of training as could be desired, the school set apart for this purpose comprising, in too many cases, only the primary grade or some lower grammar classes in addition. They ought also to comprise pupils of each sex. Even so important a normal school as that of Philadelphia has only classes of girls in the grammar grade of its school of practice. Abundant proof of the excellence and success of schools of practice connected with city normal schools is afforded by the fact that parents are very generally anxious to secure places in them for their children.

The plan for the practical work of the students of the St. Louis Normal School includes four features: (1) Visits to the training school for the purpose of observation; (2) object lessons given to classes of children sent to the normal school once a week; (3) teaching a class in the training school, under the supervision of a critic teacher; (4) teaching in the place of absent teachers in any city school.

The study of city normal schools leads me to the conclusion that the type comprised in the second category, mentioned on p. 42, is the normal type of city normal schools. This is the purely professional type. It does not pretend to give academic instruction. It receives only pupils of mature age, who have successfully passed through the high school course of instruction. For admission to the most advanced schools of this kind the applicant must be at least eighteen years of age and must have completed a high school course of four years. In the State normal schools, as a general thing, in the East, at least, much the greater part of the course of instruction is devoted to academic studies. There being no distinct division between the academic and professional instruction, both are carried on simultaneously. There are those who contend that this is the ideal plan of the normal school. The argument in favor of this plan is based mainly on the assumption that normal pupils cannot obtain a good general education in non-professional schools, or, what amounts to the same thing, that a supply of normal pupils who have received the requisite general education cannot be had. But this assumption is not applicable to city systems in this country. The Cincinnati board of education can provide just as good general education for pupils in a school organized as a high school as in a school organized as a normal school, and so can any other city. The normal school forms no exception to the general principle that in all institutions of education both economy and efficiency are promoted by simplification of function. It is not strange, therefore, that the ideal type of the professional school for the training of teachers should be first developed in cities where candidates in sufficient numbers who have completed the high school course present themselves.

The history of the modifications of the provisions for the professional training of teachers in our cities, which have been going on during the last quarter of a century, makes it clear that the tendency has been and is now everywhere towards the purely professional normal school, with its school of practice, comprising pupils of all grades and both sexes,

thoroughly equipped and provided with teachers of the highest order, thus serving the purpose of a school of observation and a practice school.1 The training school of the description referred to above-the most rudimentary type of the training school-takes its first step towards the ideal standard by employing regular teachers in its school of practice, thus leaving its pupil teachers, on the one hand, more time for theo retical study, and, on the other hand, affording them more supervisory direction and criticism in the class room.

In the New York and Philadelphia schools, where the general educa tion and the special training are carried on simultaneously, we observe the gradual evolution of the distinctly professional department, composed of the post graduate pupils. As soon as such a department is clearly differentiated, as is the case with the normal department of the San Francisco school, it only remains to place this department under a compe tent master, wholly devoted to its management and training, and we have the realization of the ideal type of the normal school.

All competent authorities agree in the opinion that a course of special training in the theory and practice of teaching should be insisted upon as a prerequisite to the occupation of teacher. In no department of school economy is there a greater waste of the public money than in the employment of untrained teachers. No doubt very talented young ladies, with only a high school education, often do well, but with an added normal training they would do much better. My own experience and observation in the direction and supervision of normal schools, of all the different descriptions known among us, and of city schools, lead me to conclude that, during the first years of service, the trained teacher is worth about twice as much as the teacher who has had no professional training. No city can afford to employ untrained teachers. Limited advantages of training are better than none, and, as has been shown, the advantages of the rudimentary type of the normal school are easily within the reach of every city. This being the fact, it is not easy to see why our cities have not more generally availed themselves of these advantages. It appears by the latest Report of the Commissioner of Education that the whole number of cities reported in 1882 as having schools or departments for normal training was only twentyone. The actual number was, perhaps, somewhat larger than this; but, all told, it is a small minority of the whole number.

It is a noteworthy fact, as evidence of the slow progress of educational ideas, that in some cities where normal schools have existed for years school boards still continue to refuse the graduates the recognition which is justly their due. In his report for 1883, the superintendent of schools of California remarks in relation to this matter as follows:

There is in connection with the girls' high school a normal class, where some sixty young ladies are prepared annually, at the expense of the city, for the profession of

1 For courses of study in the St. Louis and Boston Normal Schools, the reader is referred to Appendix B.

teaching. The teachers of the lower grades might all be taken from this class. To do so would be a long step in the right direction. Not to do so is to incur expense without a return.

The Cincinnati board, with glaring inconsistency, maintains a normal school and at the same time provides by a solemn ordinance that no preference shall be given to the graduates thereof in the appointment of teachers. In another city in the same State (Dayton), however, we find a sensible contrast to this strange policy in the following remark of the committee on the city normal school:

*

This is the most important department of our educational work. It is the centre, the very heart. Strength or weakness here will soon be felt in every district, grade, and room in the city, for from it most of the teachers come. A favorable comment upon the workers and the work done in the past is that but two are without 'employment.

THE KINDERGARTEN.

The Kindergarten is a school for children from three to six or seven years of age, conducted, both in respect to discipline and instruction, in accordance with the method of training invented and expounded by Fröbel. The Kindergarten differs from the ordinary school both in its aim and methods. In the latter the work of the teacher consists in helping the pupils to acquire a certain amount of positive knowledge, and this is equally the case whether the knowledge taught is for its practical utility or as a means of culture: in substance, its method is the imposition of tasks; if the pupil likes it, well; if not, the obligation is the same. In the French pedagogical nomenclature, therefore, the word that stands for school task (devoir) is very properly the word that signifies duty. Even where courses and studies are optional, the method is the same, for, the course once chosen, performance of the tasks is exacted. The sole aim of the Kindergarten, on the other hand, is the development of the faculties, the communication of practical knowledge for its own sake being wholly ignored. Its method consists, essentially, in superintending and guiding the spontaneous activity of the child. The spontaneous activity of the child is manifested in play; hence its process consists chiefly in ingeniously contrived plays, requiring the exercise of invention, taste, and mechanical skill. It wholly excludes reading and writing, regarding the child as a doer primarily and as a knower subsequently.

The promoters of the Kindergarten differ more or less in their interpretation and application of the system of Fröbel. The chief apostle of the system in America excludes the employment of authority and discipline and the use of imitation as a means of culture and development, while in Vienna, where the Kindergarten has found more favor than in any other European city, authority in government and imitation in training are held to be essential elements in the system. In the normal Kindergarten of that city I saw the rod literally in the hand of the Kindergartner. In America it is held that the number of children in the Kindergarten should not exceed twenty-five, and this is found to

be as many as can be well managed even by a first rate Kindergartner, who is not permitted to use authority in government. In Vienna it was common to find fifty children in a Kindergarten. These illustrations go to show that infant schools recognized as genuine Kindergärten are by no means the same in all their characteristics.

The Kindergarten has been introduced and maintained thus far in our cities chiefly through voluntary effort. The centres from which has radiated the influence in favor of spreading the system are Boston, through the labors of Miss E. P. Peabody and her sister, Mrs. Horace Mann; New York, through the labors of Miss Bölte, now Mrs. Kraus; and St. Louis, through the efforts of Miss Susan E. Blow. Private Kindergärten are now found in many cities and their number is increasing with marked rapidity. They consist, for the most part, of two very different descriptions:

(1) Those for children of wealthy parents. Speaking of the Kindergarten normal or training schools, Mlle. Loizillon, in her recent Report on the Kindergarten in America, says:

It is to be feared that, on account of the reception of children of the wealthier classes who many times have been favored and spoiled at home-certain concessions will be made in the Kindergarten which may be opposed to the principles of the system, and, by introducing disturbing conditions, may have an unfortunate influence on the pupil teachers.1

(2) The free Kindergärten, provided by individual or associate charity for the most indigent class of children. This charity is designed (in the words of one of the reports on the subject) "for the benefit of little children, too young to be admitted to the public schools, who, in winter, are often locked into their comfortless homes while their mothers are out at work, and, in summer, are locked out of them, exposed to all the corrupting influences of the streets and alleys." The initiative has been made in establishing one or the other of these Kindergärten in a considerable number of our cities.

It appears by the Report of the Commissioner of Education that at least some beginning had been made in Kindergarten work in no less. than twenty-eight States and Territories; that there were 348 Kindergarten institutions, with 16,916 pupils, taught by 814 teachers. These Kindergärten are nearly all private establishments, the exceptions being those belonging to the public school systems of St. Louis and Milwaukee. The school board of the latter city decided in 1882 to annex the Kindergarten to the public school system and opened a training school for the training of Kindergarten teachers. Mlle. Loizillon remarks that

It is at St. Louis and at Boston that Kindergärten are found the most interesting to study, not only on account of their number and origin, but also on account of their organization and the unity which presides over their direction.

1 Rapport présenté à M. le ministre de l'instruction publique, page 14,

The flourishing Kindergarten system of St. Louis owes its origin to the singular devotion and ability of Miss Susan E. Blow and the coöperating influence of the former superintendent, Dr. Harris. It dates from 1873. Such was the success that at the end of six years the number of Kindergärten increased to 53, with 196 teachers and an enrolment of 6,202 pupils. After so long an experiment on so large a scale, the eminent superintendent concludes an elaborate and sound discussion of the subject with the expression of the opinion that the advantage to the community in utilizing the age from four to six in the Kindergarten will ultimately prevail in securing to us the establishment of this institution in all the city school systems of our country. In the latest report at hand of the present superintendent (Mr. Edward H. Long), we find that there are upwards of 30 Kindergarten establishments, comprising 60 Kindergärten, each establishment having, as a rule, two Kindergärten, one held in the forenoon and one in the afternoon. They are taught by 231 teachers, of whom 178 are paid and 53 are unpaid, with an average membership of 4,515 and an average daily attendance of 3,926. It is evident, therefore, that in St. Louis the Kindergarten has conquered the right to be, and, moreover, the right to be a constituent part of the school system.

In the mean time the result in Boston has been quite different. The school board established an experimental Kindergarten simultaneously with the movement in St. Louis, in a good neighborhood, where it was eagerly patronized by well-to-do parents.

After this Kindergarten had been in successful operation for several years the superintendent,1 having observed for one year its working, said in substance in his report that, whatever the Kindergarten theory might be, Kindergarten practice seemed to be defective in forming habits of attention and self control, and his conclusion was that the Kindergarten is rather a private charity than a public school. Accordingly, this experimental Kindergarten was closed and a charity system was inaugurated. This charity system owes its origin to Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, the daughter of Agassiz, who alone has furnished the means for its support, with the exception of the use of a certain number of public school rooms allowed for its use free of rent. This charity now supports thirty Kindergärten, comprising 1,800 pupils, and is directed by a competent superintendent. These Kindergärten are located in the poorest sections of the city and have proved an inestimable blessing to the children for whom they are intended.

Considering the liberality in providing for education in our country, the general neglect in regard to infant schools is not easy to account for. One reason for it may be found, perhaps, in the fact that children of five years of age and upwards have been very generally provided for in the primary schools, and the margin below that age is rather re

Dr. Samuel Eliot, elected 1878.

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