes this was made
r months. The winter school was nearly always "kept"
a man. There might be a summer school for a brief
sion kept by a woman. Wages for the winter school,
en as late as l 840, in the rural districts of New England,
re six to ten dollars a month. The schoolmaster might
a young college student trying to earn money during his
ation to continue his course in college. More commonly
was a surveyor, or clerk, or a farmer who had a slender
re of learning but who could " keep order." He possed the faculty to keep down the boisterous or rebellious
ils and could hear the pupils recite their lessons memord by them from the book.
here were .in some places school societies, semi-public
porations, that founded and managed the schools, receivmore or less aid from the public funds. Such associas provided much of the education in New York, Philaphia, and in many parts of New England before the
ent of the public school.
hen the villages began to catch the urban spirit and
blish graded schools with a full annual session, there
e a demand for a higher order of teacher, the profesal teacher, in short. This caused a comparison of ideals;

l

23]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

47

the best enlightened in the community began an agita·
tion of the school question, and supervision was demanded.
In Massachusetts, where the urban civilization had made
most progress, this agitation resulted in the formation of a
state board of education in 1837, and the employment of
Horace Mann as its secretary (June, 1837). Boston had
been connected with Providence, Worcester and Lowell by
railroads before 1835, and in 18.:1,2 the first great trunk railroad had been completed through Springfield to Albany,
opening to Boston a communication with the great west by
the Erie canal and the newly completed railroad from Albany
to Buffalo. This was the beginning of the great urban epoch
in America that has gone on increasing the power of the
city to this day.
The number of cities containing 8,ooo inhabitants and
upwards, was, in 1790, only, six; between 1800 and 18IO it
had increased toll; in 1820 to 13; in 1830, 26; in 1840,
)44; in the fifty .years between 1840 and 1890 it increased
from 44 to 443, or ro times the former number. The urban
population of the country iri l 790 was, according to the
superintendent of the census (see Bulletin No. 52, April l 7,
l 79 l ), only one in 30 of the population ; in 1840 it had
increased to one in I2 ; in 1890, to one in three. In fact,
if we count the towns on the railroads that are made urban
by their close connection with the large cities, and the suburban districts, it is saf ~ to say that now one-half of the population is urban.
Horace Mann came to the head of education in Massachusetts just at the beginning of the epoch of railroads and the
growth of cities. He attacked with unsparing severity t~e
evils of the schools as they had been. The school d1stnct
syst9m, introduced into Connecticut in 1701, into Rhode
Island about 1750, and into Massachusetts in l 789, was pronounced by him to be the most disastrous f ea tu re in the
whole history of educational legislation in Massachusetts.
Horace Mann extended his criticisms and suggestions to
the examination of teachers and their instruction in teachers'

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

:itutes; to the improvement of school buildings ; the
ing of school funds by taxation ; the creating of a cor: public opinion on school questions ; the care for vicious
1th in appropriate schools. He discarded the hide-bound
t-book method of teaching and substituted the oral dis;ion of the topic in place of the memorizing of the words
the book. He encouraged school libraries and school
·a ratus.
Iorace Mann's influence founded the first normal school
he United States at Lexington (afterwards moved to
mingham ), and a second one founded at Bridgewater in
fall of the same year (1839).
nspired by the exqmple in Massachusetts, Connecticut
aroused by Henry Barnard, who carried through the
slature the act organizing a state board of commissioners,
became himself the first secretary of it (1839). In 1849,
mecticut established a normal school. In 1843, Mr.
nard went to Rhode Island and assisted in drawing up
state school law under which he became the first com;ioner, and labored there six years.
'hese were the chief fermenting influences in education
: worked a wide change in the management of schools in
middle and western states within the past fifty years.
uperintendents of city school systems began in l 83 7
1 Buffalo.
Providence followed in l 8 39 ; New Orleans.
841 ; Cleveland in l 844 ; Baltimore in 1849 ; Cincinnati
r 8 50 ; Boston in 185 1 ; New York, San Francisco and
;ey City in 1852; Newark and Brooklyn in 1853; Chio and St. Louis in 1854; and finally Philadelphia in 1883.
ltate superintendents began with New York, 1813; New
rk was followed by 16 of the states before 1850. From
l to the civil war, · eight states established the office .
state superintendent ; since then, nineteen other states,
luding 10 in ·the south, that had no state systems of
1cation previously.
~ ormal schools in the United States increased from one,
;inning in 1839 in Massachusetts, to l 38 public and 46

l

25]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

49

private normal schools in 18891 with an attendance of
upwards of 28,000 students preparing for the work of teaching. This would give a total of some twelve thousand a
year of new teachers to meet the demand. It may be
assumed, therefore, that less than one-sixth of the supply of
new teachers comes from the training schools specially
designed to educate teachers.
The history of education since the time of Horace Mann
is very largely an account of the successive modifications
introduced into elementary schools through the direct or
indirect influence of the normal school.

I

/

.-; _.,.

v
PART VI- APPENDIXES

APPENDIX 1- Total number of pupils and students of all grades in botlt public and prt"vate scltools and
colleges, r897-<)8
NoTB -The classification of states made use of in the following table is the same as that adopted by the United States census, and. is as follows: Ncr_t!t ~t~a~tic
Division .: Maine, New Hampshire·, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Y.ork, New !crscy, and .Pennsylvania. Soutlt ~~l~ntte Division :
f c 1 b ·a Virginia West Virginia North Carolina South Carohna Georgia, and Florida. Sout!t Cer1tral Divisio" : Kentucky,
. ·
Delaware, Mary 1an d , D istnct o
o um i ,
,
,
,
'
•
.
•
.
.
•
•
•
.
Tennessee Alabama, M ississippi. Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. North Central Divz'sioH : Oh~o, Indiana, llhn o1s, M1c~1gan, ':"1sconsrn, Minnesota,
. '
.
h D '·
S
h D k t N b aska and Kansas Western Dt'vision: Montana Wyoming, Colorado, New 1t{cx1co , Arizona, Utah, Nevada,
Iowa, Missouri, N ort
aKota, out
a o a,
e r
,
·
,
Idaho, Washington, Oreion, and California.

Pupils receiving
secondary instruction
(high schoo l grade)a

In universities and
colleges c

In sch ools of medicine,
law, and theology e

l'"'J

~
t.rj
~

t%j

z

...,i

Students receivin g high e r instructi on
Pupils receiving cle·
mentary instruction
(primary and
grammar grades)

,.,.

>
:;i:l
-<

In normal schoo ls1r

t%j

tj

DIVISION
Public.

1
The United States .. • . .•.

3

2
14 589 036

North Atlantic Division ...... .

3 472 716

South Atlantic Division· . .. ···

2 I?O J42

South Central Division . •... . •.
North Cen~r~l .Division ...•..•.
Western D1v1s1on •.. •• . •• ••. •••

Private
Public 6
(largely
estimated)

• 842 478
5 443 994
719 5o6

I

249 665
510 286

88741
143 872
467 933
38 833

4
4S9 813
143
25
34
228
27

977
729
658
358
09 1

c::

Private (in
preparatory
schools,
acade mics,
seminaries,
etc.)

Public d

5

6

(')

Total

Private

Public/ Private

Total

Pri·

Publi c

T o tal

vatc It

......

0

166 302

----50 635
22 371

32 473
51 562
9 261

---- --- ---- ---- --- - - - - - - - --14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
- - ----- ---- ------21 293
z'67 538
135
54 231
46 •45
8 096
71 330 101 058
- -------.j617---------- --I 724
21 19.f
366
17 620
19 470
31 739
254
2E 667

29 728

s 072
3 688
2 815
14 184
3 q6<}

IO 158
10 795

13 846

20 771

34 955
6 908

2 939

IJ 610

762
099
5 29 2
689
I

--1I6 113
4 668
16 6<)3
I 295

6
5
2J
I

875
767
g85
<)84

5 8qo{

I 449
4 2651
, 3 , 45
710

4 445
2 999
15 542
3 78q

264
.a1 681
4 499

v.

Total number ~f pupt"ls and students of all grades t"n botlt publt"c and private schools, r897-<)8 - Continued
Summar} of
higher ~inc uding
normal instruc-

Summary of pupils by grade

Summary according
to control

tton

DIVISION

Grand
total

Public

Private

Elem en,
tary

Secondary

Higher

Public

Private

15

.16

17

18

19

20

21

The United States •••.........•.......•.....•.•.•• .', ......... . . . . ......

84o6g

13& 758

•s 838 .,.,,

North Atlantic Division .•. .•....• • . •••..• . • •. •••• •••...•..•.. .. ...•••• . .•. ••
South Atlantic Division . .. .. . . . .••..•. .• . •••. . •. .. .......• •.•. • , ..•• ..• . ••.••
South Central Division, •••....• . .••.• •• ••.••...... . ........ .. . . ....•...• , • ••

24 7Q6
8 895
6 913
35 018
8 447

45 757

3 q83 002
• 199 o83
• <)86 350
5 911 9•7
758 339

~
1

~~~~~r~el)\~i~i~!:~~i-~~ : :::::::::: ~:::::::::::::::::::: :·:::::::::::::::::: :: :

>
...,i

17 720

19 728
50 6og
4 944

626 115

222 827

------194 612
48 100
67 131
•79 920
36 352

10 553
26 615
26~1

85 627
13 391

15 132 918
3
2
2
5

641 48q
144 q66
884 ~9
707 370
155 044

1,554 725

6o6 678
128 832
tqlj 073
570 I~
53 038

22
t.6 687 643
4
•
3
6

248
273
o8o
277
8o8

167
7q8
122

474
o82

a Including pupils. in preparatory or acade~ic departments of higher institutions, publ~ and private, and excluding elementary pupils, who arc classed in
columns 2 and 3.
.
D This is made up from the returns of individual high schools to the bureau, and is somewhat too small, as there are many secondary pupils outside the completely organized high schools whom there are no means of enumerating.
c Including colleges for women, agricultural and mechanical (land-grant) colleges and scientific schools . Stude.nts in law, theological, and medical department•
are excluded, being tabulated in columns C)-U. Students in academic and preparatory departments are also excluded, being tabulated in columns 4 an d 5.
d Mainly state universities and agricultural and mechanical colleges.
, Including schools of dentistry, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.
/ :M ainly in schools or departments of medicine and law attached to state universities .
rNon· profcssional pupils in normal schools arc included in columns 4 and 5 •
.4 Private normal schools are, with few exceptions, scarcely superior to the ordinary secondary schools.
; There arc, in addition to this number, 21,687 students taking normal courses in universities, colleges, and public and private high schools.

z

.n..c .c c.J.'l.LJJ.A u

-1vumoer o;- puptts enrottea in tfte common schools at various pert'ods and the relaUon of the
enrollment to the school populatt'on
Number of different pupils enrolled during the
school year (excluding dup licate enrollments) Per ~ent of school population (i. 1., of
children s to 18 years of age} en r olled

STATE OR TERR ITORY

1870-71

1

1879-8<>

2

UNITED STATES .•.. . •....•......••. • • . ... ...•. .•.••.. .. . •.•. . ••• ••..•..... . ...

North Atlant!c D\v\s\on . • .•..••.•• •••• . .. ..••..••••• . .•••••• • ...• . •...•......

~~~:~ t:~~~!icJ?~i~i~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~:::::

North Central Division . .. ...................... , . . ........• .. . ,• ••., , ........
Western Division ........... .. . .. ..... . .... . . ... , ..... ,, .. . ,,, , .. ... , ... , . . . ..

3

7 561 582
2743344
6o3 619
767 839
3 300 66o
I .. 6 120

188Q-<1<>

18<)7~

187cr71

4

IS

9 867 505

12 722 581

15 038 636

6i.45

2 930 345

3 II2 fu2
I 785 486
2 293 579

3 614 463
2 134 725
2 875 366
s 66g 572
7H 510

77.95
30.51
34.17
76.87
54.77

I 2,42 811

I 371 975
4 033 828
288 546

s 015 21 7

515 677

6

l87cr-8o

1889-90

1897-98

65.50

68.61

70.oS

75. 17
50 .14
46.43
75.84
64.96

70.45
59.22
6o.14
76.46

70.38
63.63
64.41 .
75.25
76.73

- - -- - - - - - --"I
8
9
---- ---- ----

70.01

No.-tlt Atlantic Division

Maine . .............................. .. . . .. ... .. ......... . .... .... ..... ... ....
New Hampshire ............ .... ... ....... ..... . . ........ .. .... .... .... . . .. .. .
Vermont .. ,, , , , . . .. ....• . ..... . . .. ..... . .... .. .. . ..... . ................ ·· · · · · ·
Massachusetts . . . ............ . . .. .... .. . ... . ....... . . .... ... ... ... . . . . ... . . . . .
Rhode Island ......... . . ...... . ... . •..... · ...••.. , . •.. . ... • .........•.• . . . . ····
Connecticut . . . . .. . .... . .. ......... .. ...... . ...•. ..... ..... . ... .. . .. .. .... ....
New York ............................. ..... . ........ . .. . ........... . . ....... .

~:~l;r:~L-: ;: ;; :;:-:::.::: :::::: :: :: ::::::::::::::::::-:-:; :::-:::: ::: :::::::::

Soutlt Atla11tic D ivision
Delaware .. . ...... .. . . ................. ... . . ....... .. .. . ...... . .. . ...... , .. .. .

~~#iiU~~:'.~~~~~::;;:~;~:;;:::;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;~;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:

N orth Carolina •••.•.••...••....•...•..............•...... . ...•... .... .... ....
South Carolina . ... .. .... .. .... .. . .. ... .... . .. . .. ... . ...... , .... . .. .. , . . . . . . . ,
Georgia ............. . ........ . ....... , .. . . .. , . . ... .. . , ..•.... . .. , .. , .... . .. ..
Florida .; .. ..... .. • .•. ........ . .. . ...•..... . . .. ...• •.....••.... . ...• . .........
Soutlt. Central Dr.'vision
Kentucky .....• . •.... .. ... .... . . ..... .. . . ...... .. •.... . ........... . •.........
T ennessee ............ . .... ... .... ..... .. , .... . ....... .. , .... .. . . . .... . .......
Alabama •.•• .•. .•...•. •••.• . . . . .... • .... •...... . •. .. .. . . .. ....• . ....•••......

Mississippi . ........... ..... . .. .... .. ............ . ..... . . . ...... . .. . .. . .. . ... ,
Louisiana ......... ... ............. ..... .... ............ .. ..... ....... . .......
Texas .. .; . . . ........................... .. ..... . .. . ...... . ...... .. ............. .
Arkansas .... . ............. . .... . .
Oklahoma ................. . ... . .. .. ........... . .... . .. . .. . . . ... . ..... ... ... . .

···· ······· ············ ············· ·······

No.-tlt Central Division
Ohio
Indiana •.. •.. ....... ... ••• . •. .. . . ...• . ••..•••• • • . •..• • •• ••• •..• . . . .... . . · . ·· ·
Illinois .•.•...•. ••. .. . ... . • ...•... .... .••......... •· ·· .. •• · •· · · ·•·· · ·• ·•·· · · ··
Michii:an . . ...... . ... ....... .. ..... . . .. . . . ·· · · ······· ·· · · · ·- ·· · · · ····· ··· · ·· ·

·· ························· ···· ················ ······· ········· ······ ····

~~:~~~~~~::::::::::: : ~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:::: ....

Iowa ........... . ....... .. ....... . ................... . . ..... . . . .. . . .. . .. . ......
Missouri .. .... .... ...... .. .... . ·····••····· ··· · ·· · · ····· ••······ ·· ···· ··· · · ••·•
North Dakota •.•.•.• . .•. . . .. .. ..... . •..........•............ . .. . . ...• •.. . •. • .
South"Dakota ; ·•• ; •.•. ;·. ; • . ....•...... . .. .. .. • · · • · ··· · · ··· · · • · · • ··· · · · · · • · • · · • · · ·
Nebraska ....••..•. ... • • •· ..... ...... ····· ···'···· · ·· ····· · · · ········ · ········
Kansas .....•.•..... ,

·············· ·· ··· ····· ···· ·················· ······· ····

Western Divisi'on
Montana . ... ·. . ................. ········ · ···· ···•···· ·• · · · ···· · ·· · ·· ····· · ··•·

~J~:'!~nog: :::::::: ::::::: ::: : :::::::::: :::::::: ::::: :::::::: : ::: :: : ::::::: : :::

New Mexico ........ . .... .... .. . .. . ... .. . . ... ..... . ................... . .......
Arizona . . . ... . .... ... . .... .. . . . . ..... · ·········• ·· · ··· · ··•··· ··• ·········· · ··
Utah .. . ..•... . ...... ... . .......... ...... . ... .. . ..... .. .... .. .. .... .. •.. . .. .....
Nevada •••• ....• .... ... ... ......•... ....... ........ . . . .. ... ·· ... ·· •• · ... .. ····
Idaho ••••• . ...• ...... ...
Washin&ton .. •.•.•. . . . ..•• .. . ...... . ........ . · • ·. · · · · · . . • •. · · · · · · · • • · · · · · · · · · ·

········· ···· ····· ······ ····· ············ ···········

8!rn~~~1~::.:::::::::: : :::::::::: : :::::::: :::: ::::::: :: :::::: :::::::::::::::::

a 152 6oo
71 957
c 65 384
273 661
a 34 ooo
II3 588
l 028 IIO

16g 430
834 614
20 058

149 827
64 341
15 238
3o6 711
4o 6o4
It9 6g4
I

031 59 3
204 961

937 310
27 823

IIS 683
15 157

162 .'4)1

131 o88

220 736

76 999

26 439
142 850

a 115 ooo

252 612

66 056
49 578
14 000

134 072
236 533
39 315

e 178 457
a 140 ooo

e 276 ooo

141 312

179 490

II7 000

57 639
63 504
6g 927

300 217

139 676
59 813
c65 6o8
371 492

52 774

134 405
6 64 207
65 532
456 141
65 384
147 833

126 505
l 042 16o
234 072
l 020 522

b I 203 1Q9
304 680

31 434

d 33 174

184 251

36 906
342 26g
193 o64

l 173 o82

236 003

a 87.35

Sg.So

85.88

Q I.JI

81.32
87.21

71.28

72.34
a 59.24
80.83
82 .98
63 .20
76.35

71.76
59.59
76 97

72.56
62.65

77.10

64.77
74.37

72.02
70. 71
62.21

6g.53

d67 .93
67.16

58.13

4r .6o

66.19
6o.37

55·'40

63.10

45.00

6o.51

4Q.47
a 31.23

381 297
92 472

H698
6 367 817
236 188
399 375
b 258 183
450 832
1o8 455

n.89
21.21

55 .87
40.56
46.24
H . 16

56.39
47.oS
58;45
71.10

64.4r
6 54 .55
6o.54
63.37

399 66o
447 950
JOI 615

6 501 Sg3
/ 481 585
6 348 8gg

a32.oo

58.:zx

40.36

-42.6o

65.64
74.05
55.83

6 76.00
/74 .97
J 56.13

322 533
201 26o

236 654
77 642

334 158

a 220 ooo

466 872

81 972

223 071

120 253

3 2 ·34
27.28

6g.21

40.6o
24 .78

61 .29

21.00
40.29

a42.40
30.81

810 285
84.04
78.64
566 157
81 .01
939 163
79.66
496 025
HS 9 14
73·9 2
384 o63
75.92
548 852
84.44
56.03
688 583
67 375
/89001 } a 39»6
273 914
58.79
74.22
370 240 '

76.6g
82.39
74.61
78.oS
73.78
75.87
83.52
68.85

70 .24

6 367
182
6 612
303

579
341
140
8o8

25.87

75.27

704 041
362 556
299 457
l8o 248
426057
482 g86

23 265
89 777

92 549
231 434

729 499
5n 283

13 718

797 439
512 955
, 778 319
427 032
351 723
28o g6o
493 267
620 314
{ 35 543
78 043
240 300.
399 32 2

72.92
84.82
66.25
79.25
69.25
75.18
86.62

4r.68
68.48
73.23

75.35
88 .56

63.77
77.44
6o.82

7 1.14

54.46

13.32

42.25

53.16
50.61
79.73
77.85
7»36
75.02
73.37

55.26
73.So
62 .66
70.58
74.78
77.38

81.04

>

~
~
trj

t:1

c::
0

>

....,i

......

0

z

61 .71

,ii.54
79 .21

z
....,i

81 .10

0 6g.17

71.97
73.45
69.77
74.59
85 .51
74·H
{ 71 .26

rs:

M

"63.19

70.6"
31.58
59.50
55.41

11121

719 372
450 057
672 787
292 466
265 285
II3 g83
341 938
330070
al 66o

72.r~

6 71 .48
65.29
67.83

50.04
46.70

65 .20

83.35
6 72.25
79.53
74.03
64.33

M
t"'
M

,....,
.....
IV

00

39.76

IV

65.75
78.96

L.....J

6 61 .84

'°

72.30

70.05
/14-78
77.97
88.20

M
t"'
M

·iS:
M

l 657

"270

a 450

2 907

4 357
a1 320

22 .119

t6 992
3 100

24 326
9045
5 834
14 78o
37 533
158 765

4 755
4 2I2

as

906
000

21 000
91 332

t6 g8o
7 052
65 490
18 215

7 g8Q
37 279
7 387
14 31I

55 g64
63 254
Ul 756

35 070
13 042
104 733
26 484
14 613
70 878
7 348
29 737
97 9 16
85 230
259 459

a45 .34
42.28
a4.42

.. .5~".;6
53.97
46.o6

a6g.oo
67 .73
63.63

72 .20
52 .72

78.94
54.46
81.38
51.99
66.09
82.45
81.78
6g.88
91 .42
84.64
73.17

z

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6 In 111¢-97

c Pupils of le&al age only
d In 18g1-q2

e Highest number enrolled

/In 1895~

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ELEMENTARY

-" '° ..,..
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EDUCATION

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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

57

... :

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Corporal punishment

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In one state, New Jersey, the teacher is forbidden by law to
inflict corporal punishment. No other state goes to this length,
but Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Pennsylvania, South
Dakota, Washington, a nd West Virginia specifically prescribe a
penalty for excess amounting to cruelty. Legal punishment would
be m eted out to a brutal t eache r in the other states just as surely
as in these, but resort would be had to the common law and not to
a st a tute. Only in Arizona is there formal st atutory authority for
corporal puni shment, but whipping has been the common mode of
di scipline in school from tim e immemorial; custom legalizes it, and
unless forbidd e n in express t erms the teacher does not need the
authority of a sp ecial p ermissive law. Judicial d ecisions to this
effect have b ee n made in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana,
Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, North .Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and probably in other states.
Local school boards have a lways the implied power to make
regulations for the order and discipline of their respective schools,
and three st ates, viz., Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania,
expressly grant them this power. Acting under this power,
expressed or implied , several cities, notably New York city,
Chicago, Albany, Baltimore, Cleveland and Syracuse, have prvhibit ed absolutely the use of the rod. The same is true of Providence, Rhode I sland, except in the primary grades, and in them
whipping must not be inflicted unless the written consent of the
parent or guardian has been previously filed with the city superint endent. In St. Paul corporal punishment is prohibited except to
repel violence .
Corporal punishment may be used as a last resort and under
rigid regulations as to reports, etc., in a great many cities, among
th e m bein g Alleghany, Pa., Boston, Mass., Buffalo, N . Y., Cincinnati, 0., Columbus, 0. , Denver, Col., Detroit, Mich., FaJl River,
Mass., Indianapolis, Ind ., Kansas City, Mo., Los Angele s, Cal.,
Loui sv ille, Ky., Memphis, Tenn., Milwaukee, Wis., Minnea po li s,
Minn., New Haven, Conn., New Orleans, La., Philad elphia, Pa.,
Pittsburg, Pa., Rochester, N. Y., St. Joseph, Mo., St. Louis, Mo. ,
San Francisco, Cal., Toledo, 0., Washington, D. C.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

APPENDIX VI -

Teaclters' pensions, and benefit associations

Voluntary mutual benefit associations for temporary aid only
exist in Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, San Francisco, St. Paul , and one intersta t e. These
h ave fr om one t o t wo dollars initiati on fee, one t o fiv e dollars
annual dues. Special assess men t s of one dollar each a re m ad e in
some cases. Benefits in sickn ess range from fifty cents a day to
t e n dollars a week; at death funeral expenses only a re p aid in
so me in stances, a nd in oth ers a sum equal t o one dollar from each
member of the associat io n.
A ssoc iat ion s for annuity or ret irem ent fund only a re in New
York city, Boston, a nd Baltimore, and there is an annuity guild in
Massac husett s. Th e initiation fe es reported are three to five dollars ; the an nu al du es o ne to one and a half per cent of sala ry up
t o eighteen or twenty dollars. Th e a nnuity is from 6o per ce nt of
salary to $6oo a y ear. Tim e of se rvice required for retirement,
fr om z to 5 years w ith di sabi lity , fr om 35 to 40 years without
di sabili ty .
A ssoc ia ti on s for both t e mp orary aid a nd a nnuity exist in Hamilt on county (Cincinnati), Ohio; Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and
Di strict of Columbi a. Initi at ion fees, o ne to t en dolla rs; a nnual
dues, five to forty dollars; a nnuity, five dollars p er week to $6oo
a year, and $ 1 oo for funeral expenses in case of death ; t emporary
aid durin g illn ess, five or six do lla rs p er week; minimum service
for retirement- with disability, 3 to 5 yea rs; without disability,
Pe nsion or retire me nt fund s are au thori zed by state legislation
for St . Louis, a ll citi es in California, Bost on, Brooklyn, New York,
D et ro it , Poughkeepsie, Chicago, all citi es in New Jersey, Cincinnati, Charleston, S. C., a nd Buffalo and for all citi es in Ohio.
Du es, one per ce nt of sala ry ; a nnuity, $250 to one-half of salary ;
minimum , $300, t o $600 m aximum ; minimum se rvic e - with disability , 20 t o 30 yea rs; without di sability, 25 t o 35 years. In
Maryland, the stat e pay s pensions ($zoo) to retired teachers.

135]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

APPENDIX VII -

59

Text-books; selection and supply.

In some states a guaranty is required fr o m publishers to supply
books, according to samples, a t wholesale, retail, introduction,
exchange, mail prices, pa rt or all, for a term of years.
In fewer states the school boards buy and sell th e books o n public account. In certain states boa rds continue to own the b ooks
used free by pupils. Indigent pupils are more frequ ently supplied
at public expense.
In most sta t es special or general laws g ive cities th e control of
the details of their school administration, including t ext-books.
Specific p e nalties a re expressed in certain cases for usi ng o ther
than prescribed b ooks, but in ge neral such use would be o nly a
violation of law, t o b e dealt with as it occurred .
In the states and territories immedia t ely following, individuals,
except in m any cases indigents, buy' their books:
Alabama.-- State t ext-bo ok commission fi xes list for 5 yea rs, to
whom a sub-commission reports on m e rits of books. Publishers
sell through a t least 3 agencies in each county.
Arizona.- T erritorial board fixes list for 4 years.
Arkansas.- Where voters elect county uniformity, a co unty
school-bo ok b oard fixes list for 6 y ears.
California.- The state publishes a series for the lower g rades,
beyond which local boards fix lists for 4 y ears. Hig h-school list is
uniform through o ut the state, and must be approved by state
board. Penalty for using othe r tha n state list, forfeiture of onefourth of st ate ap portionment. Indige nt pupils a re furnished free.~
Florida.- County board s fix lists for 5 years.
Georgia.- Li st fix ed by county board, unchangeable within 5
years except by three-fo urths vo te of full boa rd. Penalty, t eacher
cann ot receive pay for pupils using other books.
Indiana.- State board fi xes list unde r publishers' guaranty.
County boards may select add iti onal books for high sch ools for 6
years. Local board s regulate purchase and sale of books, which
become private property. Districts supply indigents.
Illinois.-· District board fix es list for 4 years.
Kentucky. - County board of examiners fix es list fo r 5 years,
with publishers' g uaranty. County judge furnish es indi ge nts.
Louisiana. - State board fix es li st for 4 years, with limited local
disc retion .
Mississzpp i.-A county committee adopts a series for 5 years

f

60

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
I

on publishers' guaranty. Penalty, pupils without the prescribed
books in each branch are not to receive instruction in that
branch.
Mz'ssourz'.- State school-book commission fixes list and contracts
with publishers for 5 years. Penalty, $5 to $25 fine for directors
to permit use of other books. Indigents supplied from local continge nt funds.
Nevada.- Legislature fixes list, in lower branches, upon recommendation ?f state boa rd ; to be changed not oftener than 4 years,
and by legislature; penalty for non-use, forfeiture of apportionm ent.
List in additional branches prescribed by state board.
Trustees supply indigents.
New JJ!le:rz'co. - Territorial board fixes list for 4 years and contract s with publishers ; sells to counties at cost plus freight and 5
pe r cent. Local boa rds furnish indigents.
Nort!t Carolina.- A st a te commission fixes list for 5 years, with
publishe rs' g uaranty.
0/1io.-A state co mmission fixe s a list on publishers ' guaranty,
fr om which local b oards fix li sts for 5 years (with exception).
Board s may buy and sell to pupils, or arrange with dealers to
supply them. Indigents are furnished.
Oregon.- State text-book board fixes list for 6 years on publishers' g uaranty.
Sout!t Caroli1ta.- State board fix es a li st for 5 years on publishe rs' guaran ty, and may require publishers to have deposi taries in
each county, o r county superint end ent may sell books to pupils at
cost.
Temussee.- A st a t e t ext-book commission fix es list for 5 years.
Penalty, $ro to $so fine.
Te:ras.- State t ext-book board fix es list for 5 y ears, on report
of a commission upon m erit of books irrespective of cost.
Virginia.- Two b ooks of J ohn Esten Cooke - "Virginia, a
Hi st ory of her P eople;" "S t o ri es of the Old Dominion" - are
prescribed by law.
State board fix es a list, from which local
boards adopt books for 4 years.
The following, regula rly or through stated action, a uthorize provision for fr ee use of books by pupils:
Colorado.-District boards fix list for 4 years, with exceptions. Indigents are furnished, and, on popular vote, all pupils,
fre e.
Com1ecticu t .- State board may fix list for 5 years. Town boards

I

f --

.
j

-- - ---

-

-

37J

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

61

may take additional action, and, on popular vote, furnish free
text-books.
Delaware.- State board fixes list; district board furnishes free
text-books.
District of Columbz'a.- Board of education fixes list and furnishes
free books and supplies.
ldalzo.- Books adopted by a state text-book commission are
furnished free by the district, under contracts with publishers for 6
y ears.
Iowa.- County uniformity may be fixed for 5 years. Local
boards may buy and sell to pupils at cost, or, on popular vote,
furnish books free. Indigents furnished.
Kansas.- A school-text book commission selects books in common-school studies, and contracts with publishers to furnish them
to pupils through agencies at every county-seat. Upon a twothirds vote of a district, local boards may purchase books and loan
free to pupils. Penalty for using other text-books except for reference, $25 to $roo, with or without imprisonment. '
Maine, New Hampslzire, Massaclzusetts, Rlzode Island (towns),
New Jersey, Pennsylvania (local boards), and Maryland (counties),
furnish free text-books.
M£clzigan.- District boards fix list for 5 years, furnish books to
indigents and, on popular vote, to all pupils free.
Mz'nnesota.- Local boards may fix a list for 3 to 5 years, with
publishers' guaranty, and may purchase and provide for free loan
or sale at cost to pupils.
iWontana.- State text-book commission fixes list for 4 years, to
be handled through dealers, with publishers' guaranty. Textbooks are furnished free on popular vote.
Nebraska.- Local boards furnish books free; may fix list not
beyond 5 years, with publishers' guaranty. A local dealer may be
designated to handle the books on agreed terms.
New York.- List is fixed by local boards in cities, villages, and
union free-schoo\ districts, and by a two-thirds vote of legal voters
at an annual school meeting in common-school districts; change
not to be made within 5 years, except by a three-fourths vote of
said authorities respectively. Local boards furnish free books to
all pupils in union free-school districts, and to indigents in common-school districts.
Nortlz Dakota.- Local boards may furnish free text-books, and
must do so on petition of two-thirds of the voters of the district.
Contracts must be for 3 to 4 years without change.

--

.
"

'

'

_ ...;

ELE M E N TARY

EDU CA TION
I

Sout!t Dakota. - County board ado pts a uniform se ri es for 5
years, to be furnish ed th ro ug h desig nat ed depositari es und er publish ers' g uaranty. Free text-books must be arranged for on petition of a majority of electors.
Utalt.- A convention of superintendents (in cities, the local
board of educa tion) fixes a li st for S years. Trnstees are authorized to furni sh text-books free to all, a nd must furnish indigents.
Vermont.- County authority fixe s li st for 5 years, on publishers'
guaranty. L ocal board s furni sh fre e text-books.
Wasliington.- In districts of the first class list is fixed by district text-book commission , for not less than 3 years; in districts
of the second class, by the county board of education, for not less
than S years. Loca l boards furni sh indigents, and, on popular
vote, all pupils.
W est Virginia. - County school-book board fixes list for 5 years.
District boards a re a uth orized to purchase und er contract (out of
building fund) and sell t o pupils at cost, or to arrange for free
books.
Wyoming. - School directors purchase books under S-year contract , a nd loan to pupils free.

39]

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

APPENDIX IX-Average total amount of schooling (expressed .in
years of 200 school days each) each Jndividual of tlze _p_opulatzon
would receive as !tis equipment for life, under the conditions _existing at the different dates given in tlie table, and counting zn the
work done by all grades of both public and private schools and
colleges

- - -- - - ----1- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Un ited States . .. .... . . . . . 3.36

3.96

4 .46

4.51

North Atlanti c Division .. . ... 5.o6
South Atlantic Division ... . . . 1.23
South Central Div ision .... . ..
North Central Division .. .. .. ... ox
Western Division .. ... . ...... 3.56

5.6')

6.05
2.73

6 .15
2.78

4.52

2

6.t"'

6.35
2. 95

4. 83

4·QI

5 .o r

6.52

6.64

6 . 76

4·7
4·75
4-49
-- -- ---- -- - - -- - - -- -- -2.2 2

1.86
4 .65
... 17

2.42

2.62

5.36
• · 51

5·35
4 .7:

6 . 18

2 . 74
2.6')
5 . 21

5.07

2.7-J

2.64
5.38
4 · 93

2.89

5·57
5 . 01

6.47
2. 95
2.65
5.6')
5-43

2.70

3 ·0 5
2.75

5 .84
5-46

2

5.87
5.55

· 93

3 · 14

2.95
5.87
5·77

Average total amount of schooling per inhabitant, etc., cohsidering
only the public elementary and secondary schools, and expressed as
before in years of 200 school days each

--------- -- -- -- -- - - -- - - -- -- -- -United States .••• . .. . .... 2.91

3.85

3·93

3.97

3·QQ

4.17

4.2 3

4.28

4 · 37

North Atlantic Division ..... 4-43
South Atlanti c Division ... ...
.8o
South Central Division .... ...
.8o
North Central Division .... . . 3.71
Western Division .. ...... . ... 2 . 77

4·99
2.42
2 . 20
4- 67
3 .98

5.o6
2.46
2 .31
4 · 74
4.16

5.10
2.46
2 .41
4-75
4·47

5.10
2.51
2 . 38
4 .84
4 . 3Q

5 . 28
2.70
2 .59
5. 00
4-45

5·47

5.52
2.66
2.44
5.21
4 ·95

5 .6 1
2.78
2.49
5.28
5. 02

- - -3·45
4.84
I. QO

1.57
4.19
3 . 57

2.68

2 ·59
5· 15
4.87

4.46

--

5. 71
2.87
2.68
5 .25
5.25

NoTR. -The figure s of this table for the :yea.rs previous to the current year have been revised
and differ slii:htly from those heretofore pubhshed.

~

-

-

.

-

-

DIVISION OF EXHIBITS
DEPARTMENT OF
UNIVERSAL

EDUCATION

EXPOSITION,

Lours,

ST.

MONOGRAPHS ON

1904

EDUCATION

IN THE

UNITED

STATES

EDITED BY

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER

Pr,esident of Columbia University in the City of New York

4
SECONDARY EDUCATION
BY

ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN

..

Professor of Education in tlu University

of California

.· ....
·...
.. : :·

THIS MONOGRAPH IS PRI NTED FOR LIMITED DISTRIBUTION BY THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
EXPOSITION COMPANY

...

SECONDARY EDUCATION
UbR,..~:v

•·f CON<.;; '1ESS

I

.,J°l. ¢

FEB 23 1904

) 5:~~~~~-~~r~

C LA SS

f\...>

I
,
' 1.,l

1J.

XXc. No .

.;~g p; ~ ?o

COPYRIGHT BY

J.B. LYON COMPANY
1899
COPYRIGHT BY

J.

B. LYON COMPANY
1<)04

.....,,• ..
·: ·.. :
J•

L

LYON COMPANY

, SKS AND

BINDERS

ALBANY, N. Y.

I

One could not expect to find distinctively American institutions among the colonists of the seventeenth century.
There was as yet no distinctively ,A.merican character. Two
1
opposing influences were at wor:~ ~haping the colonia1 life :
the first was the spirit of protest against European institutions, which many of the colo'~ists had' brought with them
from the Old World ; the second was the ever-present
instinct of imitation. Real American schools might be
expected to develop with the development of real American
nationality. In the beginning, there could be only such
schools as might arise under the mingled influence of a
desire to be like the mother-country and a desire to be
different.
We find, as a matter of fact, the history of American secondary education presenting three pretty well-defined types
and stages of development. There is, first, the colonial
period, with its Latin grammar schools ; secondly, the period
extending from the revolutionary war to the middle of the
nineteenth century, during which the attempt was made to
solve the problem of American secondary education by
means of the so-called-acaQ_~i:_ny /and, thirdly, the succeeding
period down to the present tim-&-chiefly characterized .by the
upgrowth of public high schools. \
The specific influences which rr<'ost vitally influenced the
early development of secondary education in America were,
on the one hand, the example of the "grammar schools " of
old England; and, on the other hand, the rising spirit of
•
democracy, in large measure Calvinistic as to its modes
of thought, and in touch with movements in the Calvinistic portions of Europe.

4

SECONDARY EDUCATION

THE BEGINNINGS

_Early in the history of the colony of Virginia, funds were
raised and lands set apart for the endowment of a Latin
grammar school.
But these promising beginnings were
swept away by the Indian massacre of 1622, and the school
seems never to have been opened. The town of Boston in
the_ Massachusetts Bay colony, set up a Latin school in 1635,
~hich has. had a continuous existence down to the present
time. This school was established by vote of the citizens in
. town me~ting. It was supported in part by private dona10ns, and m part by the rent of certain islands in the harbor
esignated by the town for that purpose. A town rate seem~
lso to have been levied when necessary to make up a salary
.
f £ 50 a year for the master.
Other Massachusetts towns soon followed the example of
oston. The money for the support of these schools was
btained in a variety of ways. School fees were commonly
ut not universally collected. A town rate, which was
epended upon at first only to supplement other sources of
evenue, gradually came to be the main reliance · and by the
iddle of the eighteenth century the most of the grammar
chools of Massachusetts charged no fee for tuition.
Latin schools were early established in the colonie~
ncluded in the territory of the present state of Connectiut: pne at New Haven in 1641, and one at Hartford not
~ter than ~642.
A notable bequest left by Edward Hop.ms, sometime governor of Connecticut colony, whose later
ears were passed in England, became available soon after I
he middle of the seventeenth century. The greater part of
was devoted to the maintenance of Latin grammar schools
Hartford and New Haven, and also in the towns of Hady and Cambridge in Massachusetts.
The. Dutch at New Amsterdam- now New Yorkpened a Latin school in 1659. This school was continued
. r some years after the colony passed under English rule.
econdary schools were established in the colony of Penn-

145]

. SECONDARY , EDUCATION

sylv~nia in the latter part of .t he seventeenth century. One
of these, the William Penn Charter School, at Philadelphia,
has · continued down to the present day. King William's
school, at Annapolis, was erected by the legislature of Maryland ia. 1696. Similar schools were from time to time established in different sections of the same colony. The
eighteenth century saw schools of like character opened,
partly by legislative ,enactment, partly by private initiative,
in these and in the remaining · colonies. Some of the number, like the University Grammar School in Rhode Island
and the Free School at New York, were eithert the forerunners or the accompaniments of colonial colleges.
Not only were these several schools opened during the
colonial period: important beginnings were made .also in
the organization of colonial systems of secondary education. The Puritan colony of- Massachusetts took the lead
in this movement. In 1647 the colonial legislature decreed
that an elementary school should be maintained in every
town having a population of fifty families ; and that in
every town having one hundred families there should be
a grammar school, in which the students might be fitted
for admission to the university.
This liberal provision was soon copied by the neighboring colonies of Connecticut and New Hampshire. In
Connecticut the provision was afterwards changed to a .
requirement of a grammar school in each county town.
These New England colonies maintained and enforced
such provisions regarding grammar schools, with varying
degrees of strictness, to be sure, down w and even after
the revolutionary war. Maryland established by law· a
system of county grammar schools, thus keeping pace
with the more northern colony of Connecticut.
The interest in secondary education declined and many
schools fell into decay as the revolutionary period
approached. When the colonies were transformed into
states, after the declaration of independence, the four systems of schools mentioned above were continued with little

SECONDARY EDUCATION

ange. No· other of the thirteen states had anything that
uld be called a system of public instruction.
COLONIAL SCHOOLS

The chief emphasis in these schools was laid on the
:ep~ati?n of future collegians to pass the college entrance

ammat10n.

The most of the schools were in this sense

r~p~ratory" or "fitting" schools. The requirements for
mis~1on to college determined their course of study. In

e middle of the seventeenth century, the requirements of
arv.ard college, which fixed the scholastic standard for
ew England, are stated as follows : " When scholars had
far profited at the grammar schools that they could read
y classical author into English, and readily make and
ak true L~tin, and write it in verse as well as prose ; and
fectly declme the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the
eek tongue, they were judged capable of admission in
rvard college." A century later, the requirements of
nceton college, which profoundly influenced the second. schools of the middle states, were described in these
ds : " Candidates for admission into the lowest or freshn class must be capable of composing grammatical Latin
slating Virgil, Cicero's Orations, and the four Evangelist~
reek ; and by a late order * * * must understand
principal rules of vulgar arithmetic."
.he .colonial grammar schools taught accordingly Latin,
a little Greek. They gave instruction in religion; but
e ~lse was added to the classical languages.
oc:1al grades were pretty sharply distinguished in the \
n~es. The grammar schools and colleges were intended
c.1ally .for the directive and professional Classes. They
·little 1f any connection with such elementary schools as
e were. In Massachusetts, towns which maintained
mar school~ were ~ot required to maintain reading
ols. Sometimes pupils were taught to read in grammar
ols. But the grammar school teachers objecte.d to this
and the mixing of the two grades of instruction in

14.7]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

7

one schoq,l was recognized as an evil. There seems to have
been no middle grade of school, answering to the needs of .a
middle class in society. And for girls there was no provision
whatever beyond occasional instruction in the merest rudiments of learning.
·
In the colleges; the ecclesiastical spirit and purpose was
paramount. The students were for the most part preparing
for the clerical vocation in some one of the Protestant
denominations. But naturally only a part of the students in
the grammar schools showed the disposition and the aptitude
to pursue classical studies and enter the profession to which
they led. The grammar schools exercised a kind of-ielective
function, discovering latent capacity for the higher studies
and starting talented youth on the way to college. Those
who showed capacity of a lower grade or of a different sort
seem to have received but little attention or encouragement
in the schools of that day.
A TIME OF TRANSITION

As we approach the revolutionary period, we find new
social conditions giving rise to a new order of schools. In
the earlier days there had been, in most of the colonies, a
dos~ connection between eccJ;siastical and political functions. With the growth of sectarian differences, there
appeared a decided tendency toward the separation of governmental from ecclesiastical affairs. The grammar schools
and colleges had been established for the public good as
represented in both church and commonwealth. Th~y ~ad
been founded and maintained by a remarkable combmat10n
of governmental, ecclesiastical, and private agency. Some
of the colonies must be reckoned among the foremost of
modern societies to ·exemplify direct governmental participation in educational affairs. But as governmental and ecclesiastical interests drew apart, the position of educational
institutions was disturbed. This change tended to . lessen
the prestige of colonial systems of education among the
more zealous adherents of the several religious denomina-

SECONDARY EDUCATION

tions. At the same time, a growing distrust of the colleges
appeared among those who were most in accord with the
secularizing tendency of the time. These influences combined with many others to weaken the old grammar schools.
. In their stead there grew up a new type of secondary school,
commonly known as the academy. For two or three generations following the revolutionary period this type was in
the ascendancy. The effort to solve the problem of secondary education by this means ultimately failed. But the
academy nevertheless occupies a place of great significance
in the history of our educational institutions.
THE ACADEMIES

Both the name and the character of the new institution were suggested by English precedents. · In England,
dissenters from the established religion were excluded from
both grammar schools and universities. In the latter part of
the seventeenth century, following a suggestion of Milton,
he non-conformist bodies proceeded to establish so-called
cademies. These schools were in the main of secondry grade. Yet they undertook to prepare candidates for
he clerical office in non-conformist congregations ; and
hey offered a wide range of literary and scientific studies,
n free imitation . of the universities. They even affordeq
ns.t ructiori in some studies, chiefly of a technical and prac'ical character, not commonly taught in the universities.
The American colonists were, many of them, in close relaions with various bodies of English dissenters; and the
ame of the English academies would seem to have influnced their thought in the matter of public education. At
ne time, the strong theological bent of their English protopes reappeared; in the new American schools; at another
·me, the resemblance was more obvious in the range and
haracter of the studies offered. But the American acadeies soon came to have a well-defined character of their
wn.. apart from any conscious imitation of English models.
. As early as the year I 726, a school for classical and theo-

149]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

9

logical studies was established by the pastor of. a Presbyterian congregation at Neshaminy, in Pennsylvania. It was
described }?y a visitor as an " academy" ; but was more commonly known as the " Log College," i~ a~lusion to the fact
that it was conducted in a small building made of logs .
This ~hool in the wilderness was the center of deep and
widespread interest in classical studies as well as in the
religious life. It sent out large numbers of zealous pastors
and teachers, who established "log colleges" all over the
highlands of the middle and southern colonies.
Through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, a school was
established at Philadelphia, legally incorporated as an academy in 1753, which was probably the first ill'!;titution in
America to be formally designated by that title. It was
under the control of a self-pe'rpetuating board of trustees.
A fund was raised by private subscription for its establishment and maintenance. This was supplemented by a grant
from the city treasury and by tuition fees. ·But fees we~e
remitted in the case of those who were unable to pay. This
academy was organized in three departments o'. schools ;
viz., the Latin, the English, and the mathematical. The
theological element was not prominent here. Much stress
was laid on the teaching of the English language and literature and the mathematical sciences. The school ultimately
dev~loped into the University of Pennsylvania. .
. .,J-__
Within two or three decades from the founding of this
school at Philadelphia, a number· of schools somewhat similar in characte·r, and some of them bearing the name
academy, were established in the middle and south~rn colonies. The ·new movement received fresh incent.ive and
definiteness of · direction from the establishment of the two
Phillips academies, one at Andover in Massachusetts and
the other at Exeter in New Hampshire, incorporated, the
former in 1780 and the latter in 1781. These schools, well
endowed, and conducted under ·self-perpetuating boards of
trustees, were the pioneers of a long line of similar establishments in New England. ·Their influence extended to

St;1 _ ___ .lRV

c.uu~ATIUN

[150

remote states, especially in the growing west ; and they rank
to-day among the strongest and most influential of our secondary schools.
ST A TE SYSTEMS

Soon after the close of the revolutionary war, new state
ystems of education began to be established, in _which
pecial provision was made for secondary schools. · The
arliest and most remarkable of these was the University of
he State of New York, erected in 1 784 and remodeled in
787: Thi~ ins~itution is a notable example of the strong
nd mcreasmg mfluence which French thought then exerised in American affairs. The conception of a university
ut forth by Diderot and others of the great French writers
f the latter half of- the eighteenth century, was first realized
the state of New York. The New York · university
brai:ed t~e .whole provision for secondary and higher
ucat1on w1thm the state, with the exception of schools of
purely private character. It seems to have been intended
the outset to embrace elementary schools as well, but
ese were organized later under a separate administrative
stem. The university was placed under the control of a
ard of regents, consisting of the governor and the lieu tent-governor of the state, ex officio, together with nineteen
ers, elected by the state legislature. At first this board
regents had been identical with the board of trustees of
lumbia college. But this arrangement was unsatisfactory
many reasons : because of the ecclesiastical character of
college, for one thing ; and also because of the growing
ief t~at the interests of the college were distinct from,
ot opposed to, those of the new academies. The reorizatio.n ?f 1 787 accordingly made the board of regents
ody d1stmct from the trustees of any institution included
the · university. The trustees were to exercise control
r their several institutions. But this control was made
ject to the general and not at all rigorous supervision
the regents.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

I I

In 181 3 the legislature of the state established a permanent fund known · as the literature fund, .the . income of
which was t<:> be applied wholly to the support of secondary
schools. The distribution of this fund was made subject to
the control of the regents of the university.
Thi&.. university set up by the state of New York appealed
t:o the imagination of men by its comprehensiveness and
novelty. It exercised great influence ~m later systems; but
only one state and one territory seem to have modeled their
scheme of public instruction after the New York pattern.
· An act of the legislature of Georgia, passed in I 785, provided that "All public schools instituted, or to ~e supported
by funds or public moneys in this state, shall be considered
as parts or members of the university." But the university
of Georgia never realized the large and liberal plan proposed for it.
In the territory of Michigan, an act was passed in 1817
instituting a university of imposing character. The president and professors of this institution were empowered "to
establish colleges, academies, schools, libraries, museums,
athemeums, botanical gardens, laboratories and other useful
literary and scientific institutions * * * throughout the
various counties, cities, towns, townships, and other geographical divisions of Michigan." As may be supposed,
this establishment existed mainly on paper. Yet it should
be noted that before the act was repealed, in 1821, there had
been opened under its provisions a college, a classical school,
and several primary schools.
But although the comprehensive type of university
organization was not widely adopted, there was a general
desire in the early part of the nineteenth century to establish
complete and well-rounded systems of public instruction.
Primary education was still all . too largely neglected; In
the state systems which were from time to time devised,
emphasis was laid at . one time upon secondary ·schools, at
another upon institutions of higher learning. Some of the
best thought of our political leaders was devoted to the

SECONDARY EDU CATION
I

devising systems which should meet the needs
our rapidly growing states in all of the several grades of
struction.
The legislature of Tennessee declared, in 1817, that,
Institutions of learning, both academies and colleges;
ould ever be under the fostering care of this legislature,
d in their connection with each other form a complete
stem of education."
Even more significant is the provision of the constitution
Indiana, adopted in 1816, that, " It shall be the duty of
e ge~eral assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit,
provide by law for a general system of education, ascendg in regular gradation from township schools to a state
iversity wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open
all."
For the most part, however, actual state agency in sec.dary education was as yet limited to the subsidising of
i:ately man.a ged academies. In Massachusetts, the pro10n for grammar schools under town control was continued
ter the colony became a state. But the law was so changed
at only the larger towns were left subject to this require~t. . At the same time academies established by private
tlative were endowed by the legislature with grants of
blic lands. The state assumed no control whatever over ·
academies which it thus subsidised.
In Kentucky, the state legislature granted six thous~ncl
es of public lands to an academy in each county. In
nnsylvania, colleges and academies received financial aid
m the state for many years, culminating in 1838 in a
neral state system of educational subsidies. Five years
er, such aid was discontinued. In others of the states
granting of state subsidies, in money or in lands, to sec~
dary and higher schools, was customary for many years.
r the most part, there is but little of system. or consistency
servable in the distribution of such aid; and the stateed institutions were not subjected to any sort of state
trol.

53]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

13

CHARACTER OF THE ACADEMIES

The type of secondary school which grew up under these
conditions d~ands closer consideration. The old academies we;e generally endowed institutions, organized under
the control of self-perpetuating boards of trustees or of
religious bodies. They were established for the most part
to serve the need of a wide constituency and not merely of
a single community. They were of ten located in small
country places. Many of them made provision f0'1- boarders
as well as for day pupils.
They were not intended in any especial or exclusive sense
·for the training of future members of the learned professions. Many of them, to be sure, as 'time went on, drew
near to the colleges and became known primarily as preparatory schools. In the western states, ;alleges were often
organized with preparatory schools attached to them, and
these preparatory schools were commonly called "academies." But such was not the earlier purpose· of the academies. They were largely schools for the middle cla.sses of
society, and sought to give a good middle grade of mstruction with only occasional or subordinate reference to college
pre~aration. They answered to a ·.growing desi~e after
learning for its own sake, or for the mcreased efficiency it
would,give in other than professional pursuits.
The training which they offered was regarqed as more
" practical " than that of the colleges. Their course of
instruction presented a wider range of studies than that of
the grammar schools ; not infrequently wider than that of the
coll~ges themselves. They laid new stress on the study ?f
the English language, together with its gram~ar, rh~ton.c,
and the art of public speaking. They gave mstruct10n m
various branches of mathematics, of ten including surveying
and navigation. They made important beginnings in the
pursuit of the natural sciences. Natural philosop,hy ~physics) was a favorite subject, of which astronomy const1tut~d
an important division. Geography was also taught ; and his-

-=

....

SECON DARY E DUCATION

1 55]

tory, especially the history of Greece and Rome and of the
United States. French was sometimes taught; more rarely
erman. In the better academies, the Latin and Greek
anguages still constituted the substantial core of the instrucion offered.
1

In the earlier days, the course of study in these schools
as. not well defined.. In some subjects, especially English,
atm, and mathematics, a good degree of continuity of
ork was apparently maintained. In others, classes were
or~ed at irregular periods. Many young men who were
bliged to labor on the farms during the rest of the year,
ould attend an academy during the winter term and the
rder of instructi~n would to some extent be arra~ged with
. fere?ce to their needs.
There was necessarily great
1vers1ty among the differe nt institutions, those in the same
ate or even in the same county presenting great differences.
hen finally definite courses of study were laid out they
ried in length from three to four or five years.
'
Parallel courses were offered. That including classical
udies and covering the required preparation for admission
· some college was commonly regarded as the standard
urs: of the school. Along with this might be found an
nglish course. At a later date, a scientific course was
ten provided in place of or in addition to the English
urse.
The religious character of these schools should be noted.
any o~ them were established by religious bodies. It
dunng the period which we have under consideration
t Catholic secondary schools began to appear in considble numbers. . These were for the most part established by
.sev~ral teach mg orders. The Society of Jesus founded
t1tut10ns of secondary and higher education in the United
tes after the revolutionary war. The Brothers of the
ristian Schools opened their first school in America at
n.treal, in I 838 ; and soon after set up establishments
hm the United States, at . Baltimore and New y ork.
ese were doubtless of elementary grade at the start; but

SECONDARY EDUCATIO!'f

15

the brethren extended their courses after a time to include
secondary studies. Many conve.n.t ual schools for girls were
also established, and it became no uncommon thing for them
to draw a large c~ientage from other· than Catholic families.
The academies established by Protestant bodies were in
some insta.n ces under direct ecclesiastical control; but more
frequently their formal connection with ecclesiastical societies
terminated with their. legal incorporation. They were, however, generally characterized by great moral earnestness, on
the part of both teachers and pupils; and many of them
were remarkable for the intensity of religi<5os life which
· they fostered. The religious instruction which they carried
on concerned itself for the most part with the broad underlying principles of Christianity, avoiding in large measure
the discussion of doctrines upon which the sects of Christendom are divided. .I t consisted mainly of lessons from the
King James version of the Bible - both the Old and the
New Testament. This was often supplemented by instruction in moral philosophy. Thus, the non-Catholic academies,
even such as had arisen from the initiative of religious societies tended toward the non-sectarian character which has
bee~ more fully exemplified in the public schools of later
times.
- The grammar schools had been exclusively for boys.
Such was the case with many of the academies. Others of
these schools were co-educational. With the increasing
interest in education for women, there grew up a large number of academies for girls, which were all too of ten weighed
down with the title of "fen:iale seminary." These two types
of secondary education for girls prepared the way for two
types · of institution of higher education, both of which
apReared in the fourth .decade of the nineteenth century,
viz., the co-e<;lucational college ·and the college for women
exclusively.
The academies aroused and ministered to a strong and
widespread desire for education. . They greatly broadened
the intellectual horizon of.families and communities. They

16

..

SECONDARY EDUCATION

reinforced the protest which was ansmg against the too
narrow curriculum of the American colleges. In many other
ways they rendered a timely and most efficient service in the
betterment of American thought and life.
One specific service must receive separate mention. In
the absence of special schools for the training of teachers,
the better elementary schools were for a long time in the
hands of teachers who had studied in the academies. In
New York and Pennsylvania, this service of the academies
received recognition at the hands of the state legislature.
Special classes were organized in these schools for instruction in the art of teaching. A seminary for teachers was
opened in connection with the Phillips academy at Andover.
When state normal schools began to be established, in Massachusetts in the year r 839, suggestions for their organization and .management were drawn from this seminary and
from the current practice of the academies.
THE HIGH SCHOOL MOVEMENT

In the early part of the nineteenth century, there appeared
in the several American states a strong demand for schools
under the exclusive control of the state government. Various
influences contributed to this sentiment. The Calvinistic
view of the civil power had apparently prepared the w<i;y
for state agency in education. The spirit which drove the
Jesuits from France and during the French revolution made
education a part of the program of democracy, roused an
answering spirit in America. The steadily advancing sepaation between church and state kept alive the question as to
he rel.ation of the schools to both. So far as the higher
ducat10n was concerned, it seemed to be the well-estab- ·
ished theory that the state should grant charters to coleges, authorizing them to manage their own affairs under
lose corporations, with incidental aid from the state in the
hape of gifts of land or money. And this had come to be
he prevalent method of meeting the demand for secondary
ducation. But the notion of higher institutions chiefly

157]
i

SECONDARY EDUCATION

17

supported and directly controlled by the state now began
to get abroad.
· The University of Virginia, under the guidance of Thomas
Jefferson, led t:he way to the realization of this idea. In New
Hampshire, the legislature undertook to transform Dartmouth
college into Dartmouth university, without the consent of the
college corporation. The attempt was frustrated by a decision of the United States supreme court. This decision was
of the utmost importance in the history of American education as well as of American jurisprudence. · It declared, in
effect that an institution founded and administered as was
Dart~outh college was a private corporation ; that the charter granted it by the sta!e was in the nature of a contract, and accordingly could not, under the constitution of
the United States, be altered by the legislature without the
consent of the board of trustees. This decision established
the inviolability of chartered rights. It thus gave security
and stability to all incorporated institutions ; it drew also a
sharp distinction between "public" and "private" institutions, and placed the most of the then existing higher and
secondary schools in the latter class. These schools served
a public purpose and were open to public resort. They were
in all but the legal sense public schools. But the clear definition of their legal status served to strengthen the .rising
demand for schools which should be public in every sense
of the word. The growth of cities and many other causes
combined to reinforce this demand.
The first step in the establishment of public secondary
schools to supplement or fill the place of the academies
was taken by the larger towns and municipalities, under
the .lead of Boston. The new institutions were .a direct outgrowth of the system of elementary schools. The course
of study in these schools was becoming better defined and
was slowly extending. In Boston, it was extended downward in the year 1818 to include primary schools in which
the first steps in reading were taken. The same system was
extended upward in 1821 by the establishment of an" Eng-

~

SECON DARY ED UCATIO N

sh classical school," which soon took the name of " English
igh school." The name seems to have been adopted in
itation of the high school of Edinburgh. There had been
r many years close intellectual sympathy between the Mas..
chusetts town and the Scotch capital. The new Boston
hool differed, however, in important particulars from its
amesake in' Edinburgh. The ancient languages were not
eluded in its curriculum. It did not employ the monirial method of instruction, then in vogue in Edinburgh.
ut the two schools were alike in this : that each was suprted and controlled by the municipality and was an object
municipal interest and pride.
The English high school was established-to meet the needs
the middle, and especially the commercial, classes. Its
urse of study was three years in length, embracing ,the
nglish language and literature, mathematics, navigation
d surveying, geography, natural philosophy (including
tronomy), history, logic, moral and political philosophy.
tin and modern languages -were added later, and the
urse extended to four years. Students were received into
e high school from the elementary schools of the city, but
re not at the first prepared in the high school for admisn to college. That was still the function of the Latin
hool. But with the addition of foreign languages to its
urse of study, the English high school has fitted its stu- ·
nts for admission to certain high er instit utions, and particuly to the Institute of Technology.
Boston was still a town when she set up her English
sical school, but became a city in the following year.
e new school was proposed by the school committee, and
approved by the people, assembled in town meeting.
her Massachusetts towns soon followed the lead of Boston
this matter. Philadelphia, in 1838, established the Cen1 high school, under special authorization from the Pennvania legislature. Baltimore followed, with the establishnt of a "city college." Providence opened a public high
ool in 1843. Hartford, in 1847, transformed her old

SECONDARY EDUCATION

grammar school into a school of the newer type. N ~w York
opened a " free academy" in 1848, the name of which was
afterwards changed to" the College of the Cit~ of New: ork."
This school was established in accordance with a special act
of the state legislature, ratified by vote of the people of the
city. Other high schools sprang up in various parts of the
country before the year 1850-in Connecticut, in Ne:V York,
in Ohio. Since that time the movement has steadily continued until now the~e schools are found in every state in
the u~ion, in cities, in smaller towns, and even occasionally in thickly populated country districts.
The zeal of communities in the ,establishment of · these
schools not infrequently outran the express provision of state
school laws. But the movement encountered hostility from
various sources, notably fro~ those who regarded the
academy as the final or best solution of the problem of public secondary education, and from those who were opposed
on principle to the recognition of secondary education as a
proper field for governmental agency. The legal questions
involved in this latter contention were brought to a settlement in the supreme court of Michigan, in what is commonly known as the "Kalamazoo case." The decision o_f
the court in this case was prepared by one of the -most eminent of American jurists. It was summed up in the words,
"Neither in our state policy, in our constitution, nor in our
laws do we find the primary school districts restricted in the
branches of knowledge which their officers may cause to be
taught, or the grade of instruction that may be given, if th~ir
voters consent, in regular form, to bear the expense and raise
the taxes for the purpose."
This case not only---settled the question which it raised
within: the territorial limits of the state of Michigan. It
settled also the ·general policy of the American commonwealths in this matter. The opinion of the court, in its
ample setting-forth, made clear the fact that American
thought and purpose were moving steadily toward a complete system of education, under full public control, its

20

SECONDARY EDUCATION

[160

several parts well knit together so as to form an organic
whole.
But in several of the states the people were not left to
ork out the problem of secondary education in the isolaion of scattered communities. In these states, well ordered
ystems of secondary schools were established by statute.
.s early as l 798, Connecticut authorized the opening of
1gher schools by the local authorities ("school societies .").
n Massachusetts, the law requiring grammar schools in the
owns ~as so far weakened, in 1824, that towns having a
opulat10n of less than 5,000 were allowed to substitute
herefor an elementary school, if the · people should so
etermine by vote at a public election. This marks the Iowst ebb of public school sentiment in the Bay state - at
ast so far as secondary education was concerned. The
cademies were then at the height of their prosperity. But
o years later the return movement set in. It was enacted
at every town having five hundred families should provide
master ~o give instruction in history of the United States,
ookkeepmg, geometry, surveying and algebra ; and every
wn having four thousand inhabitants, a master capable of
iving instruction in Latin and Greek, history, rhetoric, and
gic. The young state of Iowa adopted a provision in
49 expressly permitting the adding of higher grades to.
e public schools; and in l 8 58 authorized the establishent of county high schools. In New York, the systematic
ading of the schools went steadily forward; and the
ca~emic departments " of these schools, corresponding to
e high schools of other states, formed a part of the unirsity of the state of New York and received financial aid
m the literature fund. In Maryland, the county acadeies, which had displaced the grammar schools of colonial
ys, continued for many years to receive financial aid from
e state, and only in comparatively recent times were
rged into a state system of high schools.
Other important state establishments have taken shape at
recent a date that they will be described later under the
count of present-day systems of schools.

161]

/

SECONDARY EDUCATION

21

THE OLD AND THE NEW

We have seen~ that by the middle of the nineteenth cen, tury a great change had come over secondary education · in
the United States. Two aspects of the new order of things
are worthy of note: First, the position in which it placed
the old academies; secondly, the tendency which it marked
toward a closing up of gaps in the system of public
instruction.
The academies had long been the ordinary and accepted
agency for secondary education. They had provided a
general training for the great body of students. They had
also drawn near to the colleges, and now prepared a large
proportion of the candidates for admission to the freshman class.
Private schools had grown up which paid
especial attention to fitting boys for coll.ege ; and from the
earliest times many had received such preparation at the
hands of private tutors, and particularly under the personal
direction of clergymen. But the academies were now par
excellence the preparatory schools of the country. The
growth of high schools had taken away from them the c~ar­
acter of the ordinary provision for secondary educat10n.
Many of them declined as the high schools adv~nced ; many
were given over to the communitii!s in which they were conducted and became high schools, under public management.
Those that survived laid more and more stress on their function of preparing for college. A go-?dly number of the~e
are stronger now than ever before ; and new schools· of this
type are founded from time to time. In recent years the
increase of wealth, the rise of new social distinctions, dissatisfaction with the colorless religious character of the
hig.h schools, and many other causes, have caused a new
demand for such schools to arise. They prepare for college, but do not in general look upon t~is ~s. their. sole
function. They · are recognized as const1tutmg a highly
important part of American provision for public education.
While the high schools are .for day pupils only, the acade-'

22

SECONDARY EDUCATION

mies are generally boarding schools. They afford favorable
~round for the deep rooting and vigorous growth of tradit10ns of cuhure and scholarship. The more famous of them
dra~ student~ from long distances, and accordingly exercise
a w1despead mfluence upon American educational standards
Th~ high schools, on the other hand, are an evidence of
he w1~espread desire in America for complete systems of
ducat10n_ under_ public management. The impulse which
esulted m their establishment is closely related to that
hich, especially in the southern and western states led to
he founding of state universities. The organic co~nection
etween the high schools and schools of elementary grade
as already been not.ed. At the first there was a recognized
ap ?etween the h_1gh ~chools and institutions of higher
earnmg. The earliest high schools were intended specifially for those who were not preparing for college. But
here soon ap?~ared a disposition on the part of the public
':h~ol ~uthont1es to close up this gap. Studies regarded as
1stmct1vely preparatory to college were from time to time
troduced into high school courses. Of these Greek
ad and still has the most precarious hold upo~ public
vor. Yet there were and still are even small communies remote from the great centers of wealth and learning
_here Greek has an assured and honored place in th~.
1gh school curriculum.
A CONTINUOUS SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

It .should be stated here that well-established American
age now r~co?'nizes three consecutive stages of instruction,
mmonly d1stnbuted as follows : Eight years are assigned
the elementary school ; four years to the high school or
ademy, following directly upon the elementary course.
d the four years next following to the college, which offer~
_ally the bachelor's degree. The whole course from the
tmary school to the first degree is accordingly sixteen
ars in length. It should be noted, however, that there is
growing disposition to recognize the first two years of the

SECONDARY EDUCATION

,,..,

•;,

college course as offering instruction which is essentially of
secondary grade. And there is also a growing demand for
the introduction of secondary studies and secondary methods
into the upper grades of the elementary school course.
The tendency of public high schools to assume the function of preparation for college met with strong opposition.
It was claimed that this service could best be rendered by
special schools~ conducted for .that express purpose. The
discussion of this question has brought out two contrasting
ideals of American life, ·and has shown more clearly the
nature of the movement which called the high school into
being.
The colonial period was a time in which distinctions of
rank were still fairly well defined in American society.
The higher schools of that time, intended especially for the
ruling class, had no organic connection with the lower
schools. The secondary schools were a part of the · higher
system, and had little or nothing to do with the lower.
The first fifty years or more of independence was a time
of readjustment. The earlier system of social levels was
gradually transformed into a continuous series of gradations. Society became an inclined plane, as it were, with
free and open passage up and down the scale. Every school
child was taught to consider himself as started on a way
which might lead to the highest places.
It seems inevitable that public education should in turn
have been influenced by the sentiments which it had helped
to form. An unlimited system of public schools was necessary to the realization of the unlimited aspiration of the
people. The prevalent instinct slowly rose to a conscious
determination that there should be no cul-de-sac in the educati.onal systems of the republic.
THE SCHOOLS AND THE COLLEGES

Even when the high schools had begun to prepare their
more favored students for college, the connection between
the secondary and the higher institutions was not so close a.s

SECONDARY EDUCATION

SECONDARY F.DU CATlON

as desired. In some of the leading states of the east, the .
hief, or indeed the only, provision for higher education was
institutions managed by private corporations. In many
f the newer states, there were growing up universities under . '
ll ·state control. But these universities were supported out
~ funds separate from those devoted to the common schools
d were controlled by separate administrative boards. Th~
quirements for admission to college were determined by
e college faculties, with only incidental reference to. the
' rely educational problems confronting the secondary
h0ols. The fitness of candidates for admission was deterined by an examination, conducted at the college, by cole instructors, and covering the requirements which the
llege had prescribed.
This system, to be sure, possessed great ~dvantages. It
mpelled all schools which undertook preparation for a
en college to come up to a definite scholastic standard
posed from without. It exercised no authority over the
ools, but exerted an influence which a preparatory school
Id not escape. Besides, the standard set for classes preing for college had an indirect influence on classes in the
e .school which were pursuing other lines of study. So
most powerful single agency affecting the course and the
thods of instruction in the better high schools, as in the
demies, was for many years the entrance examinations of
several colleges.
ut there were evils attendant upon this system. When
excellence of a four-year course of school instruction was
e tested by a single examination at the end of the course
his examination being conducted by the instructors in
ther, and often a remote institution, with sole reference
he plans and purposes of that institution,- it was inevie that the lower school should become merely tributary
~l essential particulars to the higher. The college exam1on became the chief end and aim of much of the work
ur secondary schools. There appeared a marked teny to substitute a cramming process for real educational

•

procedure. Teachers in secondary schools were too largely
turned aside from independent investigation of the essential problems of secondary education, to the mor: p~tty
inquiry int.a the exact nature of the entrance exammat~ons
·at certain colleges. It was clear that such a state of thmgs
did not answer to the organic continuity of instruction which
American social conditions seemed to demand.
The attempt to correct this evil has taken several different
directions. Some of th~ most interesting movements affect- ,,,.: :._//'
ing our secondary education within the pas~ three d:cades (k:.1
have had this origin. . How may a more vital relat10n be
established between secondary schools and colleges, which
shall conserve the highest educational interests of both?
Such is the general question for which a solution has been
sought.
THE '' ACCREDITING SYSTEM :•

One of the earliest and most noteworthy attempts at its
solution is the so-called accrediting system, introduced by the
University of Michigan in 1871. Under this system, the
university admits to its freshman class, without examination,
such graduates of approved secondary schools a.s a:e especially recommended for that purpose by the pnnc1pals of
those schools. This system has met with. great favor and
has had widespread application. The United States commissioner of education reported in 1896, that there were
then 42 state universities and agricultural and mechanical
colleges, and about 1 50 other institutions in which it had
been adopted. It depends upon a purely voluntary agreement between the secondary schools and the higher institu- ·
tions. The college or university satisfies itself that the
secondary school ·applying for such recognition is properly
taught. Usually a committee of the. faculty is sent to
inspect the school, and the school agrees to submi.t it~e.lf to
such inspection. It is the school rather than the md1v1dual
that is examined ; and the inquiry relates chiefly to the vitality, intelligence, and general effectiveness of the instruction.

2()

SECONDARY EDUCATION

[166

Hardly any two institutions follow exactly the same
method in the practice of accrediting schools. The Michigan system provides for inspection of each school by a com- ·
mittee of the faculty, consisting of one or two membel.
On a favorable report from this committee the school is
accredited for one, two, or three years, according to the
degree of established excellence which it presents. With .
the spread of the system to other institutions, it has differ.1
entiated on the one hand in the direction of a more frequent
and thorough-going inspection of the schools, and on the
other hand in the direction of less thorough inspection or
none at all. Perhaps the lowest outcome of this differentiation is represented by the ·announcement of the authorities
of one college that " Students bearing the personal certificates of a former teacher, concerning studies satisactorily
completed, will be given credit for the work they have
done."
On the other hand, the highest grade of efficiency in
university inspection is found in such a system as that maintained by the University of California. Here the accrediting of schools is in the charge of a committee of the
academic senate, representing the chief departments of
instruction. All secondary schools within the state which
apply for accrediting - public high schools, private schools,
and institutions under corporate or ecclesiastical management - are visited each year under the direction of this
committee by several members of the teaching force of the
university. A given school is commonly so visited and
inspected in the course of each year by instructors from
each of the university departments of English, Latin, history, mathematics, and physics. In some instances, the
departments of Greek, modern languages, chemistry, and the
biological sciences, or any one or more of them, may be ·
added to the list. In other cases, the visitor from the
department of English, for example, may, by special arrangement, examine the school for the Latin department; and
other economical combinations are made from time to time.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

The heads of departments visit · many schools in person ;
university instructors of various subordinate grades share in
this labor; but so far as possible the assignment to such
duty is limited-to persons of considerable scholastic experience, and experience as a teacher in secondary schools is
regarded as a qualification of no small importance. The
men who go out for the purpose of such visitation are at
the time engaged in ordinary university instruction. The
loss to their classes from the interruptions to continuous
work which their occasional absence must cause, is minimized by various devices. The expense of the visitation is
borne by the university. A school may be "accredited"
without a favorable report in all subjects, but the report
must be favorable in a sufficient number of lines to indicate
that the school is a real educational institution. Superior
excellence in a single isolated department is not regarded
as constituting a claim to a place on the university list.
The purpose of a well-considered accrediting system is not
primarily to provide a means whereby applicants for admission to college may escape a dreaded examination. It is
rather to encourage and build up strong and efficient
schools of secondary grade. This result the system has
undoubtedly tended to bring about. It has drawn our secondary and higher grades of instruction into closer articulation and sympathy one with the other. It has tended to
release the teachers in secondary schools from the domination of merely formal examination requirements, and has
turned their attention to vital matters in the domain of
education.
On the other hand, the system has had and still has
serious disadvantages. It tends to foster a too prevalent
disposition to dispense with or evade all .tests of accurate
scholarship in the shape of definite examinations. It
entails a heavy burden upon the higher institution ; it
demands large expenditures of money and of the time of
university instructors. In the University of California, the
actual cost in money for the tr:weling expenses of the inspe(;-

SECONDARY EDUCATION

[168

tors is about equal to the salary of an assistant professor.
The aggregate of the time required each year by all dep¥tments for the purposes of the examination of schools is not
far from three full academic years. Counting the average
salary of the inspectors as that of an associate professor, we
have here an approximate total cost for services and traveling expenses of between $8,ooo and $9,ooo annually. It is,
moreover, impossible so to conduct the inspection that all
departments of all schools shall be tried by uniform or even
consistent standards of excellence. Nor does the accrediting
system wholly obviate the evil of subjecting the secondary
schools to tests and influences somewhat foreign to the real
purposes of secondary education. It cannot be regarded
and is not generally regarded as a final solution of the problem with which it deals. But it marks a very great advance
toward that end; and it is safe to say that its present advantages greatly outweigh its obvious disadvantages.
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONS

Parallel with the later development of the accrediting sysem, there have grown up important voluntary associations
f instructors, in which representatives of the colleges meet
ith representatives of the secondary schools for the discusion of topics of common interest. The parent society o.f
his sort is the New England association of colleg~ and
reparatory schools, organized at Boston in 1885. ·The
bject of this association was declared to be, "The estabishment of mutually sympathetic and helpful relations
etween the faculties of the colleges represented and the
eachers of the preparatory schools, and the suggestion to
hat end of practical measures and methods of work which
hall strengthen both classes of institutious by bringing
hem into effective harmony."
, This organization grew out of a previously existing state
sociation of secondary school teachers in Massachusetts.
t in turn prompted the establishment of the commission of
alleges in New England on admission examinations. This

SECONDARY EDUCATION

' commission, formed by agreement . among the several New
England colleges, and · possessing no authority, has by its
recommendations done much to unify the · requirements for
college matriculation. Its most notable achievement has
beeJ the mapping out of requirements in the English language and literature. It has made important recommendations also with reference to courses in the ancient classics
and the modern languages.
The example of New England has been followed by other
sections of the country. The association of colleges and
preparatory schools in the middle states and Maryland_ca:ne
into existence in 1892, growing out of the college assoc1at10n
of Pennsylvania, established five years earlier. The north
central association of colleges and secondary schools was
formed at Evanston, Illinois, in 1895; and the association of
colleges and preparatory schools of the southern states: at
Atlanta, Georgia, later in the same year. State orgamzations somewhat similar in character are found in a number
of the states, as in New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado,
Michigan, and both Dakotas.
These various societies, through their discussions and recommendations, have exercised a vast influence upon the
development of our secondary education.
THE COMMITTEE OF TEN ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDIES

But the chief landmark in the recent history of this grade
of school is the work of the committee on secondary school
studies, appointed by the National educational association
, in 1892, and commonly known as the "committee. of. ten."
This committee was the outcome of a movement w1thm the
national association in the direction of uniformity of college entrance requirements. Its chairman ~as the ~resident
of Harvard university. In its membership were mcluded
the United States commissioner of education and some of
the foremost representatives of both secondary and higher
education in America. Not limiting itself to the mechanical
adjustment of relations between the high school and the col-

::>,t!;CUNDARY EDUCATION

c~oice of studies. With reference to requirements for admiss10n to. college, the committee recommend "that the coll es
a.nd scientific s~hools of the country should accept for ad!iss10n to appropriate courses of their instruction the attainments of any youth who has passed creditably through a
goo.cl secondary school course, no matter to what group of
subjects he may have mainly devoted himself in the seconda.ry school." Describing more exactly what might be considered "a good se~ondary school course " for this purpose,
they propose tha.t 1t shall · consist of any group of studies
from those considered by the sub-committees, "provided
that. the sum of :he studies in .each of the four years amounts
to sixteen, or eighteen, or twenty periods a week,- as may
be thought best,- and provided, further, that in each year
at least four of the subjects presented shall have been pursued at. least three periods a week, and that at least three of
the s~bjects shall have been pursued three years or more."
This report called forth a very active discussion, which has
not. ye.t come to an end. The definite courses of study
which it sug.ge~ted have not been widely adopted; nor have
college adm1ss10n requirements been made uniform in the
manner which it proposed. But its influence has been far.r eaching and, in the main, highly beneficial.
THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM

Since. the early days of the academies, it has been customary in many schools to offer alternative courses · one of
them classical, the other "modern." Other optio~s have
been added from time to time, so that now a large school
~mi:ionly offers several parallel courses. But especially
1thin the las.t twenty years, there has appeared a strong
emand that instead of a choice of courses the students be
ffered a w~de range of choice in particular subjects.
Several influences have combined to bring about this
emand. The general adoption of an elective system in
he colleges may be mentioned. Teachers have objected to
lose prescription in high schools when freedom is increasing

I

73]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

33

in the higher institutions. The conviction that the secondary
schools should not be merely tributary to the colleges is gaining ground. What is good education in the high school, it is
maintained, is good preparation for the higher schools. The
independence of the secondary school carries with it independent responsibility for the supply of the actual educational needs of the youth attending such a school. And the
students in the high schools are thought to have reached the
stage of differentiation of educational needs. T?e n:ed of
the state, moreover, which education must satisfy, is the
need of full spiritual unity underlying the utmost diversity
of talent and culture. The elementary schools, with their
single course of study, are conservators of spiritual unity.
The secondary schools can and ought to serve a different
purpose. Their instructio!1 should be adapted to t~e cultivation of the diverse talents of the youth enrolled m them.
No two students have exactly the same aptitudes; so far as
possible, every student should pursue a different course of
instruction from every other student.
It will be seen that one tendency of this doctrine is to
substitute a quantitative for a qualitative consideration of
the curriculum. The most diverse subjects are held to be
equivalent for the purpose~ of general culture, if p~~sued for
equal periods of time under equally favorable cond1t10~s. A
high school curriculum, under this system, would ~ons1st of a
fixed number of units of study, to be chosen at will from the
whole number of studies taught in the school. Certain utterances of the committee of ten have tended to strengthen
this quantitative view of the curriculum. It has received
" · reinforcement, also, from some prominent institutions of
higher instruction, as the Indiana and the ~e~and .st~n­
ford Junior universities, which have stated their adm1ss10n
requirements for the most part in quantitative terms.
In the attempt to reduce this doctrine to practice, certain modifications necessarily enter. The choice of studies
cannot be left simply to the immature pupil. He must have
the advice of parents or guardians, and particularly the

::.t.

___\ 1' Y

--~··'

v-.:ATlv"

.-Ll74

advice of the principal of the school. Even if other subjects may be given over to absolute freedom of election,
studies in English are found to be indispensable in every
course. Little by little, other· subjects are acknowledged to
be essential; until it appears that there is little difference in
practical working between a system of parallel courses rendered flexible by the allowing of occasional substitutions, and
'an adequately supervised elective system. The committee
of ten enunciated an important regulative principle in proposing that each secondary school curriculum should provide .
an outlook into the several domains of language, mathemati~s,
istory, and natural science. From whichever side the probem of the course of study is approached, the discussions seem
o tend toward a requirement in each of several broad fields
f knowledge, together with large freedom in the choice of
articular subjects within those fields.
COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

The latest attempt at an adjustment of the relations of
condary schools and colleges, to the educational advantage
f both, is contained in the report of the committee on colge entrance requirements. It seems not unlikely that this
port may be more fruitful of tangible results than any of the
pers relating to the same subj ect which have preceded it.
In 1895, the National educational association, through its·
partments of secondary education and higher education,
pointed a committee to consider the specific question of
e unification of college entrance requirements. This comittee, as finally constituted, consisted of fourteen members,
resenting the high schools and universities of different
tions of the country, under the chairmanship of the
erintendent of high schools of the city of Chicago. The
t important service rendered by the committee was the
paration and publication of a table showing the actual
ance requirements of sixty-seven representative colleges, .
';versities, and higher technical schools in the United
tes:

SECONDARY EDUCATION

175]

35

The committee's final report was pr~se~ted. at the meeting of the National educational association m July, 18?9·
This report is mainly devoted to the attem~t to estabh~h
"national units, or norms," in the several subjects taught m
the secondary schools as preparatory to the college co.urse.
The fundamental problem, in the language of the committee,
"is to fo rmulate courses of study in each of the several su~­
jects of the curriculum. which ~h~ll be substa~tially equal. m
value the measure· of value bemg both quantity and quality
of w;rk done. It is not to be expected, nor is it des~red, that
11 colleges should make the same entrance requirements,
~or is it to be expected that all schools will have the same
program of studies. What is to be desired, and what t~e
committee hopes may become true, is that the c~lleges ':ill
state their entrance requirements in terms of n~t10nal umts,
or norms, and that the schools will build up their program of
studies out of the units furnished by these se~arate :ourses
" This hope is reinforced by experience with colo f s t u d y.
.
.
.
. h'
lege entrance requirements in English, which have wit m
the past few years become nearly uniform _throughout
the country, on the basis of the recommendations o_f ~he
commission of colleges in New England on admission
examinations.
In the determination of these norms, the committee
received assistance from several bodies of expert sch~lars
in the several branches of instruction. The ~meric~n
philological association proposed courses of study m Latm
and Greek. The modern language association of America
rendered a like service with reference ~o the F~en.ch and
German languages. The American historical asso.ciat10n ~nd
the Chicago section of the American mathem~tical society
reported on courses in histor! and ~athematics .. And the
department of natural-science mstruction of t.he nat10n~l educational association presented recommendations relatmg. to
physical geography, chemistry, botany, zool~gy, an_d physics.
These several supplemental papers are pubhsh~d m connection with the committee's report. The committee express
0

SECONDARY EDUCATION

general approval of th~ courses recommended in . these
papers, suggest some slight modifications, and offer an
mdependent report on the subject of English. Their·
further recommendations are summed up in fourteen resolutions, o~ w?ich the following seem to be of the greatest
·general significance :
I. That the principle of election be recognized in second.ary schools.
IV. That we favor a unified six-year high school ~ourse
of study beginning with the seventh grade.
VI. That while the committee recognizes as suitable for
reco~mendation by the colleges for admission the several
s~ud1es enui:ue:ated in this report, and while it also recognizes the pnnc1ple of large liberty to the students in secondary s~hools, it does not believe in unlimited election but
especially emphasizes the importance of a certain number o.f
constants in all secondary schools and in all requirements
for admission to college.
That the committee recommends that the number of contants ~e r:cognized in the following proportion, namely :
our units m. foreign languages (no language accepted in less
han_ tw~ units), two units in mathematics, two in English,
ne m history, and one in science.
XII. That we recommend that any piece of work comrehended within the studies included in this report that ha~
overed at least one year of four periods a week in a wellquipped secondary school, under competent instruction
hould be considered worthy to count toward . admission t~
ollege.
1:he committee disclaim any implication that different
ubject_s ~a~ be regarded as educationally equivalent. "This
ro?os1tion [resolution XI I], they say, "does not involve
f itself, necessarily, the idea that all subjects are of equal
ltural or dis_ciplinary value, * * * yet the advantages .
. our educational system of the adoption of this principle
ill be ·so great as far to outweigh any incidental disadvange which may accrue from accepting as of equal value for

I

77]

· SECONDARY EDUCATION

37

college purposes the more or less unequal values represented
by these studies."
COURSES OF STUDY

The actual courses of study in our secondary schools show
great diversity. There is here, as in other portions of the
American educational system, no semblance of national control. There are but "few states if any where the course of
study is prescribed by state authority. This matter is generally left to the discretion of municipal or district boards of
education. Yet the differences between neighboring schools,
or between the schools of different sections of the country, are
not so great as one might suppose. Owing to the extensive
circulation of all sorts of educational publications, and the
frequent meeting of teachers orie with another in educational conventions, there is a surprising approach toward
uniformity in the educational provisions found in all parts of
the country. Even the poorer and more backward sections
are often found striving consciously and earnestly after the
ideals proposed by more favored di::.tricts. High schools
may be found having courses ranging all the way from one
to six years in length ; but the four-year course is the generally recognized standard. Twenty years ago, it was common to find courses weighed down with a large number of
subjects, many of them pursued for only a fraction of a year.
This was notably true of subjects in natural science; but it
is true to a much less extent at the present day. In spite of
all assaults made upon the classical studies, they are apparently growing in favor. It would perhaps be fair to say
that in many of the better schools, public as well as private,
the classical course is commonly regarded as the standard,
from which the other courses pursued in the same school are
looked upon as variants. But the classical course now commonly includes one or two years of natural science.
The courses given below represent three different types
of school:
I. Courses in Phillips academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
- an incorporated and endowed boarding school for boys.

.3b

[The figures in the columns indicate the number f
. .
.
devoted to the several subi'ects
L"
•
o r~c1tat1on periods a .week
.
r igures in parentheses l d.
t h
for which they stand are a lternati ve with o th ers in
. the same
n icacolumn
et at.]the subjects

CLASSICAL COURSE
H
H
H

SCIENTIFIC COURSE

H
H

u
"'"'

."'"'
"'
-u- u __ _ _,___
"'"'

u"'

- --

English . . ..... .
Latin .... . . ... .
Greek. .... . .. .
French ....... .
German
Algebra·: : : : : : ~
Geometry . . ... .
History ... . .. .
Natural Science.
Chemistry . . .
Botany...... .

4

6

2

2

5

5
5

4
(4)
(4)
2

2

2

4
6

rn

4

~4)

4)
3
3

2

2

2

2

3
2

P'l

<

"'"'

u"'

"'"'
G

2
(2)

-5~]~
s c: ....

.....
(2)
(2)

3
3
4

..

nl

•w

~~-5::

.,,..c:: e ~
] ;t~§;:.~

· ~~~~sh .. ... ....... . .......... .
Mathe~a.tl~;

. ···· ·········· ···
History . .. . . :: : : :::. : : ::: ··
Natural science .............
· · · .· ·. ·.

5
5
5
5

5
5
5
5

Third
year

5
5

5
5

Class V

3

3
5

Class IV Class Ill \ Class II

Class I

-------'--I

"111"btlll'I

u e o >~~ gc;-a

111

:i :i

o o"'O

~ "'-~~;

~.s.:
g, o ....~~
0

~ u c: it:

c:
WI._. o nl o
~~-.:::~ ~

LATIN SCIENTIFIC COURSE

Second
year

Class VI

"1.!::

2. Courses recommended for the high schools of Minnesota by the state high school board.

First
year

German for Latin.
Classical Course: as above, substituting Greek grammar
and Anabasis for equivalents.
Engli'sh Course: as above, substituting for Latin four
credits chosen from botany, physiography, bookkeeping,
civics, history, political economy, and senior common
branches.
3. Course for Public Latin school, Boston, Massachusetts:

II.I

(4)
(2)

Literary Course: as ab(;>Ve, substituting four years of

._ ... u 0

2
2

39

SECONDARY EDUCATION

[178

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Fourth
year

5
5
5

5

In La~in, first year, grammar; second year, c~sar. third
year, Cicero; fourth year, Virgil. In mathematic~ first
yet~ algebra ; second year, plane geometry . fourth' year
so 1 geometry and higher algebra. In natur;l scien.ce, firs~
yhear, .zoology or botany ; third year, physics . fourth .
c em1stry. .
•
year,

English . .. . .' ....
Latin .. . ..... ...
Greek .... . ......
French ..........
German .. ·.... . .. .
Arithmetic . •.....
Algebra .........
Geometry ....... .
History .. .. ......
Geography .....
Physics . .. .... ...
Gymnastics .... ..
Military Drill .. ..

.5

4 [SJ

4

3

3

3

5
5

7 [4]

. 4

[4]
[3]

5
3

2

4 [31

3

3

2

2

3
3

3
3

2

2

2

..

3
4

5
5
4

I

.4
2

2

2

2

The brackets indicate an assignment of hours for the
spring ·term which differs from that in the same subjects
for the remainder of the year. Botany, · physiology and
hygiene are studied during the spring term in the hours
assigned to geography in the table. Objective geometry is
studied in connection with arithmetic in classes VI and V.
Plane geometry is begun in the hours assigned to algebra in
class I I.

DIFFERENTIATION OF SCHOOLS

The differentia_tion which appears everywher~ in our secondary education is not limited to the diversifying of studies
within the several schools; it appears also in the erection of
special schools for special classes of students. In the first
place, we may note the provision for separate schooling of

C.--~··DAR,

.i:.uUCATlUN

boys and girls. The grammar schools of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries were for boys alone. A number of
the old academies were co-educational. Early in the nineteenth century, academies for girls exclusively were established, and large numbers 6£ such schools ha~e flourished
down to the present day. A public high school for girls was·
established at Boston in 1826, but it was short-lived, owing
to the large expense which it entailed. At Providence,
Rhode Island, in 1843, a co-educational high school was
opened; and the most of the high schools established since
that time have been for both sexes.
The report of the United States commissioner of education for 1896-97 showed a total of 5, 109 public high schools
in the whole country, of which 35 were for boys only, 26 for
girls only, and the remainde r co-educational. The same
report showed a total of 2, 100 private high schools, academies, etc., of which 351 were for boys only, 537 for girls
only, and 1, 2 1 2 co-educational.
Another special type of school, the evening high school,
has been established in a number of our larger cities. These
schools have offered very elastic courses of study, suited to
the varied needs of their clie ntage ; and have been a great
boon to many who have been obliged to work by day after
the completion of an elementary school course.
In the northern and western states, white and colored
students, where there are colored students of secondary
grade, commonly attend the same schools. In the southern
states, separate schools are provided for those of African
race. The report of the commissioner of education for
I 896-97 showed 169 schools in the United States for the
secondary and higher education of colored youth exclusively.
In many of these schools both grades of instruction were
provided in the same institution. About 20 of the number
ere public high schools. The remainder were private or
enominational institutions. In these 169 schools, 15,203
olored students were receiving instruction of secondary

SECONDARY EDUCATION

41

The European manual training exhibits at the ce~tennial
exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876, gave a strong impetus
to a movement already begun toward the establishment of
manual training schools in American cities. St. Louis took
a step forward, in 1879, in the establishment of such a school .
in connection with Washington university. Within a few
years, similar schools were established, some under p:ivate
and some under public control, in Baltimore, Chicago,
Toledo, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities. In these
schools, the idea of manual training for the purposes of
general culture was usually uppermost, their projectors disclaiming any intention of establishing s<;:hools for the teaching of trades.
More recently trade schools have been
established in the largest cities, but for the most part under
private initiative and control.
.
.
.
The commercial spirit of this country finds expression m
the frequent appearance of such subjects as bookkeeping
and commercial arithmetic in general courses of study.
Special schools for distinctively commercial training are
u~ually private ventures. These are found in great numbers
in all parts of the country, generally going by the name of
"commercial college" or "business college." In 1896-97,
the commissioner of education presented re;iorts from 341
such schools, with 77, 746 students in attendance. Within
the past decade there has been a growing demand for public
commercial high schools in the larger cities. Thus far, co~­
paratively slight provision has been made to n:ee~ this
demand but there is reason to expect that there will m the
near fut~re be a considerable expansion of our public education on this side. .The business high school in Washington,
D. C., may be mentioned as one illustration of the serious
interest which has begun to appear in this side of secondary
instruction.
• The recognition of the importance and need of purely
vocational schools of secondary grade puts a new aspect on
the problem of the school curriculum. · As ha~ been sh~wn,
Americans are loath to recognize any necessity of a bifur-

::;m.;uNDAl<Y

1rnUCATION

cation of courses, such that the student taking one road
finds the way open to indefinite advancement in higher
studies, while one taking the other alternative finds a definite limit a little way before him. We have commonly failed
to recognize the need of turning aside at some point, early or
late, to master a distinct occupation in life. We have been
willing to sacrifice expertness in one's calling to the hope
of unli~ited progress in higher culture. With the growing
interest in technical training of a commercial or mechanical
sort, there appears a set of difficult problems. A purely
vocational course in a trade school presents no educational
outlook beyond the mastery of the trade. If a final choice
must be made between the highway of learning and the
cul-de-sac, how shall it be so far postponed as to give to
each pupil his full share of general culture, without reducing unduly his chance of full preparation for his life work?
Still more difficult are the questions relating to certain semivocational CO!-Jrses, such as those of the manual training high
school. The tendency is to regard these as primarily courses
for general culture, with an outlook into the college or the
higher scientific school. It is possible that at times their
service as preparatory to the mastery of certain trades has
been somewhat obscured in this view. But questions such
as these are still before us for settlement.
THE STUDY OF ADOLESCENCE

One movement should be mentioned which is part cause
and part result of the increased attention which is now paid
to problems of secondary education, in themselves considered. Reference is made to the study of the several aspects
of adolescence, as a stage in the mental development of individuals. Secondary education being essentially the education of adolescents, whatever throws light upon the peculiar
psychology and natural history of this period of youth is of
value to the educator. Many studies of particular phases
of adolescent development have been made within the past
few years, under the stimulus of investigations begun at

SECONDARY EDUCATION

43

Clark university. These studies are as yet fragmentary ;
and they cannot be said to have led to well-defined reforms.
Yet their influence has been manifest in the general tone
and spirit of secondary education. They have prompted to
a more sympathetic treatment of our youth in thei1· time of
spiritual reconstruction ; to a better appreciation of the difficulties attending the passage from the intellectual dependence of childhood to the individual convictions of manhood
and womanhood. They have led to a more careful observation of individual differences of development, and have
strengthened the demand for greater freedom in both
courses and methods of instruction. Such results warrant
the hope that further researches in this field may lead to
generalized knowledge of the needs and aptitudes of youth,
which will be ot the highest significance in educational
f
•
practice.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

Methods of instruction in all secondary school subjects
have been profoundly influenced of late from the side of
the natural sciences. Laboratories have become common
in high schools and academies. College entrance requirements have· been extended to include laboratory work in
physics, and, in some instances, in chemistry or in the biological sciences. In Massachusetts, in 1897, it was reported that
66 high schools were provided with good laboratory facilities, 80 had fair or limited facilities, and 98 had poor facilities
or none.
In these laboratories, students perform representative
experiments in the science they are pursuing, under the guidance and subject to the criticism of the instructor. These
experiments are commonly regarded as illustrative of or preparatory to the statement of principles in · a text-book. The
"method of re-discovery" has influenced the practice of the
s&ools ; yet there are probably few school laboratories in
which the students are expected to re-discover on their own
account the laws of physics or chemistry, or of any other
of the sciences. · A · fine blending ·of discovery, verification,

SECONlJAR Y EDUCATION

and correction seems to be the ideal of our best teachers of
natural science. Much stress is laid on the accurate recording of observations and experiments. The students' note-.
books serve as one of the chief tests of the excellence of
their work.
This is different from the prevailing method of a generation ago : the text-book was then the main reliance in school
instruction, even for classes in the natural sciences. ·
The lecture system has never occupied a large place in
our secondary schools. Clearness of exposition has always
been, and will doubtless always be an important element in a
teacher's equipment for teaching. Skillful instructors have at
all times exercised themselves to help their pupils over difficulties in such manner as would prepare them to surmount
future difficulties for themselves. And we read of old-time
masters who were famous for their ability to ask searching
and stimulating questions. But set lectures have not found
favor here. Oral and written recitations by students, on the
other hand, fill a large place in the work of our schools.
The recent extension of laboratory exercises, together
with the proportionate reduction of text-book study, represents a notable change of view as to the function of instruction in general. We find accordingly that a like change
appears in the treatment of other branches than the natural
sciences. The attempt ·is now made to put the student in
touch with first-hand materials of knowledge ; and to guide
and stimulate him to the end of making over these crude
facts into real knowledge for himself. This procedure seeks
to give full recognition to both the ideal and the sensuous elements in knowledge ; and it indicates some appreciation of
the fact that the ideal element to be truly ideal must be supplied by the active agency of the student's own thought,
exercised upon the products of his own experience.
In the practice of the schools, we find these principles
applied, for example, to the teaching of history. While textbooks are not dispensed with, the effort is made to give the
student some acquaintance with the sources of our historical

185]

.SECONDARY EDUCATION

45

knowledge. In the study of literature, less attention is paid
to historical summaries than was formerly the case, and more
time is devoted to the study of literary masterpieces. In
grammar and rhetoric, the study of principles is closely c?nwhich·
nee t e d with the study of passages from literature
·h
embody those principles in living forms; and wit composr. wh"re h mvrte
· · free exp r e ss1"on: In
tion exercises upon topics
.
the study of modern languages, facility in conversatron rs
not commonly sought · though there are schools here and
there which lay grea; stress upon this _acquisition.
ability to read the language_s r~adily an~ wr.th understanding,
and to enter into an appreciation of their literatures, are the
ends chiefly stl'iven for. To these ends, grammatical study
is of course necessary. But the grammar is studied, on the
whole less abstractly than formerly, and more in its actual
, embodiment in literature. Greater effort is made now th~n a
generation ago to secure a reading knowl_edge ~f the ancient
classics. More hope is held out to classes m Latin and Greek,
that they may, with attentive effort, attain to su.ch mastery.
There is much difference of opinion among leading teachers
as to the proportionate attention to be paid to " sigh~ read. · " and as to the value of the inductive method
mg,
. m the
mastery of grammatical principles : but actual pra~trce see~s
to be tending slowly toward a middle course, :Vh1ch retams
much of the old-time thorough discipline in Latm and Greek
grammar, but brings this training into more vi~~! connecti~n
with the study of classic literature. The ~:1t1~g of ~~tm
verse is generally discarded. Prose c~m?os~t10~ is_ rece1vmg
increased attention, and is now more 1m1tat1ve m its ch_aracter than formerly, being commonly based on the Latin or
Greek masterpiece which the class is studying at the same
time. The question of approaching Attic through modern
Greek has been warmly discussed, but the proposed change
finds little, if any, acceptance in actual practice. In mat~e­
matics much stress is laid upon the original demonstratron
of the~rems, particularly in plane and solid geometry: ~t
appears from time to time that instruction in mathematics 1s

!he

SECONDARY EDUCATION

weakened by a failure to insist upon the use of accurate language in demonstrations; and from time to time fresh efforts
are put forth to strengthen the work on this side. At the
present day, especial stress is laid in some quarters upo'n
the need of more careful and accurate English expression in
a.II school exercises. The attempt to teach English expres~
s~on, .oral and written, wholly through the medium of instruction m other branches does not promise well · but there ·1•
f
1
'
s,
ortunate y, a growing recognition of the fact that all teachers
~ust h~ve at least some share in the responsibility for such
mstruct10n.
MORAL VALUES

The m~ral influence. of secondary schools is undoubtedly
~h: most 1mporta?t topic to be considered in this paper, but
1t is at the same time the most difficult to reduce to accurate
statement. The religious backg round of moral instruction
~as aln~ad~ been referred to. It should be added that even
m publtc high schools, from which all instruction in sectarian
dogmas i~ strict!y . excluded, there is not uncommonly found
a pervasive reltg10us atmosphere, an influence emanating ·
from the personal character of the instructors. In many
of t~ese .schools, it is still customary to open the daily
session with the reading of a passage from the Bible or
the rep:tition of the Lord's prayer; or with the singing of
a devot1~n~l or patriotic hymn. But whatever there may
be of reltg10us tone and spirit in these schools is of a very
ge~e.ral and unobtrusive sort, and far removed from ecclesiast~c1sm. Teachers wholly indifferent to dogmatic religion
or m known opposition thereto are freely employed in the
schools;. bu~ would probably be found to constitute only a
small mmonty of the teaching force of the country. In some
schools, elementary ethics is taught, along with elementary
psychology, or perhaps economics. But this is unusual.
The moral fore~ of the high schools depends, then, mainly
on the personal mfluence of the teachers in their instruction .
in the ordinary school subjects; on the government of the
school; and on the relations of the students one with another.

SECONDARY EDUCA.'l'lON

4i

Some subjects of instruction offer especial advantages as
regards the formation of high ideals of ccmduct. The teaching of literature, and particularly the literature of the mother
tongue, is found to be of great value in this respect - the
more so, doubtless, when untimely moralizing is dispensed
with, and noble sentiments . are permitted · to make their
appeal through the charm of their artistic presentation.
Choice works of plastic and pictorial art are rapidly finding
their way into our school rooms. There is no systematic
study of cesthetics in the school programs. These works of
art are expected to accomplish their mission by their mere
presence, sometimes supplemented by an informal discussion
of their merits ; or they serve to reinforce the cesthetic side
of instruction in literature and in drawing. In some schools
music is steadily cultivated, and holds an honored place.
History is probably, on the whole, the most neglected of the
' main lines of study in secondary schools ; and the moral loss
resulting from such neglect is serious. Greek and Roma:n
history is commonly taught, at least in classical courses ; but
too often in a scrappy and inadequate fashion. Later European history receives some· attention. The history of the
United States is, perhaps, the most seriously slighted of all.
The reason for this seems to be that the history of our own
country is studied in the grammar schools ; and it is not
emphasized by the colleges as an admission subject. But a
change for the better is slowly coming over the historical side
,
of our school programs.
Skillful teachers, however, make instruction in all subjects
moral- by arousing a pure desire for truth, a spirit of intellectual honesty, a will to work and to overcome difficulties,
and a long line of modest and every-day virtues.
The government of our best secondary schools, and even
of many of the smaller schools, which are comparatively
unknown, presents much which may be regarded with genuine satisfaction. The relations of -teachers and students are
comparatively informal. There is little consciousness of
official or artificial barriers between them. While strict dis-

:;!!:CONDAlW EDUCATION

49

L188
ciplinary 1~easu.res are of ten found necessary and are often
enforced with vigor, the prevalent type of high school and
academy government is that which treats the students as if
they were .already ladies and gentlemen, and throws them as
far as possible on their own responsibility. Some interesting
and
·
. successful experiments have been made 1·n th e orgamzat10n of regular systems of self-government among students.
It would seem, h?wever, that only a principal who has the
strengt~ and skill to govern well is capable of making a.
school mto a truly self-governing body.
U nd~r any system of government, the social life of the
school 1s the chief teacher of morals. It is one of the glories
of American high schools that the children of rich and
poor, of high a.n~ l~w, meet there on common ground.
T~e fact that ~mt10n m these schools is free to all, helps to
bnng about this. result. It is unnecessary to point out the
numberless b~armgs of this democratic spirit in the schools
upon the pupils who are subject to its influence
· . There is undoubt~dly a ~rowing disposition .among families ~f wealth and high social position, to send their children
~o private schools ; and this fact has tended of late to the
mcrease of ~uch schools. This disposition is, however, by
no m~ans umver~al. And whil e the atmosphere of a private
~oar~mg school 1.s necessarily different from that of a public high school, it may be questioned whether in the great
endowed s:hools of the country th ere is any marked encourageme~t ~iven to purely aristocratic tastes and tendencies.
The pnnc1pal~ of board~n~ schools find it necessary at times
to protest agamst providmg students with too lavish a supply of spending .mo~ey. And the fact that such protests are
heard seems to md1cate that there is a serious effort on the
part of school authorities to minimize distinctions based on
wealth.
STUDENTS

The social organization of the students in these schools
calls for further notice. High schools and academies are
uch alike in this respect. The instinct of association is

strong in our youth, and it finds expression in all sorts of
clubs, leagues, societies, ·a nd fraternities. -The example of
the colleges has been influential in the schools in this particular. The several classes are commonly organized, with
class officers, and have occasional gatherings of a social
character. The offices of the highest class in school are
sought for with keen competition. Athletic associations,
foot-ball and base-ball clubs, and the like, are usually maintained. Match games are played with neighboring schools,
which call forth unbounded enthusiasm. - Several schools
are often j0ined in an athletic league; and the annual field
days of these leagues are great occasions in the school year.
The athletic records and trophies of a school are very highly
prized. Well-equipped gymnasiums are now common in the
larger schools, and provision for military drill is sometimes
found; but formal exercises do not take the place of free com• petitive games. Debating clubs and other literary societies
are maintained with much interest. Contests in debate with
neighboring schools call forth a spirit of emulation like that
displayed in athletic struggles. Musical organizations are
perhaps less common, but are among the most pleasing of
school societies. Annual publications by successive classes
present a record of the varied interests of the larger schools,
and afford a field for budding literary and artistic genius to
show its quality~ Secret, Greek-letter societies are sometimes
formed after the fashion of the colleges. Not unfrequently,
too, voluntary associations for religious culture and observance are maintained by the students. All of these organ-·
izations are commonly under the immediate control of the
students themselves; teachers frequently attend the various
meetings, but more as friendly advisers than as governors.
The completion of the course of study in a secondary school
is celebrated in public with "graduation" exercises and the
conferring of diplomas upon the members of the class. The
, graduates of flourishing school will usually be found organized in an alumni association. The monthly or annual meetings of such an association become of increasing significance
as the years pass and its numbers and influence are enlarged.

a

50

SECONDARY EDUCATION

TEACHERS

A committee of the National educational assoc1at1onthe so-called committee of fifteen on elementary educatioq ·
-reported in 1895, among other topics, on the training of,
teachers for secondary schools. This committee declared
that, "The degree of scholarship required for secondary..,
teachers is by common consent fixed at a collegiate educa~
ti on." They proposed a course of special training for such
teachers, consisting of instruction during the senior year o_( ·
the college course in psychology, methodology, school systems, and the history, philosophy, and art of education; and~
graduate year of practice in teaching, under close supervision,
supplemented by advanced studies in educational theory. .
This proposal is far in advance of common practice or
requirement. Very few of the American states make any
specific requirement for the high school teacher's certificate beyond that for a license to teach in the elementary
schools. There are, on the other hand, many secondary
schools in which teachers rarely obtain employment, if at 1
all, unless they are college g raduates ; and there are large
sections of the country in which common usage is rapidly
tending in this directi on.
The most of the leading universities and some of the
higher normal schools are devoting especial attention to the ,
professional training of teachers for schools of this grade.
A committee of university professors, appointed for this
purpose, has recently published a report, setting forth the .
existing legal provisions for the certification of high school...
teachers in the several states, and recommending practicable · '
reforms.
A Massachusetts report for the year 1897 shows that one_.·
per cent of the hig h school teachers then employed in that
state were graduates of scientific schools, 13. per cent of .
normal schools, 66 per cent of colleges, and the remaining
20 per cent unclassified.
·
In the state of New York, in 1898, 32 per cent

SECONDARY EDUCATION

51

teachers in sec.o ndary schools (not including principals) were
college graduates, 39 per cent were normal school graduates,
19 per cent were high school graduates, and IO per cent had
had other training. Of the principals, 51 per cent were college graduates, 35 per cent normal school graduates, 8 per
cent high school graduates, and 6 per cent had had other
training. These figures include private academies as well
as public high schools. They ii:iclude also one-year, twoyear, and three-year schools, as well as fully-developed high
schools and academies.
An inquiry into the preparation of teachers in the secondary schools of California, in . October, 1897, showed that of
522 teachers then employed in the public hig h schools of the
state, 308, or 59 per cent, were college graduates.
These figures may be taken as representing the conditions
which obtain in some of the more favored sections of the
oountry.
STATE SYSTEMS

The several states have been slow to organize general systems of secondary schools. In this respect secondary education stands in marked contrast with that of elementary
grade. But a few of the states have made considerable
progress in this particular.
.
The early history of secondary schools in Massachus.etts
has already been told. This state is the foremost in the
union in the universality of its provision for secondary
education. E very" town" (township) in the state is required
by law to provide free high school tuition for all students
who are prepared for that grade of instruction. Inasmuch
as the whole state is divided into towns, this means that free
secondary education is offered to every child in the commonwealth. Of the 353 towns in the state, 185 are required by
law to maintain high schools ; 70 others maintain high
schools, though not required to do so ; and those not maintaining such high schools are required to pay the tuition fees
of qualified students within their limits who go elsewhere
for high school instruction-and may pay for their trans-

52

S ECONDARY EDUCATION

portation also. The poorer towns receive help from the
state in paying for tuition in outside schools. The high
schools must offer a four-year course, of forty weeks to the
year. They must prepare pupils for the state normal schools,
and for higher scientific schools and colleges. There are
262 of these high schools in the state, employing 1,312
teachers. In 1897 Massachusetts paid $ 12,390,638 for public schools, of which $2,400,000, or 19 per cent, was for high
schools. In 1896, the total municipal tax in the state was
$15.23 on $1,000. Of this, $4.72 was for public schools,
$0.91 of which was for high schools. These figures include
the cost of school buildings along with the current expense
of schools.
The organization of the university of the state of New
York has been mentioned Only so much of the varied
activity of this great institution calls for notice here, as has
to do with secondary schools. This, however, presents the
most thoroughly organized state system of secondary education which has yet been developed on American soil. All
incorporated secondary schools in the state and all other
secondary schools which may, after official inspection, be
admitted to membership by the regents, are institutions of
the university. One of the six departments into which the
work of the regents is divided is the high school department, which has to do with high schools, academies, and all
interests of secondary education. Both the college and the
high school department are under one department director.
He is assisted by nine inspectors of schools, one of whom is
employed as an inspector of apparatus, and by a large staff
of examiners.
On the basis of reports made by this department, the
regents distributed in 1898 a total of $209, 2 50.48 in state
funds to the secondary schools of the state. The method
of distribution is as follows: (a) $100 is allotted to each
school approved by the regents, without regard to its size or
special attainments. (b) One cent is allowed for each day's
attendance of each student in such schools ; provided that

SECONDARY EDUCATION

193]

53

each student so counted must hold a "regents' preliminary
certificate" for admission to the school, or the school must
be approved by two university inspectors, as having a higher
entrance requirement than the minimum prescribed for the
preliminary certificate. ( c) The state duplicates the amount
raised by the schools for the purchase of approved books and
apparatus up to the sum of $500 a year for .any one.school.
(cl) Grants are made on the basis of cred;ntials ?bt~med by
pupils in the school who pass the regents exammat10ns-a
method of "payment by results". In 1898, of the money
distributed by the regents to secondary schools, about 25 per
cent came under item (a); 22 per cent under item (b); 19
per cent under item ( c) ; and 34 per cent und.er item ( d).
The regents' examinations are held three times a year.
They were taken in 1898 by 608 of the 645 secondary schools
in the university. The diplomas issued by the regents to
, graduates of secondary s:ho~ls .are acce~ted .by Cor~ell
university and by other mstitut10ns of higher educat10n
in the state in lieu of entrance examinations in the subjects
which they cover. The report of the director of the high
school department for 1898 says of the examinations: "In
June 18 9 8 the secretary stated to the regents that 1o yea~s·
experience had confirmed his view~, given to th~ board m
1 339 , that examinations have the highest edu~ational value
and that the small minority which would abolish them are
extremists. It is believed, however, that these tests would
be more valuable if they were used for their educational
value and not at all as a guide in distributing public money.
Inspection will enable us in most cases to determine satisfa~­
torily without regents examinations whether a school is
maintaining a standard deserving aid from state fu?ds."
A syllabus is issued by the regents for th_e guidance of
instruction in university institutions. There is free consultation between the officers of the university and the instructors in the schools with reference to the contents of this
syllabus. An annual university convocati.on, i~ which the
representatives of all divisions of the \lntversity meet for
1

54

SECONDARY EDU CATION

[194

public discussion, forms one of the notable educational gath.
erings of the country.
In Maryland, a law of the year 1865 swept away the old
academy system, and substituted for it a system of county
high schools. This radical change was followed by a reaction. Later legislation took a middle course. A law enacted
in 1872 provided for the establishment of high schools in
the several counties, to be under the control of the boards
of county school commissioners, or of district boards
appointed by them. Each of these high schools must be
"visited and examined annually by the principal of the State
normal school, or a professor thereof," and must also be visited once in eac~ term by th: county examiner. The support of these high schools 1s provided for by the county
s~hool commiss~oners, who set apart for that purpose a port10n of the ordmary school funds received from the state
and the county. At the same time, a number of academies,
about twenty in all, continu e to receive direct donations
in various fixed amounts, from the treasury of the state. '
We _fi_nd in ln~iana what is virtually a system of university .
accred1tmg of high schools, the administration of which has
been turned over to the state board of education. In July,
1873, t~ e board of trustees of Indiana university adopted a
resolut1~n to the eff:ct that a certificate "from certain high
schools should entitle the bearer to admission to the freshman class. In August of the same year, the state board of
education adopted plans under which the high schools which
were ':o~thy of such rec?gnition should be designated and
comm1ss10ned. In 1888 the following order was passed:
"That hereafter no · high school commission be granted
except on a favorable report in writing, to be made to the
state board of education, by some member of the state
board, who shall visit the high school in question as a committee of the state board for that purpose.
"That all the high schools now in commission be visited
by committees of the board as soon as may be, and that the
present list be modified by the reports from such visitation.

55
SECONDARY EDUCATION
95]
" That in case of change of superintendent in any commissioned high school, the commission then existing ~hall
be in force until a visitation shall be made by a committee
of the state board."
The territory of the state was divided up among the members of the board for the purposes of such visitation.
By such -simple means and without s_pecific legal ena:tment an important system of high schools has been built
up. 'These schools rest upon a statutory provision a~thoriz­
ing local school authorities to provide for the teachmg, not
only of the elementary branches, in English, but also of
" such other branches of learning and other languages as
the advancement of the pupils may require." They are
supported in the same manner as the elementary scho~ls. .
The supervisory power of the state board of educat10n 1s
secured by the broad provision that, " sa~d b~ard shall t~ke
' cognizance of such questions as may anse m ~he prac~1cal
administration of the school system not otherwise provided
for, and duly consider, discuss, and determine the same."
This board consists of the governor of the state, the state
superintendent of public instruction, the . resp:ctive presidents of the State university, Purdue umvers1ty, and the
State normal school, the school superintendents of the three
largest cities in the state, ex officz"o, and ." three citiz:ns of
prominence actively engaged in educat10nal work m the
state, appointed by the governor." A ~our-year ~ourse of
study for high schools, prepared by this board, 1s recommended for adoption by all schools which seek to be placed
on .the "commissioned high schools" list.
The bo~rd
announces that commissions will be granted to those high
schools only which meet the following requirements:
r The character of the work must be satisfactory.
2 : The high school course must be not less ~han thirty
months in length, counting from the end of the eighth ~ear.
3. The whole time of at least two teachers must be given
to the ·high school work.
·
4. The course of study must be at least a fair equivalent
Qf tha.t recomm.ended by the state boa.rd,
1

\

~

50

SECONDARY EDU CATION
1

It will be seen that this system provides for inspection of
the schools only at long and irregular intervals. In practice,
this defect is partially overcome by the close oversight which ,
the universities exercise over those members of their freshman classes who enter on certificates from the schools.
Such students are understood to be admitted to the university for a probationary period, in which they may show
whether or not they have been properly prepared for the
work they have undertaken.
The interest in secondary education which has grown up
under this system has extended to all sections of the state.
There are now ls l high schools on the "commissioned" list,
including those of the more populous centers. There is
growing up, also, a large number of "township high schools"
in the more sparsely settled portions of the state. In 18 1,
9
there were l2S such schools with an enrolJment of 920 pupils.
In 1898, the number had grown to 389, with an enrollment
of 8,4s9 pupils. Seven of these schools have been placed
on the "commissioned " list.
The Wisconsin state system of free high schools was
established in l87s. It provides for the maintenance of
high schools by towns, incorporated villages, cities, or school
districts or sub-districts containing incorporated vil1ages or
two-department graded schools within their limits. Two or
more adjoining towns, or one or more towns and an incorporated village, may unite in establishing and maintaining a
high school. These schools are managed by local high
school boards, which are commonly, but not always, identical
with the boards for elementary schools. They are supported
primarily by local taxation ; but a district is entitled to
receive from the general fund of the state a sum not exceeding one-half the amount actually expended for instruction in
the high school of such district, and not exceeding five
hundred dollars in any one year; provided the school has
been kept in accordance with certain requirements prescribed
by law, and provided further that the total amount paid from
the state treasury for this purpose in any one year shall not

SECONDARY EDUCATION

97 J

57

h

d dollars Such a school is . under t e
exceed fifty thousan
. h. f the state superintendent.
.
·
t. n and overs1g t o
. ·
direct mspec 10 .d . choo l mus t es tablish and mamtam a
To receive state a1 ' as .
1 t approved by that
·b d or at eas
•
course of study prescn e
b teachers whose certificates
official ; and must be taug t y "ntendent issues a manual
d The state supen
he has approve .
h l containing general sugfor the guidance of these sc ool. s, of subj. ects "l.nd methods
f t dy an out me
·
.
gestions, courses o s u '
f h h"gh school law. He is
of instruction, and the text o dt e 11·s1·on which the law
· · t"
an superv
assisted in the v.1s1ta 100 f f
high schools, whom he
prescribes by an mspector o ree

h

appoints.
de in Wisconsin to encourage the
An effort has ?een ~a l . the less thickly settled porbuilding up of high sch. oo s dm taking has met with only a
.
f h t te T is un er
.
b
t10ns o t e s a . f uccess H ere a s elsewhere it has · een
moderate degree o s
al establishment of such
difficult to
/
than
f
schools by ~ther um ts. otain elementary schools. In Wiswhich establish and mam l
erned and supported
.
l
t ry schoo s are gov
consm t~e e emen a
. .
and not by township boards.
by district school authont1efsW, .
·n the high schools are
. .
d t OS 0
ISCOOSI ,
·
. In the c1t1es an ow
d th system of state supermaking marked progress, un er e any of them have been
W . h" the past few years, m
vision.
it m
. .
rovided with exceHent laborahoused in fine, new. bml.dmghs, p t ral sciences. Important
. t
t on m t e na u
tories
ms
I
. the equipment of .some
. for
.
h ruebeen
ma d e a l so m
begmnmgs ave
. n manual training. State aid, to
of the schools for courses I f
one school is extended
f $ 2 0 a year or any
•
the amount o b S
. .
of the high school law.
cial prov1s10ns
.
to such courses y spe .
h I
re receiving such special
0 f 899 six .:;c oo s we
. h
.
I .
In theAspnng
h
time t h ere were 1"n all 2 I I state-aided h1g
.
f these 6 had a three-year course
aid.
: t e
schools m W isconsm. 0
. . Sl
th Of the four-year
four years m eng ·
.
and
d" d t the University of Wisconsm.
h I 1SS a course
ere accre 1te o
· ·
. t ro d u ced by the university mf
sc oo s, I dIO. .w
tern was m
The accre itmg sys
.
d tl of the state system o
I 878, and is carried on mdepen en y

~und

h

pro~ote c~vfie:~ministration

~ame

tho~e

SIS

SECUNVAl{Y EDUCATION

inspection. About a dozen of.the largest and strongest high
schools in the state are not included among those receiving
state aid.
The courses of study are commonly designated as the
English, the general science, the modern classical, and the
ancient classical course. A given school will ordinarily
establish the English course first, and will from time to time
add the others in the order named. There were in 1899 ten
schools in the state which carried the full classical course.
Minnesota has maintained a state system of high schools
since I 88 I. At the head of this system stands the state high
school board, consisting of the governor, the superintendent
of public instruction, and the president of the University of
Minnesota, ex officio. This board appoints a high school
inspector and a graded school inspector. Any public high
school in the state may become a state high school, and is
then entitled to receive from the state the sum of eight hundred dollars annually. To be a state high school, it must
admit students of either sex from any part of the state without charge for tuition, must provide a course of study covering the requirements for admission to the University of
Minnesota, and must be subj ect to the rules and open to the
inspection of the state high school board. This board determines, on the basis of th e reports of its inspector, what
schools are entitled to the bounty of the state ; but not
more than five schools may receive such aid in any one
county in any one year. Provision is also made for state
graded schools, of lower rank than the state high schools;
and for the promotion of such schools to the rank of state
high schools when they have attained such a degree of
advancement as to entitle them to that designation.
The state high school board conducts a written examination of classes in the schools twice a year. Students who
successfully pass such examinations, in any of the high
school subjects, receive certificates fqr the subjects so
covered ; and these certificates are accepted by the university
and the normaJ schools of the state in lieu of entrance exa.m-

199]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

59

inations in the subjects specified. The taking of this state
examination is ordinarily optional with the school ; and no
grants of money are based on examination results. The
state board may, however, require a school to take an examination as a part of the annual inspection. " The main purpose of state examinations", as stated by the inspector of
high schools. in his report for 1898, " is not to test the students, but to promote the general efficiency of the schools."
Perhaps the most significant thing about the Minnesota
system is the encouragement it gives to high schools in the
smaller towns. Communities all over the state tax themselves freely to supplement the bounty distributed by the
state board.
Laboratory apparatus for the high schools is made at the
state prison and sold to the schools at cost. For the year
1898-99, there were I 10 graded schools and 97 high schools,
unt:ler the supervision of the state high school board.
Several other states have made marked advance within the
past few years in the direction of improved systems of secondary schools. These improvements have been gained
through the untiring efforts of devoted friends of education,
and should receive notice in such a place as this. But lack
of space forbids. There is reason to regret, along with this
omission, the unavoidable passing over of influential movements and important institutions which are in every way
deserving of mention along with those which have been
noticed ; but the time has been wanting to consider fully the
proportionate importance of these things, as well as the
space for a full exposition of them all.

00

SECONDARY EDUCATION

[zoo

201]

TABLE II

STATISTICS

Throu~h the courtesy of the United States commissioner
of educat10n, the following statistics for the whole country
f?r t.he year I 897-98 are presented in advance of their pubhcat10n by the bureau of education :

STUDENTS IN CERTAIW COURSES AND STUDIES IN PUBLIC HIGH
SCHOOLS IN

Number
students

TABLE I

Public
high schools

Number of schools reporting ...
Teachers of secondary students.
Male .... .. .. ... .. . . .. ... . . .
Female .. ............
Secondary students . ..... : : : : ·
Male ...... . .............. . .
Female ...... .. . .... .
Secondary students prep~~i~g
for college .... ..... ......
Classical course . .. ... . ... . . .
Male ..... ............ ...
Female . .. .... . ... . . .... .
Scientific courses
~fale ... .. . .... : : : : : . : : : : :
emale . ........ .. . .
Graduates in the class of ~8gS ::
Male ..... ..... .............
Female . ...... . .. . .........
College preparatory students in
the graduating class . .... . .
Wea:~j~ .... · · · · · .. · · · · · · ·

....................

FOR I

897-98

Private
high schools

Public and
private
high schools

5 315
17 941
8 542
9 399
449 6oo
189 187
26o413

990
9 357
4075
5 282
!05 225
52 172
53 053

7305
27 298
12 617
14 681
554 825
241 359
313 466

51 o66
27 935
13 575
14 36o
23 131
12 056
I I 075
53 022
19 247
33 775

26693
16 361
I I 128
5 233
IO 332
7429
2 903
12 148
6302
5 846

77 759
44296
24703
19 593
33463
19 485
13 978
65 170
25 549
39 621

14 552
6699
7 853

5 388
3 628
I 76o

I

19940
327
9 613

IO

1897-g8

Per cent

COURSES,_ STUDIES,
ETC.
-.

STATISTICS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS

61

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Students preparing for
college :
Classical course .... .
Scientific courses .. .
Total preparing for
college .......... .

27 935
23 131
~~~

51 o66

Graduating in 1898 .•..
College
l;'reparatory
students m graduat1
ing class • ••••••••••
Students in
Latin . ..... . .. .. .. .
Greek ............•.
French ....... , ..• . .
German . .... ...... .
Algebra . .. . ....... .
Geometry ..... , .... .
Trigonometry ..... .
Astronomy . .. ..... .
Physics . .......... .
Chemistry .. . ...... .
Physical geography.
Geology ....... ... .
Physiology ....•.. . .
Psychology ... . .. , ..
Rhetoric ..... .. ... .
English Ii terature .. .
History (other than
Y.nited States) ....
C1v1cs ... . •... .. .•..

to total

number
secondary
students

6.21
5.15
II.36

Per cent
to total
number

male

Female
students

13 575
12 056

7.18
6.37

Per cent
to total
number

female

students

students

~~-

14 360
II 075

5.52
4.25

-~~1-~~-

25 631

13.55

25 435

19 247

I0.17

33 775

6 699

34.81

7 853

23.25

17 170
93 038
37 329
II2 133
19 646
134 785
12 325
161 724
180 156

49.67
3.12
7-54
13.25
56. 13
27.09
2.27
3.82
20.69
8.30
24.94
4.37
29.98
2.74
35.97
40.07

87 529
7 656
12 oo6
23 336
1o6 676
49 787
4 966
6 351
39 493
16 450
47 074
7 725
57 392
4 355
66 949
74 014

46.27
4.05
6.35
12.34
56.39
26.32
2.63
3.36
20.88
8.70
24.88
4.08
30.34
2.30
35.39
39.12

135 778
6 365
21 9II
36 241
145 682
72 026
5 234
IO 819
53 545
20 879
65 059
II 921
77 393
7 970
94 775
100 142

52.14
2.44
8.41
13.92
55.94
27.66
2.01
4.15
20.56
8.02
24.98
4.58
29.72
3.o6
36.39
40.76

169 478
I02 242

37.70
22.74

6<) 636
43 997

36.81
23 .26

53 022
14 552
223
14
33
59
252
121

307
021
917
577
358
813

IO 200

1

Male
students

27.45

Per cent to number of graduates.

9.77

38.34
22.37

~--.:ONlJAl< Y E DUCATION

203]

SECONDARY EDUCATION

TABL E III

TABLE IV 1

SJ;U DENTS IN CERTAIN COURSES AND STUDIES IN PRI VATE -HIGH

STUDENT S IN CERTAIN CO U RSE S AND STU DIES IN P U BLIC AND PRI·

SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES IN I 897-98

COURS~T~:UD!ES,

Numbe r
s tudents

Percent
to total
number
secondary
students

Male
students

- -Stu den ts preparing for
college :
Classical course . .. . .
Scientific courses .. ..

r6 361
IO 332

To ta l preparing for
college . . . .. .. . . ..

26 693

II

128
7 429

25 .36

IS 557

- -Graduating in 1898 .. ..
Coll ege
preparatory
~tuden t s in graduat1
mg class . .. .... . .. .
St udents in
Latin . .... . .. . . . . . ..
Greek ...... .. .. . ...
French . .. ... . . . .. . .
German ...... . . . .. •
Algebra .. . . ........
Geometr y ........ ...
Trigonometry .. . .. .
Astronomy . . .. . . . . .
Physics . ... . . .. ....
Chemistry .. ..... ..
Physica l geography.
Geol ogy . .. . . ....
Physiology . . . . . ...
Psychology . . . . . ..
Rhetoric . . . ... .... . .
English litera t ure . . .

~~itc:r::: : : : : : : : : : : :

1

number

male
studen ts

Female
students

Pe r cent
to to tal
number
f emale
1tuden t1

C OURSE~t~?-'UDIES,

Numb er
students

Per cent
to total
n umb er

secondary
s tudents

Male
students

Per cen t
to to tal
numb e r
male
students

1897-98
Per cent

Female
st udents

to total
number
female
students

---

15.54
9.82

---

Pe r cent
to total

VA TE HIGH SCHOOL S AND . ACADEMIES IN

21.33
14.23

- - -

3s .56

- --

5 233
2 903

- - --

8 136

- --

15.33

Stud en ts prepar ing for
college :
Classical cou rse . .. . .
Scientific cou rses .. .

. 19 S93
I3 978

7.99
6.03

To t al p r eparing for
college .......... .

44 188

77 759

18.31

33 S7I

---

12 I48

l l.S4

6 302

12.08

s 846

5 388

44·3S

3 628

s7. 57

l

so 986
IO 973
24 248
19 417
54 397
2s 702
5 s19
7 263
20 612
IO rr9
22 849
6 20s
28 20s
7 873
34 124
35 6s4
39 5S6
16 565

48.4s
I0.43
23.04
l8.4s
sr. 70
24.43
s.2s
6.91
l9.s9
9.62
21. 79
s.90
26. 80
7.48
32.43
33.88
37.59
15.74

27 908
8 983
8 682
9 719
29 470
14 791
3 447
2 188
IO 230
4 991
IO SS5
2 so6
12 s61
2 814
IS 164
15 709
18 346
7 975

s3.49
17.21
16.64
18.63
56.49
28.3s
6.61
4.I9
19.61
9·S7
20.23
4.80
24.08
s .39
29 .07
30.II
3s. 16
15.29

Per cent to number of grad uates.

9.86
5.47

760

23 078
l 990
I5 s66
9 698
24 927
IO 9rr
2 072
s 075
IO 382
5. 128
I2 294
3 699
IS 644
s os9
18 96o
19 945
2I 2IO
8 590

II.02
30. u
43-. so
3.75
29.34
18.28
46.99
20.57
3.91
9.s7
19.s7
9.67
23.17
6.97
29.49
9.54
35.74
3;. 59
39.98
16.19

Graduating in 1898 . .. .
College
preparatory
~tudents :n graduating class ..... . .. . .
Students in
Latin .. .. . . .. . .... .
Gre e k ..... ... .... .. .
French......... .... .
German .. . .... ... . . .
Algebra .... . . .. . .. .
Geometry. ... . .... .
Trigonometry . . . .
Astronomy ....... .
Physics . . ... . . .. . . .
Chemistr y .. .. .... . .
Physical geography .•
Geology .. . ... . .... .
Physio logy . ...... . .
Psychology .. . ... . . .
Rhetoric ... . . . . ... .
English literature . . .
History (other than
,U:nited States) . . . .
C1v1cs . .. . . . .. . . .. . .

11.75

39 62I

25 S49

30.60
274
24
s8
78
3o6
147
IS
24
113
47
134
25
162
20
195
z15

293
994
165
994
755
515
719
433
650
448
982
851
990
198
848
8IO

9 6I3

49.44
4.50
I0.48
14.24
55.29
26. 59
2.83
4.40
20.48
8.55
24.33
4.66
29.38
3.64
35.30
38.90

II5 437
16 639
20 688
33 os5
136 I46
64 S78
8 413
8 S39
49 723
2I 44I
S7 629
IO 23I
69 9S3
7 I69
82 113
89 723

47.83
6.89
. 8.s7
I 3.70
s6.4I
26.76
3.49
3-54
20.60
8.88
23 .88
4. 24
28.98
2.97
34.02
37. I8

I58 8s6
8 355
37 477
45 939
I70 609
82 937
7 3o6
IS 894
63 927
26 007
77 353
IS 620
93 037
I3 029
II 3 73S
I26 087

so.68
2.67
II.g6
14.66
s4.43
26.46
2.33
s .07
20.39
8.30
24.68
4.98
29.68
4.I6
36. 28
40.22

37.68
2I.4I

87 982
SI 972

36.45
21.53

I 2I OS2
66 83s

38.62
21.32

Result of combing tables II and III.
' Per cent to n u mber of gradu ate•.

1

SECONDARY EDUCATION

SECONDARY EDUCATION

205]

TABLE V
NUMBER AND PER CENT OF STU DENTS p
IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
URSUING CERTAIN STUDIES
IN FOU R-YEAR PERIODS . SECONDARY SCHOOLS, 1890 TO 1898,

Report of the committee on secondary school studies appointed
at the meeting of the National educational association, July
9, 1892, with the reports of the conferences arranged by this
committee and held December 28-30, 1892. Washington, 1893.
Better known as the report of the committee of ten. It has been republished by the American Book Company (New York) for the National educational association.

Report of committee on college entrance requirements, July, 1899.

1889-90

P ubli shed by the National educational association , 1899.
Numb er
of
stud ents

Per cent
to

total

N u mbe r
of
students

Per cent
to

total

Number
of
stu de nts

Per cen t
to

The American journal of education.

[Barnard's]

Vols. 1-31.

tota l

Hartford, Conn., 1856-1881.
These volumes contain a great amount of matter relating to the history of
Total number of second a ry students
N um~er s tud ying···
~atm .. . . .. .. ... . . .

F;:~~j.; ... ... ... .. .

G

. ...•. . ...
..... .. .... .
g
a .. . .•..
Geo metry
····
Trigonom~try·.: · :::
Physics . ....... . .
Chemistry ... . ... . . ·
Afr:i,~n

Repor~s

o:

407 919
100
12
28
34
12 7
59

144
869
032
208
397
789

33.62
4.32
9.41
lI.48
42.77
20.07
2r.36
9.62

177
20
42
52
215
103
15
97
42

898
353
072
152
023
054
500
974
o6o

American secondary schools.

554 814
43.59
4.99
ro.31
12. 78
52.71
25 .25
3.80
24.02
l0.31

274
24
58
78
3o6
147
15
II3
47

293
994
165
994
755
515
719
650
448

49·44
. 4 . 50
ro.45
14.24
55.29
26. 59
2.83
20.48
8. 55

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

the commissioner of education · Washington, annual
pubhcatton.

Ad

These r eports include a gr eat deal of s
. .
.
on d a r y ed u cation . Since 1871 th h tatisllcal mformation relating to secs chools , academi es etc . s
Sey ave p rese nt ed s tatist ics of private high
.
h 1
·• mce l 76 of cityh "gh
t d
'
s u en ts pursuing each of th
'
i
sc oo s; smce 1886--87 of
188
e more common second
h
'
'}-90, of public high schools no t i l d
.
. a r y sc ool studies; since
nc u ed m ci ty scho ol systems

ams, Herbert B. (Editor) C
.
.
.
tional history. Washingt . 88ontnbut10ns to American educaon, 1 7-.
P_ublished as circu l ars of information of th
.
ti on . Nineteen monographs h
1
e United States bureau of educaof whi ch contain matte
1 . ave a ready appeared in this series th e most
r r e atmg to the history of secondary sch;ols

.
in the United S
.
.·
B oone ' Richard G . Ed ucat10n
tates, its history
from the earliest sett!
ements. New York D A I
ompany, 18 .
' · PP eton and
C
93
Con tain s severa l chapters on. the hi story of seco nd ary e d u catlon.
.

The Academy, a journal of secondary education. Issued monthly
under the auspices of the associated academic principals of the
state of New York. Vols. 1-8. Syracuse and Boston, 1886-1892.
School and college, devoted to secondary and higher education.
One volume only, Boston, 1897.
The school review, a journal of secondary education.

Vols.!-

(current µublic ation). Chicago, 1893-.
The educational review. Vols. 1-(current publication).

New

York, 1891-.

To these should be added the annual reports of the several school systems mentioned in this monograph, the volumes of proceedings of the various associations of teacher~
to which reference has been made, and the annual catalog~
and occasional anniversary publications of the more impor
tant schools.

SECONDARY

TABLE V
NUMBER AND PER CENT OF STUDEN TS p
IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
URSUING CERTAIN STUDIES
IN FOUR-YEAR PERIODS.' SECONDARY SCHOOLS, 1890 TO 1898,

65

SECONDARY EDUCATION

205]

EDUCATION

Report of the committee on secondary school studies appointed
at the meeting of the National educational association, July
9, 1892, with the reports of the conferences arranged by this
committee and held December 28-30, 1892. Washington, 1893.
Better kn own as the report of the committee of ten . It has been republished by the American Book Company (New York) for the National educational ass ociation.

1889-90

Report of committee on college entrance requirements, July, 1899·

1897--<JS

1893-94

Published b y th e National educational association, 1899.
Numb er
of

Per c ent

to

Number
of

s tudents

total

students

--Total number of secondary students
Number studying . · ·
Latm .... .. ... .. .. .

~:=~~j,·

.............. .

German.''· ' · · ·
Algebra : : : : : : : : · "
Geometry
···
Trigonom~ir):.: · ·: :
Physics . . . . . . . .. . .
Chemistry ..... .. ..

297 894
100
12
28
34
12 7
59

144
869
032
208
397
789

'63 '644
28 665

. .. . . . .
33 .62
4 . 32
9 . 41
I I .48
42.77
20.07

... ....

2r.36
9.62

. -

-

407 919
177
20
42
52
215
103
15
97
42

898
353
072
152
023
054
500
974
o6o

Per ce nt
to
total

Number
of

Per cent

students

total

---

- --

......
43.59
4.99
l0.31
12 . 78
52. 71
25. 25
3.80
24.02
10 . 31

to

----

293
994
165
994
755
515
719
650
448

49.44
A · 50
10. 45
14.24
55 . 29
26. 59
2.83
20.48
8. 55

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Repor~s o~

the commissioner of education · Washington, annual
pubhcat10n.

Ad

Th ese reports include a great d eal of s
. .
.
ondary education. Since 1871 th h tatistical mformation relating to secschools, academies etc . s ·
8ey6 ave presented statistics of private high
'
., ince1 7 of cit h' h
students purs uing e ach of the m o re ~om
y ig schools; since l88f>--87, of
l88g-go, of public high s chools not incl,:';i°~ ~eco~dary school s tudies ; since
e m city school systems

ams, Herbert B. (Editor) C
.
.
.
ontnbut10ns to American educa
tional history Wash ' t .
·
mg on, 1887-.
P_ublished a s circulars of informati o n of
.
!ton. Nineteen monograph h
1
the Umted States bureau of educa
f h.
s ave a r eady a
d .
.
a w ich contain matter relat·
. ppeare in this series, the most
mg to the history o f secondary schools

.
.·
B oone ' R'IC h ar d G. Education in the United
from the earliest sett!
States, its history
ements. New York D A
ompany, 18 .
' · ppleton and
C
93
Contains several chapters on . the h"is t ory o f secondary education.

[Barnard's]

Vols. 1-31.

Hartford, Conn., 1856-1881.
These volume s contain a great amount of matter relating to the history of

American secondary schools.

554 814
274
24
58
78
306
147
15
II3
47

The American journal of education.

The Academy, a journal of secondary education. Issued monthly
under the auspices of the associated academic principals of the
state of New York. Vols. l-8. Syracuse and Boston, 1886-1892.
School and college, devoted to secondary and higher education.
One volume only, Boston, 189?.
The school review, a journal of secondary education.

Vols.

(current ?ublication). Chicago, 1893-.
The educational review. Vols. l-(current publication).

!-

New

York, 1891-.
To these should be added the annual reports of the several school systems mentioned in this monograph, the volumes of proceedings of the various associations of teachers
to which reference has been made, and the annual catalogs
and occasional anniversary publications of the more important schools.

