is creating new instrumentalities, each of which, when once put in operation, goes on indefinitely, contributing its addition to the good results of the system as a whole. In this sphere of his labor he incurs risks, for it brings him more or less in conflict with the views of members of his board; but this risk he accepts, trusting to time for his justification.

The typical superintendent of the other class is of a different character. He is considerably in earnest and displays no little activity and industry in supervising and directing the minor details of the business. His supreme ambition is to carry on the routine operations of the system with as little friction as possible, and with this end in view, he virtually says to his board, "I am here to obey your instructions. Tell me what to do and I will do it with alacrity and delight." He means well, is fairly intelligent, and has a sincere desire to make himself useful; but he does not possess the qualities of a chief, of a leader, of an organizer. His forte lies in obeying rather than in directing. He performs a good deal of useful drudgery under the direction of the committee. His reports are meagre in valuable information, either statistical or of any other description, about the schools. In place of pertinent facts and suggestions, he substitutes rather commonplace generalities, the correctness of which no one would think of calling in question, winding up with the assurance that, thanks to the wisdom of the board and the faithfulness and ability of the teachers, the schools have made commendable progress and are in better condition than ever before. All are highly gratified to be thus assured and are highly content with their amiable and industrious superintendent.

PROGRAMS.

It is the function of the program to indicate the succession or order of the several studies, to assign each class its group, and to mark definitely the standard to be aimed at in each stage of the course. Some programs indicate the work for each quarter, some for each half year; but, for the most part, they divide the work into stages requiring one year's work each. The program, the methods, the examinations, are interdependent factors in school economy. The examination should aim to conform to the program, while it is, in effect, an authoritative interpretation of the program which the teacher feels bound to accept; moreover, it necessarily influences the method. The program indicates and determines to a greater or less extent the method, while the method must be taken into account in estimating the time to be allowed for any subject. The program is an essential instrumentality in the graded system involving promotion and graduation as the result of test examinations. Only a few years back the program was, in general, nothing more than a list of text books prescribed for each class. At that period systematic examinations were rare; the work in the lower classes was

uneven, teachers and pupils being alike slaves to the text book, and the condition was aggravated by the excessive voluminousness of the text book. All that is now changed. But the change has brought along with it a new set of evils. The programs of the present day scarcely refer to any text book whatever. Under the old régime the teacher found it impossible to master the whole text book and was quite at a loss to know what to omit. Under the present régime, where subjects and topics only are named, the teacher is equally puzzled to know what to include. The middle course would seem to be the more judicious and practicable. By the middle course I mean reference, to a considerable extent, to text books as a means of indicating the limitations of the studies, always assuming them to be of the right description. I know of no other practicable means of indicating the necessary limitations in respect to the more substantial branches of instruction. In the attempt to indicate the limitations independently of text books programs have grown out of all proportion. A program from a small western city was found at the Philadelphia Exposition, which was swelled to a good-sized octavo volume. It was, in fact, a series of condensed text books.

A famous school in Paris, with ample means, solves the problem by compiling and publishing its own text books in parts corresponding to each class or grade in the whole course, this series of text books being the program.

That the programs of the present day are greatly overcharged, I have no doubt; but this overcharging, in the immense majority of cases, does not consist in the multiplicity of subjects, or studies properly so called, but in the multiplicity of topics whose limits are not indicated and cannot be indicated without swelling the programs to quasi text books in each branch. As an illustration of my meaning, I insert here in full a program for the first term (first third of the year) for the lowest primary pupils (that is, pupils on their first entrance into school), taken at random, without any attempt to find an extreme case. It is, in fact, the program in a small but important city west of the Mississippi:

Reading.-Use charts of blackboards; words to be first learned, then their phonic elements; lastly building words by sounds. Use both script and printed forms of words, beginning with script. Observe the following order: (1) The idea represented by the word to be learned. (2) The word as a sound and its correct utterance by the pupils. (3) The word as a form: its recognition at sight. In selecting words to be learned, observe the following order: (1) Names of objects. (2) Action words. (3) Qualities. (4) Other words. The names of letters to be learned as fast as introduced in the chart lessons.

Oral reading.-Spell by sounds and by letters all words learned in reading lessons. Writing, on slates and blackboard, at dictation, words in reading, lessons. One side of the slate should be ruled by the teacher. Pupils to use long pencils and to hold them in a proper manner.

Drawing.- Inventive drawing. A few straight lines to be given the children, from which to form such figures as their ingenuity may invent. Also Kindergarten method and Thompson's system.

Numbers.-Clear and ready perceptions of numbers from one to five, to be developed with use of objects. All possible additions, subtractions, multiplications, and divisions of integral numbers to be learned within each limit, as it is reached.

Exercises in rapid reckoning to be given at every step. Also concrete problems. Meaning of +-x. Learn to write these numbers in script, Roman, and Arabic characters. Pupils may learn to count without objects.

Lessons on common things.-(1) Objects in school room: Chair, slate, pencil. (2) Parts of the human body: Head, face, &c. (3) Domestic animals: Dog, cat, &c. (4) Clothing: Hat, bonnet, &c.

Language lessons.- Systematic correction of common faults in speech to be continued throughout the year. Form short sentences, incorporating given words. Answers to be given in full sentences. The use of the period to be taught; also, the use of capitals at the beginning of sentences.

Vocal music.-Singing simple songs. For scientific instruction, see Blackman's Graded Songs.

Morals and manners.—Inculcate reverence and love for God, obedience to parents and teachers, and a kind and forgiving spirit towards brothers, sisters, and schoolmates. Guard against rudeness and suppress profanity and the use of vulgar language.

Physical exercises.- Free gymnastics, a few minutes every hour, or as often as the pupils become weary of other employment. Vocal gymnastics. Require the pupils to sit and stand erect.

The author of the above seems not to have been influenced by the maxim "Too many things at once is no better than too much of one thing."

The New York requirements for the first stage, that is, first half year, are far more moderate and rational:

FIRST HALF YEAR.

Reading and spelling.-Familiar words and simple sentences from blackboard and chart; also, spelling such words from dictation. Exercises in elementary vowel

sounds and in consonant sounds in combination with vowels.

Number.-Counting and adding by ones to 100, by twos and threes to 50; also, counting backward by ones from 10; Arabic figures to be read to 100 and written to 20.

Object lessons.-Form, such as square, oblong, circle, cube, ball, or sphere; straight and curved lines; common colors; and the obvious parts and uses of familiar objects. Drawing, on the slate, taught from dictation illustrated on the blackboard, from dictation without illustration, and from copy.

Position and inclination of straight lines, triangles, letters.

Straight lines: Vertical, horizontal, and oblique. Angles: Right, acute, and obtuse. Letters of the alphabet which can be formed from straight lines. The triangles named from their angles: Right, acute, and obtuse. Common objects represented by straight lines without perspective effect.

The following are the general requirements applicable to all the classes of the primary school, and, of course, forming a part of the program for the sixth class:

Vocal music.-Instruction in vocal music shall be given to the pupils in every grade. The music used shall be such as is found in the books contained in the supply list of the board of education.

Physical training.-The pupils should be exercised daily in such a manner as to expand the lungs, develop the muscles, and impart an easy and graceful carriage to the body. Calisthenic exercises should be employed for the attainment of these objects.

Manners and morals.- Such instruction should be given daily to the pupils of all the grades as will foster a spirit of kindness and courtesy toward each other, a feeling of respect toward parent and teacher, and a love of cleanliness, order, law, and truth.

The absence of uniformity of text books in New York renders it impracticable to refer to particular text books in the program, while, on the other hand, the system of examination described under the head "school examinations" greatly diminishes the necessity for such reference, as it is calculated to afford every teacher the needed interpretation of the program.

For the sake of comparison, it may be well to introduce in connection with the above specimens of the present day a representative one of an earlier date. About thirty years ago the Boston primary school system was reorganized and a new program adopted, from which the following is quoted:

FIRST HALF YEAR.

My Little Primer or My First School Book, at the discretion of the teacher. (1) Pronouncing words without spelling; (2) pronouncing and spelling combined; (3) spelling without book words that have become familiar; (4) counting from one to one hundred; (5) drawing on the slate or blackboard, imitating some mark, letter, or other object, or copying from a card.

My First School Book was a small child's first book, combining reading and spelling lessons. Only a beginning of this book was to be made the first six months, being continued another whole year as the only reading book and a year and a half longer as the only spelling book. As meagre as this program was, it was seldom accomplished in the specified time, owing to the imperfection of methods and classification. The limits of space will not permit the introduction here of an average program of the elementary course in its entirety; but, as it was deemed necessary for illustration to present samples of programs for the first or lowest stage of the primary grade, room must be taken for specimens designed for the highest grammar grade. The first specimen presented is from the Philadelphia program for the year 1882. This can hardly be regarded, however, as an average specimen. It appears to me to belong to the more extreme class, both in respect to the range of studies and to the requirements under each. The program from which this is taken antedates the creation of office of superintendent of schools in Philadelphia.

FOURTEENTH GRADE (SECTION A)—TIME, 10 MONTHS.

LANGUAGE.

Reading and elocution.-Vocal culture; declamation; recitations and dialogues; explanations and drill exercises.

-

Spelling. (1) Constant attention to spelling; to accent and pronunciation; to marks; to rules for spelling; to dictation exercises. (2) Classes of words, as simple and compound; primitive and derivative; monosyllables, dissyllables, trisyllables, polysyllables, syllabication.

1 This course of study has very recently been materially modified at the instance of the city superintendent, Mr. MacAlister.

Definitions and etymology.—(1) The meanings and the uses of words generally explained and illustrated; the dictionary. (2) The etymology or derivation of words generally; their literal and their accepted meanings compared; their analysis; attention to words of historic importance or nature; formation of words from given roots.

Language lessons.— General review of important definitions and principles. (1) Further explanation of the subjunctive and its proper use; the progressive form; idiomatic uses of the verbs, modes, tenses, pronouns; correction of false syntax; parsing; sentence making. (2) Classes of sentences, clauses, and phrases carefully reviewed; qualifiers of subject and predicate further explained; analysis and construction of sentences. (3) Compositions, letter writing, abstracts from reading and other lessons; transposition from poetry to prose; important general principles and rules for punctuation.

English literature.-For pupils of senior department for girls. Literature; prose and poetry; kinds of each; different periods of literature of England; of literature of America; brief historical sketch.

Brief biographical sketch of the following authors, their important works, nature of their writings, extracts, analysis, and criticism: English: Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Addison, Goldsmith, Johnson, Byron, Wordsworth, Scott, Tennyson, Macaulay, and Dickens. American: Edwards, Franklin, Jefferson, Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Irving, Prescott, Bancroft, Motley, Cooper, Hawthorne, Webster, Emerson, and Agassiz. Other authors, so far as time may permit.

MATHEMATICS.

General review of important terms, principles, and methods.

Mental and written arithmetic.- Continued applications of percentage in partial payments, taxes, duties, or customs, exchange, average of payments, partnership, analysis, metric system, business calculations.

Geometry and mensuration.—Terms and definitions; plane geometry of lines, angles, triangles, quadrilaterals; proportion, and proportion applied to plane figures. Terms and definitions in mensuration; problems to find solidity, surface, and the several dimensions of the rectangular solids, the pyramid, the sphere, and the cone; general principles of geometry involved, and construction of necessary figures.

Algebra.-Terms, definitions, and principles; simple equations involving two or more unknown quantities of the first degree, quadratics, proportions and progressions, involution, evolution, surds.

WRITING AND DRAWING.

Writing.-Charts; formation and analysis of letters; copy book.
Book-keeping and business forms, &c.

Drawing.-(1) Plane geometric drawing with instruments continued; simple applications of geometrical problems in construction and decoration, using for design simple conventional details of plant forms; two original designs. (2) Historic ornament; rectangular and cylindrical solid objects from copies; dictation and memory exercises.

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.

Physical geography.—(1) The earth as a globe: its form and dimensions; the (probable) condition of its interior; its surface (as land, water, atmosphere). (2) The earth as a planet: Form; rotation and its effects; revolution and its effects (theory of seasons); imaginary circles; maps and map projections. (3) The natural divisions of the earth: (a) Land, including continents, islands, peninsulas, capes, mountains, table lands, plains; (b) water, including oceans, seas, gulfs or bays, straits, lakes, and rivers. (4) Land: The structure of the land; the interior and the crust of the earth; general idea of minerals, rocks (classes of rocks), and fossils in the earth's crust; general