stricted for the Kindergarten. And, again, it must be remembered that to furnish school accommodations to meet the demands of the rapidly growing population of our cities has so severely taxed the resources at command as to make it impracticable, as yet, to make provision for children of a more tender age. Nevertheless, the large study of city sys tems of instruction makes it evident beyond a doubt that provision, either public or charitable, especially for the benefit of indigent children, is an imperative necessity in all considerable cities, but more especially in those of crowded populations. In many foreign countries great progress has already been made in this direction. In Great Britain the infant school is universally regarded as an essential part of the public school system. The infant schools provided by the London school board are numerous and they are admirably installed in commodious buildings. Those visited by me a few years ago were accommodated in new, substantial, and well contrived edifices only one story in height. In England and Wales there were on the rolls in 1882 416,126 infants under five years of age, while in Scotland there were 114,267 enrolled upon the school registers, 25,987 of whom were instructed in infant schools proper.

In France, the infant schools, called maternal schools, a name which seems peculiarly felicitous, are perhaps more thoroughly and systemati cally provided for than in any other country. This province of education is organized into a complete system, with its normal schools, its hierarchy of teachers and inspectors, its program, and its legally prescribed provisions of installation. By a recent report it appears that there were comprised in this system 4,870 maternal schools, with 7,451 teachers and 621,177 children. Mlle. Loizillon, whose report is above referred to, is the general inspectress of these schools. The foremost promoter of improved methods of instruction and training in these schools was Mme. Pape Carpantier, the most eminent female pedagogue of France, who directed the first normal school for the training of infant school teachers. She wrote numerous treatises on the subject. The international jury of the exposition of 1878 was only prevented from awarding her the highest honor for her services by her sudden death, which took place while the jury was in session.

In other countries, by voluntary effort or by public provision, especially in the largest cities, infant schools are more or less extensively maintained for children below the school age. Kindergärten proper are not perhaps very numerous, but the methods of Fröbel's system are making their way very generally into all the varieties of these infant schools.

STUDIES.

The old standard subjects of elementary instruction are uniformly retained, namely, reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geog raphy, and history of the United States: comprising the trivium, or

three R's, of the ancient school for the people, and the quadrivium, which is the accession of a more advanced era, and yet an era preceding the modern school revival, dating back about fifty years. The last half century has witnessed a very considerable increase in the subjects of instruction. These subjects are object teaching, singing, drawing, gymnastics, vocal culture, English literature, natural history, physics, history of England, algebra, metric system, physical geography, physiology (including anatomy and hygiene), geometry and mensuration, bookkeeping, astronomy, the German language, Constitution of the United States, general history, sewing, and perhaps some others. But there has been the greatest diversity with respect to the adoption of these additional subjects. In respect to some of them there has been a great deal of fluctuation and change. Some of them, the German language for example, have never been made obligatory, even where the provision for instruction in them has been the most extensive. There is prob ably no city system where all these subjects, at present, find a place in the program. Some of these subjects have come to be almost as generally considered essential as grammar and geography; among them may be mentioned object teaching, singing, and the elements of drawing. Algebra is probably now a less generally required branch than it was forty years ago. It is now on the optional list in New York, while it is obligatory in Philadelphia. But it is included in very few pro grams. In a few instances, the requirements are not the same for both sexes, a recognition of the fact that the destination in practical life of the sexes is not identical and therefore does not demand an identical education. In Philadelphia, English literature is assigned to the upper class of the girls' schools, while physics is assigned to the upper class of the boys' schools. It is evident that all these new studies cannot be added to the old curriculum without greatly extending the period of elementary instruction or restricting them to very narrow limits. The attempt to introduce too many of them without providing for the necessary limitations in respect to matter and methods has resulted in too many cases in serious evils, such as cramming, the overwork of pupils, and the want of thoroughness in teaching. All these subjects are desirable, but not equally desirable, in an elementary education.

The remedy for the above evils, which are always greatly exaggerated by the enemies of the schools and sometimes by their friends, is not that which is most commonly proposed by hostile and unwise critics, to throw overboard everything but the three R's. The true remedy consists in eliminating a few of the subjects which belong more properly, perhaps, to the high school course, in rigorously limiting the matters to be taught under each head to the requirements of elementary instruction, and in employing the most rational and concentrated methods of teaching. If English literature and algebra be omitted from the list it would be practicable, by the wise and thorough application of the remedy here proposed, to teach all the subjects, both of the old and the

new curriculum, to good purpose without overtasking teachers or pupils. The problem is to know how to do it. This is, perhaps, the problem of problems for the superintendent.

In considering the subject of studies we come into view of the irrepressible controversy in the educational world, the combatants being on the one side the representatives of the aristocratic sentiment and on the other of the democratic. The democratic sentiment is always seeking to widen the base and elevate the standard of the education of the masses. The sentiment of aristocracy, while admitting the utility of giving the masses the rudiments of learning-the old trivium—is always in hostile array against every attempt to advance beyond that minimum. This conflict has been confined to no age or country. It goes on equally under republican and monarchical governments. On the aristocratic side it is beginning to be seen that, with modern improved methods, children cannot be employed on the old subjects alone if they are kept in school regularly during the proper elementary school age. It is therefore claimed by some that it is better for the masses of children to be kept in school only half of the time. But whole-time schooling and a generous curriculum being the evolution resulting from the advancement of the sentiment of democracy, they can be permanently set aside only so far as that sentiment is vanquished and crushed out. The desirable thing to do is not to reduce greatly the subjects of instruction, but to deal with them more wisely in the use of methods and in the framing of programs.

SUPERVISION.

In nearly all cases the school board is aided in the care and management of schools by a superintendent. This officer generally depends on the board for his election and acts subject to its control. He is selected as an educational expert, having usually received a liberal education, having had successful experience in teaching, and having acquired, by observation and study, information more or less extended as to ap proved methods of instruction and school economy in its various departments. He is required to devote himself wholly to the interests of the schools under his charge. His tenure of office is precarious, being subject to an annual or at best a biennial election. Perhaps in a very few exceptional cases the period of tenure is a little more extended. The salary in general does not differ materially from that of the principal of the high school, though probably in the majority of cases it is somewhat higher. In a few cities no superintendent is employed, the entire supervisory and directing service being performed by the members of the board. Such cities are justly regarded as being behind the times. Until recently the great city of Philadelphia belonged to this exceptional category. There are still belonging to it three cities of considerable importance in Essex County, Massachusetts, ranging in population from 13,000 to 27,000. In a vast majority of the cities a single

superintendent is employed. In all the cities of the first class, however, with possibly one exception, one or more assistant superintendents are employed. The number of assistants in New York has risen to seven. In cities of the second class, also, assistant superintendents are beginning to be employed.

The duties of a superintendent are prescribed by the board, and are usually set forth in considerable detail in the rules and regulations. He is commonly regarded as the chief executive officer of the board, although this idea of the functions of his office is seldom, if ever, declared in prescribing its duties. The essential duties of the office are everywhere substantially the same, although in matters of detail there is consider. able diversity among the city systems. The first permanent city superintendency was established in Providence in 1840. The duties prescribed for this officer I have not the means of knowing. One of the

first cities to follow this example, although at a distance of more than a decade, was Boston, and at the head of the list of duties prescribed for the new officer was this:

He shall devote himself to the study of our school system and of the condition of the schools, and shall keep himself acquainted with the progress of instruction and discipline in other places, in order to suggest appropriate means for the advancement of the public schools of this city.

Thus clearly and definitely was enunciated at the outset the highest and most characteristic function of the city superintendent as a professional expert in matters pertaining to public instruction. The supreme importance of this requirement has very generally been recognized by school boards in prescribing the duties of this official.

The duties of superintendents vary considerably according to the size of the system in charge; but personal supervision of the instruction and discipline and of the internal economy and management of the schools are the common requirements of superintendents in cities of all classes. In the smallest cities, the superintendent, being the only agent of the board, is necessarily a man of all work. He not only acts as adviser of the board and of its individual members and supervises, inspects, and examines the schools, but he has to provide, under the direction of the board, for all the material wants of the school. He superintends the repairs on the school-houses and assists in devising plans for new ones; he attends to the providing of fuel; he procures and distributes the supplies, not only of materials and apparatus for instruction, but also brooms, mats, dippers, and such like; audits the bills; prepares the pay rolls of teachers; acts as the secretary of the school board, and makes an annual report exhibiting the progress and condition of the schools. The usefulness of an energetic officer in such a situation, with the versatility of talent requisite for such varied duties, can scarcely be overestimated. In cities of a larger size, the specialization of the executive work is begun by the employment of additional agents for such branches of service as do not require the qualifications of an educational expert. This

specialization goes on with the increase in the size of cities, the functions of the superintendent being correspondingly restricted until, in the very largest cities, as in New York, for example, his duties are mostly limited to what pertains to instruction, discipline, and school manage And even here- that is, in the large cities-we find again further specialization, not only in the employment of assistant superintendents, as above noticed, but also in the employment of special experts, as superintendents and directors of certain branches of instruction, such as modern languages, penmanship, drawing, gymnastics, singing, vocal culture, &c., these specialists being of course subordinate to the super intendent.

The one specific and comprehensive duty expected of every superintendent is to see, so far as practicable, that all the rules and regulations of the board are faithfully observed, not only by the pupils, but by all teachers and employés within the sphere of his authority.

A further analysis of the subject shows that city systems differ, not only in the range of the duties assigned to the superintendent, but in the very considerable diversity which exists in respect to the degree of power and authority with which this officer is invested; and this difference in respect to the limits of power is found to exist even where the sphere of duties is substantially the same. For instance, the superintendents of Boston and St. Louis are alike chiefly occupied with matters pertaining to instruction and school management, but the superintendent of the latter city practically exercises much larger powers than the superintendent of the former. He performs the duties and exercises the powers to a large extent which are assigned in the former, and indeed in most cities, to subcommittees on individual schools or districts. In connection with the committee on teachers he nominates candidates to fill vacancies in the corps of teachers and transfers both teachers and pupils from one school to another, and this means that practically the chief responsibility of this important part of the administration is in his hands.

In Boston, a few years ago, an exceptional and indeed quite abnormal provision was made for supplementing the supervision of the superintendent, which requires a brief notice. This provision consisted in the creation of a board of six supervisors, the superintendent being ex officio chairman. To the individual supervisors certain duties of supervision were assigned, in the performance of which they were responsible neither to their own board nor to the superintendent. Again, certain duties were assigned to the board, the examination of candidates for teachers, for example, irrespective of the superintendent, excepting his right to vote as the presiding officer of the board.

The individual supervisors were clothed with authority to prepare annually a schedule of the merit and standing of each teacher, as a guide for the school board in the annual election of teachers, subject to no control by the superintendent. The board of supervisors submitted