Part III. Elementary Education. (1) Powers and duties. School boards

and school attendance committees are abolished and their powers and

duties are transferred to the L.E.A., who are also to be responsible

for and have the control of all secular instruction in public

elementary schools not provided by them (S 5).

(2) Management of schools. (a) For public elementary schools provided

by the L.E.A. (now officially styled "council schools"): (1) in

counties, there is to be a body of six managers, viz. four appointed

by the county council and two by the borough or urban district

council, or parish council or parish meeting as the case may be,

called in the act the minor local authority; (2) in non-county areas,

the L.E.A. (being the borough or urban district council) may, if they

think fit, appoint a body of managers consisting of such number as

they may determine (S 6 [1]).

(b) For schools not provided by the L.E.A. (voluntary schools) the act

directs that there shall be a body of six managers, of whom four are

to be "foundation managers," and two are to be appointed as follows:

in counties, one by the L.E.A. and one by the minor local authority,

and in autonomous boroughs or urban districts both by the borough or

urban district council (S 6 [2]). Directions for the appointment of

foundation managers are given by S 11, which in effect declares that,

unless the trust deed of the school provides for the appointment of

the required number, the foundation managers must be appointed under

an order of the Board of Education, in making which the board are to

have regard to the ownership of the school building and to the

principles on which the education given in the school had been

conducted in the past. It was found necessary for the board to make

over 11,000 of these orders, a heavy task which was rendered the more

formidable by the controversial character of the questions arising

upon trust deeds as to the mode of appointment and the qualifications

of managers.

(3) Maintenance of schools (S 7). (a) Powers. The L.E.A. are required

to maintain and keep efficient all public elementary schools which

were necessary (i.e. which, as defined by S 9, have an average

attendance of not less than thirty), under certain specified

conditions, of which the most material are as follows. The managers

must carry out the directions of the L.E.A. as to the secular

instruction to be given in the school, including any directions with

respect to the number and educational qualifications of the teachers,

and for the dismissal of any teacher on educational grounds (S 7 [1]

[a]). The consent of the L.E.A. is required to the appointment of

teachers, but that consent may not be withheld except on educational

grounds; and the consent of the authority is also required to the

dismissal of a teacher unless the dismissal is on grounds connected

with the giving of religious instruction (S7 [1] [c]).

(b) Liabilities. The managers are required to provide the school

premises to the L.E.A. for use as a public elementary school free of

charge, except that a rent is payable for the teacher's residence

where one exists; and the managers are further required out of funds

provided by them to keep the school premises in good repair and to

make such alterations and improvements in the buildings as might

reasonably be required by the L.E.A. On the other hand, the L.E.A. are

required to make good such damage as they consider to be due to fair

wear and tear of rooms used by them (S 7 [1] [d]). Thus, by virtue of

the teacher's house rent and the wear-and-tear allowance the voluntary

managers secured a valuable set-off against the cost of ordinary

repairs.

Any question arising under this section (S 7) between the L.E.A. and

the managers of a voluntary school is to be determined by the Board of

Education (S 7 [3]).

It is further provided with respect to teachers in voluntary schools

that assistant teachers and pupil teachers may be appointed "if it is

thought fit" without reference to religious creed and denomination,

and in any case in which there are more candidates for the post of

pupil teacher than there are places to be filled, the appointment is

to be made by the L.E.A. (S 7. [5]).

A provision, S 7 (6), known from the name of its author (d. 1908),

Colonel Kenyon Slaney, M.P., as the Kenyon-Slaney clause, attracted

considerable attention and formed the subject of much ecclesiastical

controversy during the passage of the bill through parliament. The

Kenyon-Slaney clause requires the religious instruction in voluntary

schools to be in accordance with the provisions (if any) of the trust

deed, but also to be under the control of the managers as a whole,

whereas the common form of trust deed of the National Society reserves

the control of religious instruction to the clergyman, whilst the

clause was equally in conflict with the well-known sacerdotal

principles of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus the clause represented a

revival, as did the questions with respect to foundation managers, of

the early controversy over the management clauses of the Committee of

Council on Education. Its special interest lies, not so much in its

intrinsic importance, as in the precedent it affords, specially

notable as emanating from a Conservative source, for the overruling of

trust deeds upon grounds of public policy. By way of saving another

familiar provision of the trust deeds, a proviso to the Kenyon-Slaney

clause reserves the existing trust-deed rights of appeal to the bishop

or other denominational authority as to the character of the religious

instruction.

_Provision of New Schools._--New schools may be provided either by the

L.E.A. or any other persons, subject to the issue of three months'

public notice, and to a right of appeal on the part of the managers of

any existing school, the L.E.A. (in the case of proposed voluntary

schools) or any ten ratepayers of the district, to the Board of

Education on the ground that the proposed school is not required, or

that a school provided by the L.E.A., or not so provided, as the case

might be, is better suited to meet the wants of the district than the

proposed school. Any enlargement of a public elementary school which

in the opinion of the Board of Education is such as to amount to the

provision of a new school is to be so treated for the purposes of the

section, and any transfer of a school to or from the L.E.A. must be

treated as the provision of a new school. In deciding appeals as to

new schools and in determining a case of dispute whether a school was

necessary or not, the board are directed to have regard to the

interest of secular instruction, the wishes of parents as to the

education of children, and the economy of the rates, but existing

schools are not to be considered unnecessary if the average attendance

is not less than thirty (SS 8-9). The last-mentioned canons have

played a prominent part in subsequent discussions. Experience of these

sections has shown that though it is extremely difficult to set up new

voluntary schools in face of opposition from the L.E.A., such

opposition is rarely offered or pressed where any really strong local

demand is shown to exist.

_Aid Grant._--Section 10 provides a new aid grant payable to the

L.E.A. in respect of the number of scholars in average attendance in

schools maintained by them. This new grant, calculated by an elaborate

method which need not here be set out, took the place of the grants

under the Voluntary Schools Act 1897, and S 97 of the act of 1870 as

amended by the Elementary Education Act 1897.

_Education Committees._--The constitution of education committees is

dealt with by S 17. All councils having powers under the act, except

those having concurrent powers as to higher education only, must

establish education committees in accordance with schemes made by the

councils and approved by the Board of Education (S 17 [1]). A scheme

may provide for more than one education committee under a single

council, but before approving such a scheme the board must satisfy

themselves that due regard is paid to the importance of the general

co-ordination of all forms of education (S 17 [6]). All matters

relating to the exercise by a council of their powers under the act,

except the power of raising a rate or borrowing money, stand referred

to the education committee; the council may also delegate to the

education committee any of their powers other than financial powers as

above (S 17 [2]). Every scheme must provide (a) for the appointment of

a majority of the committee by the council, the persons so appointed

to be persons who are members of the council unless in the case of a

county the council otherwise determine; (b) for the appointment by the

council, on the nomination or recommendation, where it appears

desirable, of other bodies (including associations of voluntary

schools) of persons of experience in education, and of persons

acquainted with the needs of the various kinds of schools in the area

of the council; (c) for the inclusion of women. Provision was also

made (d) for the representation in the first instance of members of

existing school boards (S 17 [3]).

_Expenses._--All parliamentary grants are made payable to the L.E.A.

instead of as previously to the managers (S 18 [2]). The county

council must charge a proportion of all capital expenditure and

liabilities, including rent, on account of the provision or

improvement of any public elementary school on the parish or parishes

which in the opinion of the council are served by the school, such

proportion to be not less than one-half or more than three-fourths as

the council think fit (S 18 [1] [c] [d]). The county council may also

if they think fit charge on the parishes benefited any expenses

incurred with respect to education other than elementary (S 18 [1]

[a]).

_Endowments._--The act introduced a new principle into the

administration of endowments by directing that their income so far as

necessarily applicable in any case for those purposes of a public

elementary school for which the local authority are liable must be

paid to that authority for the relief of the parochial rate (S 13). As

the result of technicalities of legal interpretation the section has

been found to have in practice a narrower scope than had been

generally anticipated.

The act of 1902 was extended to London by a separate act in 1903,

containing certain special provisions of only minor importance.

"Passive resistance" to 1902 act. Default Act 1904.

The hostility of Nonconformists to the extension of rate-aid to

denominational schools led to the organization upon a considerable scale

of what became known as the "Passive Resistance" movement, a number of

Nonconformist rate-payers refusing to pay the education rate on the

ground that their consciences forbade their supporting the religious

teaching in denominational schools; and their willingness to become

subject to distraint and consequent inconveniences rather than pay the

rates became the foundation of a widespread political campaign. In

Wales, where in the rural districts the schools were commonly Anglican

whilst the population was Nonconformist, particular difficulties arose

in administering the act in consequence of the hostile attitude of the

county authorities. Friction likewise manifested itself in one or two

English areas, which reflected militant Nonconformist views. Accordingly

the government passed the Local Education (Local Authority Default) Act

1904, empowering the Board of Education, in the case of default by the

local authority, to make payments direct to the managers of the school

and to deduct the amount from the sums payable to the defaulting

authority on account of parliamentary grants.

Bill of 1906.

When the liberal party came into power again in 1906, Mr Birrell as

president of the Board of Education in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's

administration introduced a bill to amend the Education Acts 1902-1903,

with the object of securing full public control of all rate-aided

schools and the appointment of teachers without reference to religious

belief. The bill was of a highly complex character; its principal

features were,--compulsory transfer of existing voluntary schools to the

local authority, facilities for the giving of denominational instruction

in transferred schools out of school hours by persons other than the

regular teachers, and the recognition in populous districts, upon the

demand of parents, of special publicly maintained schools in which

denominational teaching could be included in the curriculum; the latter

schools might (according to the bill as finally amended) in the last

resort, i.e. if the local authority refused to maintain them, be

recognized as state-aided schools. The bill encountered strong

opposition from Anglicans and Catholics (though the Catholic Irish

members finally voted for it as amended); it passed the House of Commons

by a large majority, but after unavailing attempts at compromise upon

the amendments introduced in the House of Lords, the two Houses failed

to agree and the measure was lost.

Bills of 1908.

Mr Birrell was soon transferred to another office, and nothing more was

done to amend the act of 1902 till early in the session of 1908, his

successor Mr McKenna introduced a bill based on what was known as

"contracting out." In single-school parishes the existing schools were

to be compulsorily transferred, subject to the grant of denominational

facilities out of school hours; elsewhere a sufficiency of places in

schools with Cowper-Temple teaching, which the bill proposed to make

compulsory in all provided schools, must be supplied by the local

authority, while existing voluntary schools might become state-aided

schools upon terms of receiving a grant of 47s. per head. The bill was

accompanied by a financial scheme for a new system of allocating the

parliamentary grant. In view of the improbability of its passing into

law the bill was not pressed beyond the stage of second reading.

Meanwhile, when Mr Asquith reorganized the cabinet, Mr Runciman

succeeded Mr McKenna at the education office, and in the autumn he

introduced a fresh measure framed as the result of negotiations between

the government and the archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Randall Davidson)

and designed to be passed rapidly through parliament by consent of all

parties. Mr Runciman's bill, like his predecessor's, was based upon the

principle of compulsory transfer in single-school parishes and

contracting out elsewhere, but it gave a right of entry for

denominational teaching on two days a week during school hours in all

council schools whether transferred voluntary schools or otherwise, with

liberty to employ for this purpose assistant teachers, but not (save

temporarily at first in transferred schools) head teachers. Provision

was also made for the payment of a small rent which would be applicable

for or towards the cost of the denominational instruction.

Unfortunately, the compromise failed at the last moment for want of

agreement as to the financial terms of "contracting out," the government

offering 50s. per head and the Church demanding 7s. more. It is obvious

that "contracting out" is open to serious objection upon educational and

economic grounds, and that if resorted to upon any very considerable

scale it would involve a disruption of the public elementary system, and

a duplication of schools which would constitute a wasteful drain upon

the national exchequer. Upon such a system, therefore, some check is

necessary, and, once decided that the check should take the form of

financial pressure, rather than request of parents as in Mr Birrell's

bill, or some form of administrative control, the question of pecuniary

terms became one of principle and not merely of financial detail.

Moreover, the difficulty of adjusting differences was intensified by the

opposition of the extremists on either side, which daily gathered force,

and the bill was withdrawn by the government when in committee of the

House of Commons. The conciliatory efforts of Mr Runciman and Dr Randall

Davidson revealed the existence of a considerable body of influential

opinion among all schools of thought in favour of a national compromise,

and the proposals embodied in the bill marked on the part both of

Churchmen and Nonconformists important concessions to each other's

views, engendering reasonable hopes of an ultimate settlement being

reached at no distant date.

Feeding of school children.

Two subsidiary points as regards educational machinery have to be noted.

The Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906 enabled local education

authorities to aid voluntary agencies in the provision of meals for

children attending public elementary schools, and in certain cases with

the consent of the Board of Education to defray the cost of the food

themselves. In 1907-1908 forty, and in 1908-1909 seventy-five

authorities in England and Wales were authorized by the board to expend

moneys from the rates on food under this act. In addition, a number of

authorities expended funds on equipment and service.

Medical inspection.

In 1907 an uncontroversial act entitled the Education (Administrative

Provisions) Act, besides dealing with various matters of technical and

administrative detail, laid upon local education authorities the new

duty of providing for the medical inspection of all children attending

public elementary schools. In connexion with this act the Board of

Education established a medical department to advise and assist them in

supervising local education authorities in carrying out their statutory

duties in this regard. The whole departure is significant of the new

sense of the importance of physical culture and hygiene which has been

one of the remarkable features in recent educational developments.

General progress in elementary education.

Sir Joshua Fitch, in his article on education in the 10th edition of

this work, describes how experience had led the Education Department to

abandon the system of payment by results, to establish "in place of

testing the proficiency of individual scholars,... one summary estimate

of the work of the school; in place of an annual examination, occasional

inspection without notice; in place of a variable grant dependent on a

report in detail on the several subjects of instruction and on

particular educational merits and defects, one block grant payable to

all schools alike." He at the same time expressed some misgiving as to

the effect of "so large a relaxation of the conditions by which it had

hitherto been sought to secure accuracy and thoroughness in teaching."

The act of 1902, by placing secular education in public elementary

schools under the control of strongly organized local education

authorities may be said to have largely removed such dangers as were to

be apprehended from the relaxation in question. Thus it was possible for

the Board of Education in the code of 1904 to abolish the last traces of

the system of payment by results, by setting forth (in the language of

their report for 1903-1904) "a properly co-ordinated curriculum suitable

to the needs of the children, with an indication of the relation which

the various subjects of instruction should bear to each other, in place

of the relatively haphazard list of possible branches of knowledge which

were formerly presented to the choice of individual schools or

authorities." In the new code also the board for the first time

endeavoured to state for the guidance of teachers and parents the proper

aim of the public elementary school, laying stress upon that element of

the training of character which the system of payment by results had so

unfortunately obscured. The new spirit was strikingly manifested in the

volume of _Suggestions for the Considerations of Teachers_, issued by

the Board of Education in 1905. This volume represented a notable

attempt to connect administration with educational theory, without in

any way seeking to crush individual initiative, or to impose a

bureaucratic uniformity of method upon those engaged in the actual work

of the schools. Apprehension of the true aim of elementary education as

essentially and primarily a preparation for practical life has led to a

corresponding development of instruction of a practical character,

observation lessons and nature study being treated as a necessary

element in the curriculum, while handicraft and gardening, and domestic

subjects (for girls), are encouraged by special grants. Particular

attention has been bestowed both by the central and local authorities

upon the problem of rural instruction, and much has been done in many

areas to bring the schools into closer relations with the needs of

agricultural and rural life generally. In this way the old and perhaps

not altogether ill-founded distrust of popular education as tending to

unfit the working classes for industrial pursuits is being broken down

and a public opinion more favourable to educational progress in the

widest sense is being created.

According to the official returns for 1907-1908, the total number of

scholars on the registers (England only) was as follows:--council

schools, 2,991,741; voluntary schools, 2,566,030; total, 5,557,771, and

the total attendance upon which grant was paid was 4,928,659. The

percentage of actual average attendance to average number on the

registers was 88.50%. The parliamentary grant (England and Wales) for

elementary schools, other than higher elementary, amounted to

L11,023,433.

Higher elementary schools.

The development of higher elementary education in England is now

proceeding very much upon the lines that have been noted in France. The

old higher-grade board-schools (declared illegal under the Elementary

Education Acts by the judgment in the case of _Rex_ v. _Cockerton_ in

1901, and legalized temporarily by an act passed for the purpose in the

same year) were mostly converted into municipal secondary schools under

the act of 1902. In the succeeding years provision was made in the code

for higher elementary schools of a specialized and technical type

intended only for industrial districts. In 1906, as the result of the

recommendations of the Consultative Committee, a new type of higher

elementary school was admitted for children over twelve, corresponding

generally to the French _ecole primaire superieure_, described as having

"for its object the development of the education given in the ordinary

public elementary school, and the provision of special instruction

bearing on the future occupations of the scholars, whether boys or

girls." It may be possible to supplement this system in the rural areas

to some extent by "higher tops" to the ordinary elementary schools in

cases where it is not practicable to establish a fully organised higher

elementary school; but for such "higher tops" no central grant is

available. The total number of scholars upon the registers of higher

elementary schools (England) in 1907-1908 was: New Type, 3178 (against

2715 in the previous year); Old Type, 4492 (against 5866 in the previous

year).

Expenditure on elementary education.

The total expenditure (exclusive of capital outlay) of the local

authorities (1906-1907) in England only upon elementary education,

including "industrial" and "special" schools, was L19,776,733, of which

(a) L10,408,242 was met by the ordinary parliamentary grant, and (b)

L8,930,468 was the balance required to be met by rates, the difference

being represented by receipts from various sources. The average cost per

child of elementary schools in England and Wales (excluding London) may

be taken at L3 (including London L3, 4s. 10d.), and the average central

grant (excluding grants for special purposes) at 41s., leaving 19s. to

be raised locally.

Preliminary training of elementary teachers.

The training of teachers for the two great branches of public education,

elementary and secondary respectively, is an important part of the

general administrative problem. Since the middle of the 19th century

there has been a great development of public opinion with regard to

their professional qualifications. Sir Joshua Fitch (_Ency. Brit._ 10th

ed.) pointed out that the full appreciation of the importance of

training began at the lower end of the social scale. Shuttleworth and

Tufnell in 1846 urged the necessity of special training for the primary

teacher, and hoped to establish State Training Colleges to supply this

want; but the one college at Battersea which was founded as an

experiment was soon transferred to the National Society (the "National

Society for educating the poor in the principles of the Established

Church": founded in 1811). Before this, Bell and Lancaster had made

arrangements in their model schools for the reception of a few young

people to learn the system by practice. In Glasgow, David Stow, who

founded in 1826 the Normal Seminary which afterwards became the Free

Church College, was one of the first to insist on the need of systematic

professional preparation. The religious bodies in England, notably the

Established Church, availed themselves promptly of the failure of the

central government, and a number of diocesan colleges for men, and

separately for women, were gradually established. In 1854 the British

and Foreign School Society (founded 1808) placed their institutes at the

Borough Road and Stockwell on a collegiate footing, and subsequently

founded other colleges at Swansea, Bangor, Darlington and Saffron

Walden; the Roman Catholic Church provided two for women and one for

men; and the Wesleyans two, one for each sex. The new provincial

colleges of university rank were invited by the Education Department to

attach normal classes to their ordinary course and to make provision for

special training and suitable practice in schools for those students who

desired to become teachers. Thus the government came to recognize two

kinds of training schools--the residential colleges of the old type and

the day colleges attached to institutions of university rank; both were

subsidized by grants from the Treasury, and regularly inspected. As the

need of special training for teachers became further recognized by the

consideration of the same question as regards teachers in higher and

intermediate schools (Cambridge instituting in 1879 examinations for a

teacher's diploma, and other universities providing courses for

secondary as well as primary teachers, and establishing professorships

of education), the attitude of the government, i.e. the Board of

Education, towards the problem gradually became more and more a subject

of controversy and of public interest, as indicated by the clause in the

Act of 1899 providing for a public registration of qualified teachers

and for the gradual elimination from the profession of those who were

unqualified. And meanwhile the increased solidarity of the National

Union of Teachers (founded in 1870), the trade union, so to speak, of

the teachers, brought an important body of professional opinion to bear

on the discussion of their own interests.

The question of the preliminary education of elementary teachers had

after some years of discussion reached a critical stage in 1909. The

history of pupil teachership as a method of concurrent instruction and

employment shows that it was in its inception something in the nature of

a makeshift; the ideal placed before local education authorities in the

recent regulations and reports of the Board of Education is the

alternative system whereby with the aid of national bursaries

(instituted in 1907) "the general education of future teachers may be

continued in secondary schools until the age of seventeen or eighteen,

and all attempts to obtain a practical experience of elementary school

work may be deferred until the training college is entered, or at least

until an examination making a natural break in that general education

and qualifying for an admission to a training college has been passed."

Under the revised pupil-teacher system established by the regulations of

1903 provision is made for the instruction of pupil teachers in centres

which as far as possible are attached to secondary schools receiving

grants from the Board of Education under the regulations for secondary

schools, about two-thirds of the secondary schools on the grant list

undertaking this work. Accordingly, the result of recent changes is to

modify the old system in two ways: first by providing the alternative of

a full course of secondary education, secondly by associating pupil

teachership itself as far as possible with part-time attendance at a

secondary school. The total number of pupil teachers recognized during

the year 1907-1908 was 20,571, and of these 9770 were in centres forming

integral parts of secondary schools. The number of bursars who passed

the leaving examination was 1486.

Training colleges.

One of the principal difficulties which confronted the state and the

local authorities in their task of organizing an improved system of

public education under the act of 1902 lay in the deficiency of training

colleges in view of the increased number of teachers. Local authorities

naturally hesitated to burden themselves with the cost of providing such

institutions in view of the fact that there is nothing to prevent

teachers trained at great expense by one authority taking service under

a less public-spirited authority who had contributed nothing to such

training; hence a widespread feeling that the provision of training

colleges should be undertaken by the state as a matter of national

concern. Under these circumstances a new system of building grants in

aid of the establishment of training colleges was instituted in 1905. In

1906 these grants were raised from 25 to 75% of the capital expenditure,

but were limited to colleges provided by local authorities. A further

difficulty in view of the municipalization of education arose from the

fact that the majority of the residential colleges were in the hands of

denominational trusts which did not admit a conscience clause. Under the

presidency of Mr McKenna in 1907, the Board of Education, in regulations

which excited much controversy, "with a view to throwing open as far as

possible the advantages of a course of training in colleges supported

mainly by public funds to all students who are qualified to profit by it

irrespective of religious creed or social status," laid down that the

application of a candidate might in no circumstances be rejected on any

religious ground, nor on the ground of social antecedents or the like.

The same regulations provided that no new training colleges would be

recognized except on terms of compliance with certain conditions as to

freedom from denominational restrictions or requirements. The obligation

as to religious exemptions has since been limited to 50% of the

admissions. There were in attendance (_Statistics_, England, 1907-1908)

in the various colleges, 6561 women and 2835 men, of whom 1619 women and

335 men were in colleges provided by local education authorities. The

grants made by the Board of Education for training colleges were as

follows: maintenance grants L383,851; building grants L45,000. These

figures include Wales.

Continuative education.

The fear has been widely entertained that a considerable part of the

national expenditure upon elementary education is wasted for want of an

effective system of continuative instruction to be given out of working

hours to adolescents engaged in industrial employment. The whole subject

was exhaustively treated by the report in 1909 of the Consultative

Committee of the Board of Education. This report seeks to base an

efficient continuative system upon the improvement of elementary

education by reducing the size of the classes in the elementary schools

upon the lines now laid down by the new staffing regulations of 1909; by

increasing the amount of instruction in hand-work with a view to

rendering the curriculum less bookish and more efficient as a training

for industrial and agricultural life; and by legislation to reform the

system of half-time attendance and raise the age of compulsory

attendance to thirteen and ultimately fourteen. Upon the foundation of

an improved and prolonged elementary education there would be reared a

superstructure of continuative schools or classes, attendance at which

up to seventeen would be compulsory under bye-laws adoptive locally at

the option of the local education authorities. In 1906-1907 about 21 per

thousand of the population of England and Wales attended evening schools

and classes inspected by the Board of Education, and grant amounting to

L361,596 was paid in respect of 440,718 regular attendants.

Secondary education.

The most marked progress has undoubtedly been in secondary education,

and in no direction has the act of 1902 proved more fruitful. At the end

of the 19th century secondary instruction in England was still provided

chiefly by endowed grammar-schools, by proprietary schools established

by religious bodies or joint-stock companies, and by private enterprise.

No public provision was made for secondary education as such; what

financial assistance was forthcoming from municipal sources was given

indirectly under cover of the grants under the Technical Instruction

Acts, while in the administration of central grants for the first years

of the working of the Board of Education Act 1899, no absolute

differentiation between secondary and technological functions was

recognized. The establishment of local authorities with direct duties in

respect of secondary education, and the reorganization of the central

office with reference to the three branches of education, elementary,

secondary and technological, rendered possible for the first time an

adequate treatment of the problem of public secondary education as a

whole. "The regulations for secondary schools," says the prefatory

memorandum to the regulations of the Board of Education, "grew up round

the old provisions of the Directory of the Science and Art Department.

Detached science classes were gradually built up into schools of

science. Schools of science were subsequently widened into schools of

what was known as the 'Division A' type, providing a course of

instruction in science in connexion with, and as part of, a course of

general education. Aid was afterwards extended to schools of the

'Division B' type in which science did not form the preponderating

element of the instruction given. In 1904 the board recast the

regulations so as to bring all schools aided by grants within the

general definition of a school offering a general education up to and

beyond the age of sixteen through a complete graded course of

instruction, the object of which should be to develop all the faculties,

and to form the habit of exercising them."

Two main tendencies distinguish the recent development: on the one hand

the tendency to municipalization, or at least to the establishment of

public control; on the other hand the tendency (marked especially by the

regulations of 1907) to greater elasticity in regard to curricula, and

so to the freer encouragement of local initiative and local effort.

In 1907 the government of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman placed greatly

increased funds at the disposal of the Board of Education for the

purpose of secondary education. The regulations under which the

increased grant was administered imposed conditions in respect of

freedom from denominational restrictions or requirements, representative

local control, and accessibility to all classes of the people, which,

like the analogous rules with regard to training colleges, roused

considerable controversy. With regard to religious instruction, the

requirement was made that no catechism or formulary distinctive of any

particular religious denomination might be taught in the school except

upon the request in writing of the parent or guardian and at the cost of

funds other than grants of public money. Power was at the same time

reserved to the board to waive the new conditions in the event of the

local education authority passing a resolution that the school was in

their view required as part of the secondary school provision for their

area, and that the conditions, or one or more of them, might be waived

with advantage in view of the educational needs of the area. It will be

noticed that one effect of the regulations (as of the training college

regulations) was to recognize as a kind of established religion those

elements of Christianity which are shared in common by the various

Protestant churches, according to the system of Lancaster and the

Cowper-Temple compromise. Normally schools are required to provide 25%

of free places for scholars from public elementary schools, and, with a

view to encouraging the transference of children from the public

elementary school at an early age, a grant of L2 was made payable on

account of ex-public elementary scholars between ten and twelve years of

age. The full scale of grants is L2 for ex-public elementary scholars

between ten and twelve, and L5 for scholars between twelve and eighteen.

To schools previously recognized and failing to comply with the new

conditions, grant may be paid on the lower scale of L2 and L2, 10s.

respectively.

Secondary school grants are assessed upon average attendance, and

efficiency is guaranteed by inspection and not by individual

examination. All recognized schools must provide at least the

substantial equivalent of the four-years' course formerly required, and

recognition is withheld or withdrawn if an adequate number of the

scholars do not remain at least four years in the school, or do not

remain up to sixteen; in rural areas, however, and small towns, a school

life of three years and a leaving age of fifteen may be accepted. "The

board are now in a position, through their inspectorate, to keep a watch

and exercise a guidance which were previously impossible over the

planning and working of school curricula. Detailed reports following

upon full inspections, and the more constant if less obvious influence

exercised through informal visits, conferences, reports and suggestions,

may now be relied upon to guard against the risks of one-sided

education, of ill-balanced schemes of instruction, and of premature or

excessive specialization" (Report of Board of Education, 1906-1907, page

68). The curriculum must provide instruction duly graded and duly

continuous, in the English language and literature, in geography and

history, in mathematics, science and drawing, and in at least one

language other than English. Where two languages other than English are

taken, Latin must ordinarily be one. Provision must be made for

organized games, physical exercises and manual instruction, and in

girls' schools science and mathematics other than arithmetic may be

replaced by an approved scheme of practical housewifery for girls over

fifteen. The total number of secondary schools recognized for grant

(_Statistics_, 1907-1908) was 736, of which only 220 were directly

provided by local authorities. The number of pupils in attendance was

68,104 boys and 56,359 girls, total 124,463. The government grants for

1907-1908 amounted to L320,873 besides grants from local authorities.

_Wales._

Notwithstanding the important differences which exist between the social

and especially the religious conditions of England and Wales

respectively, Wales continued to be treated as one with England for

purposes of educational administration down to quite recent years.

Towards the end of the 19th century the striking revival of Welsh

nationality, in itself largely an educational and a literary movement,

led to a spontaneous demand among the Welsh people for the organization

of a national system of higher education. In accordance with the

recommendations of a special royal commission the Welsh Intermediate

Education Act passed in 1889 provided for the creation in every county

in Wales (including Monmouthshire) of joint education committees

consisting of three nominees of the county council and two nominees of

the lord president of the council. To these committees were entrusted

the duties of framing (under the Charity Commissioners) schemes for the

establishment of intermediate and technical schools and for the

application of endowments, and for administering a 1/2d. county rate,

which was supplemented by a treasury grant not exceeding the amount

raised by the rate. Certain supervisory functions were entrusted to a

Central Education Board, to which are committed the duties of inspection

and examination. The joint education committees have now (except for the

purpose of framing schemes for endowments) been superseded by the local

education authorities under the act of 1902. The public assistance

afforded to secondary education in Wales under the Intermediate Act is

supplemented by the grants of the Board of Education, and the Board's

revised Secondary School Regulations were applied to Wales in 1908.

There were (1907-1908) 92 county secondary schools in Wales administered

under schemes made under the Welsh Intermediate Act, attended by 6235

boys and 6727 girls, total 12,962; and 12 other secondary schools, of

which 8 were provided by local authorities. The total attendance at all

secondary schools was 13,615, viz. 6819 boys and 6796 girls. The Board

of Education grant amounted to L31,090. The expenditure of the local

authorities for the year 1906-1907 was L85,242.

The number of scholars on the registers of ordinary public elementary

schools in Wales was (_Statistics_, 1907-1908), in council schools

330,413, and in voluntary schools 100,290, total 430,703. The percentage

of average attendance was 86.98. The ordinary parliamentary grant

(1906-1907) was L794,161, and the net expenditure of local authorities

L561,234.

In 1907 a Welsh department of the Board of Education was established

with a permanent secretary and a chief inspector, each responsible

directly to the president. A movement was in progress in Wales in

1908-1909 for the creation of a national council of education under an

independent minister, but this change could in any case only be effected

by legislation; and meanwhile the special religious and social

conditions in Wales caused administrative difficulties in working an act

(that of 1902) primarily designed to meet those prevailing in England.

(G. B. M. C.)

_United States._

Beginnings.

_History._--The first white settlers who came to North America were

typical representatives of those European peoples who had made more

progress in civilization than any other in the world. Those settlers, in

particular those from England and from Holland, brought with them the

most advanced ideas of the time on the subject of education. The

conditions of life in the New World emphasized the need of schools and

colleges, and among the earliest public acts of the settlers were

provisions to establish them. The steps taken between 1619 and 1622 to

provide schools for the colony of Virginia were frustrated by the Indian

war which broke out in the latter year, and were never successfully

renewed during the colonial period. In New York, where the influence of

the Dutch was at first predominant, elementary schools were maintained

at the public expense, and were intended for the education of all

classes of the population. This policy reflected the very advanced views

as to public elementary education which were then held in the

Netherlands. The assumption of control in the colony of New York by the

English was a distinct check to the development of public elementary

education, and little or no further progress was made until after the

Revolution. The most systematic educational policy was pursued in the

colony of Massachusetts. As early as 1635, five years after it was

founded, the town of Boston took action to the end that "our brother

Philemon Pormort shall be entreated to become schoolmaster for the

teaching and nurturing children with us." The General Court of the

colony in 1636 made the first appropriation for what was to become

Harvard College, taking its name in honour of the minister, John

Harvard, who died in 1638, leaving his library and one-half of his

property, having a value of L800, to the new institution. The amount of

this appropriation of 1636 (L400) was remarkable in that it was probably

equal to the whole colony tax for a year. In 1642 followed a legislative

act which, while saying nothing of schools, gave to the selectmen in

every town power to oversee both the education and the employment of

children. It is made the duty of the selectmen to see that the children

can read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws

of the country, and that they are put to some useful work.

Five years later, in 1647, was enacted the law which is not only the

real foundation of the Massachusetts school system, but the type of

later legislation throughout the United States. This epoch-making act,

the first of its kind in the world, represented the public opinion of a

colony of about 20,000 persons, living in thirty towns. It required

every town of fifty house-holders to establish a school, the master of

which should be paid either by the parents of the children taught or by

public tax, as the majority of the town committee might decide; and it

further required every town of one hundred families or house-holders to

set up a grammar school in which pupils might be prepared for the

"University," as the new institution at Cambridge was designated.

Moreover, a penalty was attached to neglect of this legislative

requirement, in the form of a fine to be devoted to the maintenance of

the nearest school. Horace Mann said of the act of 1647: "It is

impossible for us adequately to conceive the boldness of the measure,

which aimed at universal education through the establishment of free

schools. As a fact it had no precedent in the world's history; and, as a

theory, it could have been refuted and silenced by a more formidable

array of argument and experience than was ever marshalled against any

other institution of human origin. But time has ratified its soundness.

Two centuries of successful operation now proclaim it to be as wise as

it was courageous, and as beneficent as it was disinterested." The

significance of these acts of 1642 and 1647 is that they foreshadow the

whole American system of education, including elementary schools,

secondary schools and colleges, and that they indicate the principles

upon which that system rests. These principles as summarized by George

H. Martin in his _Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School System_

are the following:--(1) The universal education of youth is essential to

the well-being of the state. (2) The obligation to furnish this

education rests primarily upon the parent. (3) The state has a right to

enforce this obligation. (4) The state may fix a standard which shall

determine the kind of education and the minimum amount. (5) Public money

raised by general tax may be used to provide such education as the state

requires. The tax may be general, though the school attendance is not.

(6) Education higher than the rudiments may be supplied by the state.

Opportunity must be provided at the public expense for youths who wish

to be fitted for college. These principles have now found expression in

the public acts of every state, and upon them education in the United

States is founded.

Development.

Despite the praiseworthy attempts made in New York, New Jersey and

Pennsylvania to develop schools and school systems, very little was

accomplished in those colonies which was permanent. The sentiment in the

more southern colonies was, as a rule, unfriendly to free schools, and

nothing of importance was attempted in that section of the country until

the time of Thomas Jefferson. Through religious zeal or philanthropy

colleges were founded as far south as Virginia, and no fewer than ten of

these institutions were in operation in 1776. Their present names and

the dates of their foundation are: Harvard University, Massachusetts

(1636); College of William and Mary, Virginia (1693); Yale University,

Connecticut (1701); Princeton University, New Jersey (1746); Washington

and Lee University, Virginia (1749); University of Pennsylvania,

Pennsylvania (1749); Columbia University, New York (1754); Brown

University, Rhode Island (1764); Rutgers College, New Jersey (1766); and

Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (1769). In the colleges the

ecclesiastical spirit was at first almost uniformly dominant. The

greater number of their students were preparing for the ministry in some

one of the branches of the Protestant Church. These facts caused the

grammar schools to take on more and more the character of

college-preparatory schools; and when this was brought about they

supplied the educational needs of but one portion of the community. As

time passed, the interdependence of governmental and ecclesiastical

interests began to weaken in the colonies, and there arose among those

who represented the new secularizing tendency a distrust of the colleges

and their influence. This gave rise to a new and influential type of

school, the academy, which took its name from the secondary schools

established in England by the dissenting religious bodies during the

latter part of the seventeenth century at the suggestion of Milton.

These academies were intended to give an education which was thought to

be more practical than that offered by the colleges, and they drew their

students from the so-called middle classes of society. The older

academies were usually endowed institutions, organized under the control

of religious organizations or of self-perpetuating boards of trustees.

Their programme of studies was less restricted than that of the grammar

schools, and they gave new emphasis to the study of the English language

and its literature, of mathematics and of the new sciences of nature.

For two generations the academies were a most beneficent factor in

American education, and they supplied a large number of the

better-prepared teachers for work in other schools. These schools were

in a sense public in that they were chartered, but they were not

directly under public control in their management. Early in the 19th

century there arose a well-defined demand for public secondary

schools--high schools, as they are popularly known. They were the direct

outgrowth of the elementary school system. Boston, Philadelphia,

Baltimore and New York were the first of the large cities to establish

schools of this type, and they spread rapidly. These public secondary

schools met with opposition, however, springing partly from the friends

of the academies, and partly from those who held that governmental

agency should be restricted to the field of elementary education. The

legal questions raised were settled by a decision of the supreme court

of Michigan, which contained these 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 their voters consent, in regular form, to bear the expense and raise

the taxes for the purpose." This decision gave marked impetus to the

development of public secondary or high schools, and they have increased

rapidly in number. The academies have relatively declined, and in the

Western states are almost unknown.

Meanwhile the elementary school system had grown rapidly. The school

district, the smallest civil division, was created in Connecticut in

1701, in Rhode Island about 1750, and in Massachusetts in 1789. From the

point of view of efficient, well-supported schools, it has been felt

since the time of Horace Mann that the substitution of the small school

district for the town as the unit of school administration was a

mistake. Yet the school district has exercised a profound influence for

good upon the American people. In New York state, for example, there

were in 1900 over eleven thousand school districts, and in Illinois over

twelve thousand. The districts are small in extent and often sparsely

settled. Their government is as democratic as possible. The resident

legal voters, often including women, hold a meeting at least once a

year. They elect trustees to represent them in the employment of the

teacher and the management of the school. They determine whether a new

schoolhouse shall be built, whether repairs shall be made, and what sum

of money shall be raised for school purposes. In the rural districts

this system has often been itself a school in patriotism and in the

conduct of public affairs. Recently the tendency is to merge the school

districts into the township, in order that larger and better schools may

be maintained, and that educational advantages may be distributed more

evenly among the people. Most of the southern states have the county

system of school administration. This is because the county, rather than

the township, has been the political unit in the south from the

beginning. Special laws have been made for the school system in cities,

and the form of these laws differs very much. In nearly every city there

is a separate board of education, sometimes chosen by the voters,

sometimes appointed by the mayor or other official, which board has

full control of the schools. The city board of education has as its

executive officer a superintendent of schools, who has become a most

important factor in American educational administration. He exerts great

influence in the selection of teachers, in the choice of text-books, in

the arrangement of the programme of studies, and in the determination of

questions of policy. Sometimes he is charged by law with the initiative

in some or all of these matters. He is usually a trained administrator

as well as an experienced teacher. The first superintendent was

appointed in 1837 at Buffalo. Providence followed in 1839, New Orleans

in 1841, Cleveland in 1844, Baltimore in 1849, Cincinnati in 1850,

Boston in 1851, New York, San Francisco and Jersey City in 1852, Newark

and Brooklyn in 1853, Chicago and St Louis in 1854, and Philadelphia in

1883. In general, it may be said that the progress of public education

in the United States is marked by (1) compulsory schools, (2) compulsory

licensing of teachers, (3) compulsory school attendance, and (4)

compulsory school supervision, and by the increasingly efficient

administration of these provisions. The compulsion comes in each case

from the state government, which alone, in the American system, has the

power to prescribe it and to enforce it. Each state is therefore an

independent educational unit, and there is no single, uniform American

system of education in any legal sense. In fact, however, the great mass

of the American people are in entire agreement as to the principles

which should control public education; and the points in which the

policies of the several states are in agreement are greater, both in

number and in importance, than those in which they differ. An American

educational system exists, therefore, in spirit and in substance, even

though not in form.

National policy.

Neither in the Declaration of Independence nor in the Constitution of

the United States is there any mention of education. The founders of the

nation were by no means indifferent to education, but they shared the

common view of their time, which was that the real responsibility for

the maintenance of schools and the expense of maintaining them should

fall upon the several local communities. The relation of government to

education was not then a subject of ordinary consideration or

discussion. Later, when this question did arise and the power of

taxation was involved, the several states assumed control of education,

as it was necessary that they should do. Nevertheless, from the very

beginning the national government has aided and supported education,

while not controlling it. This policy dates from the 13th of July 1787,

when there was passed the famous "Ordinance for the Government of the

Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio," meaning

the territory north and west of the Ohio river now represented by the

states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the eastern

side of Minnesota, embracing more than 265,000 sq. m. of territory. This

ordinance contains this declaration: "Religion, morality, and knowledge

being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools

and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged." The Ordinance

of 1787 also reaffirmed the provisions of the so-called Land Ordinance

of 1785, by which section No. 16 in every township (a township consists

of 36 numbered sections of 1 sq. m. each), or one thirty-sixth of the

entire north-west territory, was set aside for the maintenance of public

schools within the township. The funds derived from the sale and lease

of these original "school lands" form the major portion of the public

school endowment of the states formed out of the north-west territory.

The precedent thus established became the policy of the nation. Each

state admitted prior to 1848 reserved section No. 16 in every township

of public land for common schools. Each state admitted since 1848 (Utah

being an exception, and having four sections) has reserved sections No.

16 and No. 36 in every township of public lands for this purpose. In

addition, the national government has granted two townships in every

state and territory containing public lands for seminaries or

universities. A third land grant is that made in 1862 for colleges of

agriculture and the mechanical arts. The sum total of these three land

grants amounted in 1900 to 78,659,439 acres, to which there must be

added various special grants made from time to time to the states and

devoted to education. The portion of the public domain so set apart in

1900 amounted in all to 86,138,473 acres, or 134,591 English sq. m. This

is an area greater than those of the six New England states, New York,

New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware added together. It is a portion of the

earth's surface as great as the kingdom of Prussia, about seven-tenths

as great as France, and considerably greater than the combined areas of

Great Britain (including the Channel Islands) and the kingdom of

Holland. Besides the enormous grants of land in aid of education, the

national government has maintained since 1802 a military academy at West

Point, New York, for the training of officers for the army, and since

1845 a naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, for the training of

officers for the navy. It has also taken charge of the education of the

children of uncivilized Indians, and of all children in Alaska. It has

voted, by act of 1887, a perpetual endowment of $15,000 a year for each

agricultural experiment station connected with a state agricultural

college, and, by act of 1890, an additional endowment of $25,000 a year

for each of the agricultural colleges themselves. The aggregate value of

land and money given by the national government for education in the

several states and territories is about $300,000,000.

Bureau of education.

In 1867 the Congress established a bureau of education, presided over by

a commissioner who is under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the

interior, the purpose of which is declared to be to collect "such

statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of

education in the several states and territories, and of diffusing such

information respecting the organization and management of school systems

and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in

the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and

otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." The

bureau has therefore no direct power over the educational policy of the

several states. It has, however, exercised a potent influence for good

in its advisory capacity. Up to 1900 this bureau had published 360

separate volumes and pamphlets, including 31 annual reports, covering

from 800 to 2300 pages each; and the number has since been much

increased. The annual reports alone of the Commissioner of Education are

mines of information. These standard works of reference are distributed

gratuitously in large numbers to libraries, school officials and other

persons interested, and to foreign governments. The several

commissioners of education have been: Henry Barnard, 1867-1870; John

Eaton, 1870-1886; Nathaniel H.R. Dawson, 1886-1889; William T.

Harris,[3] 1889-1906; Elmer Ellsworth Brown, 1906- .

State governments and education.

In the United States the sovereign powers are not all lodged in one

place. Such of those powers as are not granted by the Constitution to

the national government are reserved to the states respectively, or to

the people. The power to levy taxes for the support of public education

has been almost universally held to be one of the powers so reserved.

The inhabitants of the several local communities, however indisposed

they may have been to relinquish absolute control of their own schools,

have been compelled to yield to the authority of the state government

whenever it has been asserted, for except under such authority no civil

division--county, city, township, or school district--possesses the

power to levy taxes for school purposes. Moreover, since the exercise of

state authority has uniformly improved the quality of the schools, it

has usually been welcomed, not resisted. In general, it may be said that

the state has used its authority to prescribe a minimum of efficiency

which schools and teachers must reach, and it enforces this minimum

through inspection and the withholding of its proper share of the state

school fund from any locality where schools or teachers are permitted to

fall below the required standard. In extreme cases the state authorities

have interfered directly to prevent the evil results of local

inefficiency or contumacy. In addition, the states, almost without

exception, maintain at their own expense schools for the training of

teachers, known as normal schools. Many of the states also offer

inducements to the cities, towns and districts to exceed the prescribed

minimum of efficiency. Through the steady exercise of state supervision

the school buildings have improved, the standard for entrance upon the

work of teaching has been raised, the programme of studies has been made

more effective and more uniform, and the length of the school term has

increased. The Constitution of every state now contains some provision

as to public education. Each state has an executive officer charged with

the enforcement of the state school laws. Sometimes, as in New York,

this official has plenary powers; sometimes, as in Massachusetts and

Ohio, he is little more than an adviser. In twenty-nine states this

official is known as the superintendent of public instruction; in

Massachusetts and Connecticut he is called secretary of the state board

of education; other titles used are commissioner of public schools,

superintendent of common schools, and superintendent of public schools.

The schools are administered, on behalf of the taxpayers, by an elected

board of school trustees in rural school districts, and by an elected

(though sometimes appointed) board of education or school committee in

cities and towns. In 836 cities and towns there is a local

superintendent of schools, who directs and supervises the educational

work and acts as the executive officer of the board of education. The

schools in the rural districts are under the direct supervision of a

county superintendent of schools or similar official, who is often

chosen by the people, but who sometimes is named by the state

authorities. The county and city superintendents are often charged with

the duty of holding examinations for entrance upon the work of teaching,

and of issuing licences to those persons who pass the examinations. This

system works best where it is carefully regulated by state law. Thirty

states, one territory, and the District of Columbia have enacted

compulsory education laws, but the enforcement of them is usually very

lax. In fifteen states and territories there are no compulsory education

laws, although there are in existence there fully organized school

systems free to all children. The usual age during which school

attendance is required is from 8 to 14. Provision is made in Maine, New

Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New

Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan, for sending

habitual truants to some special institution. Laws forbidding the

employment of children under a specified minimum age in any mercantile

or manufacturing establishment are in force in twelve states, and are

usually administered in connexion with the compulsory education laws.

The universal establishment in America of public secondary schools (high

schools), and the existence of state universities in all of the states

south and west of Pennsylvania, have brought into existence a system of

state education which reaches from the kindergarten and the elementary

school to the graduate instruction offered at state colleges and

universities. This system includes (1) about 1500 free public

kindergartens scattered over fifteen states; (2) free public elementary

schools within reach of almost every home in the land; (3) free public

secondary schools (high schools) in every considerable city or town and

in not a few rural communities; (4) free land grant colleges, supported

in large part by the proceeds of the nation's endowment of public lands,

paying particular attention to agriculture and the mechanical arts, in

all the states; (5) state universities, free or substantially so, in all

the states south and west of Pennsylvania; (6) free public normal

schools, for the professional training of teachers, in nearly every

state; (7) free schools for the education of defectives in nearly all

the states; and (8) the national academies at West Point and Annapolis

for the professional training of military and naval officers

respectively.

Kindergartens.

Miss Susan E. Blow, herself the leading exponent of kindergarten

principles in the United States, has pointed out that the history of the

kindergarten movement reveals four distinct stages in its development:

the pioneer stage, having Boston as its centre; the philanthropic stage,

which began in the village of Florence, Mass., and reached its climax at

San Francisco, California; the national or strictly educational stage,

which began at St Louis; and the so-called maternal stage, which from

Chicago as a centre is spreading over the entire country. During the

first stage public attention was directed to a few of the most important

aspects of Froebel's teaching. During the second stage the kindergarten

was valued largely as a reformatory and redemptive influence. During the

third stage the fundamental principles underlying kindergarten training

were scientifically studied and expounded, and the kindergarten became

part of the public school system of the country. The fourth stage,

which, like the third, is fortunately still in existence, aims at making

the kindergarten a link between the school and the home, and so to use

it to strengthen the foundations and elevate the ideals of family life.

By 1898 there were 4363 kindergartens in the United States (1365 of

which were public), employing 9937 teachers (2532 in the public

kindergartens) and enrolling 189,604 children (95,867 in the public

kindergartens). Of the 164 public normal schools, 36 made provision for

training kindergarten teachers. The scientific and literary activity of

some of the private kindergarten training classes is very great, and

they exert a beneficial and stimulating effect on teaching in the

elementary schools. It is generally admitted that from the point of view

of the children, of the teachers, of the schools, and of the community

at large, the kindergarten has been and is an inspiration of

incalculable value.

Elementary schools.

The elementary school course is from six to nine years in length, the

ordinary period being eight years. The pupils enter at about six years

of age. In the cities the elementary schools are usually in session for

five hours daily, except Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 A.M. There

is an intermission, usually of an hour, at midday, and short recesses

during the sessions. In the small rural schools the pupils are usually

ungraded, and are taught singly or in varying groups. In the cities and

towns there is a careful gradation of pupils, and promotions from grade

to grade are made at intervals of a year or of a half-year. The best

schools have the most elastic system of gradation and the most frequent

promotions. In a number of states there are laws authorizing the

conveyance of children to school at the public expense, when the

schoolhouse is unduly distant from the homes of a portion of the school

population. Co-education (q.v.) in the elementary school has been the

salutary and almost uniform practice in the United States. The programme

of studies in the elementary school includes English (reading, writing,

spelling, grammar, composition), arithmetic (sometimes elementary

algebra also, or plane geometry in the upper grades), geography, history

of the United States, and elementary natural science, including human

physiology and hygiene. Physical training, vocal music, drawing and

manual training are often taught. Sometimes a foreign language (Latin,

German or French) and the study of general history are begun. Formal

instruction in manners and morals is not often found, but the discipline

of the school offers the best possible training in the habits of

truthfulness, honesty, obedience, regularity, punctuality and conformity

to order. Religious teaching is not permitted, although the exercises of

the day are often opened with reading from the Bible, the repetition of

the Lord's Prayer and the singing of a hymn. Corporal punishment is not

infrequent, but is forbidden by law in New Jersey, and in many states

may be used only under restrictions. Text-books are used as the basis of

the instruction given, and the pupils "recite" in class to the teacher,

who, by use of illustration and comment, makes clear the subject-matter

of the prescribed lesson. The purpose of the recitation method is to

make the work of each pupil help that of his companion. Skilfully used,

it is the most effectual instrument yet devised for elementary school

instruction.

Secondary schools.

The secondary school course is normally four years in length. The

principal subjects studied are Latin, Greek, French, German, algebra,

geometry, physics, chemistry, physical geography, physiology, rhetoric,

English literature, civics and history. Although but 11.36% of the

students in public high schools and 25.36% of those in private secondary

schools are preparing for a college or scientific school, yet the

conditions prescribed by the colleges for admission to their courses

affect powerfully both the secondary school programme and the methods of

teaching. Of late years no educational topic has been more widely

discussed than that as to the proper relations of secondary schools and

colleges. As a result, special examinations for admission to college are

either greatly simplified or entirely abolished, and the secondary

studies are much more substantial and better taught than formerly. An

increasing proportion of secondary school teachers are college

graduates. The most extraordinary characteristic of secondary education

in recent years is the rapid increase in the number of students taking

Latin as a school subject. Meanwhile the proportion of those studying

physics and chemistry has fallen off slightly. The rate of increase in

the number of pupils who study Latin is fully twice as great as the rate

of increase in the number of secondary school students. Between 1890 and

1896, while the number of students in private secondary schools

increased 12%, the number of students in public secondary schools

increased 87%. Since 1894 the number of students in private secondary

schools has steadily declined.

The colleges.

The American college, although it is the outgrowth of the English

colleges of Oxford and of Cambridge, has developed into an institution

which has no counterpart in Europe. The college course of study, at

first three years in length, was soon extended to four years, and the

classes are uniformly known as the freshman, the sophomore, the junior

and the senior. The traditional degree which crowns the college course

is that of Bachelor of Arts (A.B.). The studies ordinarily insisted on

in the case of candidates for this degree are Latin, Greek, mathematics,

English, philosophy, political economy, history, at least one modern

European language (French or German), and at least one natural science.

The degrees of Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Philosophy

(Ph.B.), and Bachelor of Letters (B.L.) are often conferred by colleges

upon students who have pursued systematic courses of study which do not

include Greek or the amount of Latin required for the degree of Bachelor

of Arts. The best colleges give instruction which is similar in

character to that given in Germany in the three upper classes of the

gymnasium and in the introductory courses at the universities, in France

in the two upper classes of the lycee and in the first two years of

university study, and in England in the upper form of the public schools

and during the years of undergraduate residence at Oxford and Cambridge.

Since 1870 the colleges have developed enormously. Their resources have

multiplied, the number of their students has increased by leaps and

bounds, the programme of studies has broadened and deepened, the

standards have been raised, and the efficiency of the instruction has

greatly increased. Rigidly prescribed courses of study have given way to

elective courses, and a knowledge of Greek is no longer required for the

degree of A.B. at such influential colleges as Harvard, Columbia,

Cornell and Williams. A strong effort is being made to have the leading

colleges give but one degree, that of Bachelor of Arts, and to confer

that upon those who complete any substantial course of college studies.

A marked change has taken place in the attitude of the college

authorities toward the students. In 1870 the college president was a

paterfamilias. He knew each student and came into direct personal

contact with him. The president and the faculty had supervision not only

of the studies of the students, but of their moral and religious life as

well. The older type of college professor was not always a great

scholar, but he was a student of human nature, with keen intuitions and

shrewd insight. The new type, which had come into existence at the

opening of the 20th century, was more scholarly in some special

direction, often regarded teaching as a check upon opportunities for

investigation, and disdained troubling himself with a student's personal

concerns or intellectual and moral difficulties. The change was not

altogether for the better, and a desirable reaction has been

observable. Each college, however small or ill-equipped, exercises a

helpful local influence. Ninety per cent of all college students attend

an institution not more than one hundred miles from their own homes. Few

colleges have a national constituency, and even in these cases an

overwhelming preponderance of the students come from the immediate

neighbourhood. This explains, in a measure, the powerful influence which

the college has exercised in the life of the nation. While hardly more

than one in a hundred of the white male youth of the country has had a

college education, yet the college graduates have furnished one-half of

all the presidents of the United States, most of the justices of the

Supreme Court, about one-half of the cabinet officers and United States

senators, and nearly one-third of the House of Representatives. Before

the Revolution eleven colleges were founded. From 1776 to 1800, twelve

more were added; from 1800 to 1830, thirty-three; from 1830 to 1865, one

hundred and eighty; from 1865 to 1898, two hundred and thirty-six. Their

standards, efficiency and equipment are very diverse, many of the

so-called colleges being less effective than some of the better

organized secondary schools. Except in New York and Pennsylvania, there

is no statutory restriction upon the use of the name "college." This is

an abuse to which public attention has in recent years been increasingly

called.[4]

The universities.

In the United States the title "university" is used indiscriminately of

institutions which are in reality universities, of institutions which

are colleges, and of institutions which are so ill-equipped as not to

take rank with good secondary schools. Only time and a greatly increased

capacity to distinguish the various types of higher schools will remedy

this error. Putting aside tentative and unsuccessful attempts to develop

genuine university instruction much earlier, it may safely be said that

the opening of the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore in 1876 began

the present movement to organize carefully advanced study and research,

requiring a college education of those who wish to enter upon it. This

is university instruction properly so called, and though found

elsewhere, it is given chiefly at fourteen institutions: California

University, Catholic University of America, Chicago University, Clark

University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University,

Johns Hopkins University, Michigan University, Pennsylvania University,

Princeton University, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Wisconsin

University and Yale University. All of these institutions, except the

Catholic University of America, are also colleges. The combination of

collegiate and university instruction under one corporation and one

executive administration is distinctive of higher education in the

United States, and its chief source of strength. The crowning honour of

the university student is the degree of Ph.D., although that of

A.M.--obtainable in less time and much easier conditions--is also

sought. The minimum period of study accepted for the degree of Ph.D. is

two years after obtaining the bachelor's degree; but in practice, three,

and even four, years of study are found necessary. In addition to

carrying on an investigation in the field of his main subject of study,

the candidate for the degree of Ph.D. is usually required to pass

examinations on one or two subordinate subjects, to possess a reading

knowledge of French and German (often of Latin as well), and to

submit--usually in printed form--the dissertation which embodies the

results of his researches. The methods of instruction in the

universities are the lecture, discussion and work in laboratory or

seminary--the latter transplanted from the German universities. The

degree of Master of Arts is conferred upon students who, after one year

of university residence and study, pass certain prescribed examinations.

This degree, like those of D.D., S.T.D. and LL.D., is often conferred by

colleges and universities as a purely honorary distinction. The degree

of Ph.D. is not so conferred any longer by the best universities. Not a

few of the universities maintain schools of law and medicine. Harvard

and Yale universities maintain schools of theology as well. The learned

publications issued by the universities, or under the direction of

university professors, are of great importance, and constitute an

imposing body of scientific literature. The national and state

governments make increasing use of university officials for public

service requiring special training or expert knowledge. In 1871-1872

there were only 198 resident graduate (or university) students in the

United States. In 1887 this number had risen to 1237, and in 1897 to

4392. These figures are exclusive of professional students, and include

only those who are studying in what would be called, in Germany, the

philosophical faculty. (See also UNIVERSITIES.)

Most extensive provision is made in America for professional, technical

and special education of all kinds, and for the care and training of the

dependent and defective classes (see BLINDNESS and DEAF AND DUMB), as

well as for the education of the Indian (see INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN),

and--in the Southern states--of the negro (q.v.). (N. M. B.)

_Statistics._--Details as to education in each state of the American

Union are given in the articles under state headings. But a more

comprehensive view may be obtained here from the general statistics. The

introduction to the statistical tables in vol. ii. of the Commissioner

of Education's Report for 1907 may usefully be quoted. Mr Edward L.

Thorndike, of the Teachers' College, Columbia University, there

summarizes the national account as follows:--

"We use in formal school education a material plant valued at from

twelve to thirteen hundred million dollars, the labour of 550,000

teachers or other educational officers, and more or less of the time

of some eighteen million students.... We pay for the labour of these

teachers, many of whom work for only part of the normal city-school

year, about $300,000,000. We pay for fuel, light, janitorial services,

repairs, depreciation of books, school supplies, insurance and the

like, about $90,000,000. For depreciation of the plant not so charged

we should properly provide during the year a sinking fund of perhaps

$25,000,000. Adding an interest charge of 5% on the investment in the

plant, our annual bill for formal school education comes to over

$475,000,000. Additions to the plant were made [in 1906-1907] to the

extent of from ninety to a hundred million dollars. As a partial

estimate of the returns from this investment we may take the number of

students whose education has been carried to a specified standard of

accomplishment and power. Thus I estimate that, in 1907, 3000 students

reached the standard denoted by three years or more of academic,

technical or professional study in advance of a reputable college

degree; that 25,000 students reached the standard denoted by at least

three and not over four years of such study in advance of a four-year

high-school course; than an eighth of a million students reached the

standard denoted by at least three and not over four years of study in

advance of an eight-year elementary-school course; and that

three-quarters of a million students reached the standard of

completion of an elementary-school course of seven or eight years or

its equivalent.... Roughly, nine-tenths of elementary education and

the education of teachers, over two-thirds of secondary education, and

over a third of college and higher technical education are provided

and controlled by the public. Professional education, other than the

training of teachers and engineers, is still largely a function of

private provision and control.

"The following rough comparison may serve to define further the status

of education in the country at large. The plant used for formal

education is valued at 1% of our entire national wealth, or twice the

value of our telephone systems, or ten times the value of our Pullman

and private cars, or one-tenth the value of our railroads. The number

of teachers is approximately that of the clergymen, engineers, lawyers

and physicians together, five times that of the regular army and navy,

and about twice that of the saloon-keepers and bar-tenders and their

assistants. The annual expenditure for education, exclusive of

additions to the plant, is somewhat over twice the expenditure for the

war and navy departments of the national government. It is three and a

half times the expenditure of the national government in 1907 for

pensions. It is about one and a fourth times the cost (New York

wholesale prices) of the sugar and coffee we consume annually."

The above comparison indicates perhaps, not inadequately, the "business"

conception of the value of education prevailing in the United States,

where its practical advantages are realized as in no other country, not

even Germany.

From the same report the following statistics may be cited for

1906-1907.

_Common Schools (including Elementary and Secondary Public

Schools only)._

Total number of pupils of all ages 16,820,386[5]

Average number of days schools open 151.2

Average number of days attended by each pupil 106.2

Number of male teachers 105,773

Number of female teachers 369,465

Number of school houses 259,115

Average monthly wage of male teachers $56.10

Average monthly wage of female teachers $43.67

Value of all school property $843,309,410

Income from permanent funds and rents $16,579,551

Income from State taxes $46,281,501

Income from local taxes $230,424,554

Income from other sources $50,317,132

Expenditure on sites, buildings, furniture,

libraries and apparatus $65,817,870

Expenditure on salaries $196,980,919

Expenditure on other purposes $67,882,012

Expenditure per head of population $3.90

Expenditure per pupil $27.98

The Bureau of Education in 1907 received reports from 606

universities, colleges and technological schools; they had a teaching

force of 24,679, and an enrolment of 293,343 students. The number of

public and private normal schools reporting was 259, with an enrolment

of 70,439 students in the regular training courses for teachers,

12,541 graduates and 3660 instructors. There were 148 manual and

industrial training schools (independently of the manual training

taught in the public schools and in 66 Indian schools), with 1692

teachers and an enrolment of 68,427 students; and 445 independent

commercial and business schools, with 2856 instructors and 137,364

students. (X.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For the study of education as an aspect of religious,

social, moral and intellectual development, the material is

practically inexhaustible, and much of the most valuable does not

treat specifically of the education given in schools and colleges. The

most useful guide is E.P. Cubberley's _Syllabus of Lectures on the

History of Education_ (1902), which consists of an analytic outline of

topics with copious and detailed references to authorities. See also

W.S. Monroe's _Bibliography of Education_ (1897). The best general

history in English is P. Monroe's _Text-Book in the History of

Education_ (1905), which, like Davidson's much briefer _History of

Education_, treats the subject broadly and in relation to other

aspects of life. Williams's _History of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern

Education_ is a useful statement of the main facts of educational

progress taken somewhat by itself. In German the standard work is K.A.

Schmid's _Geschichte der Erziehung_, a comprehensive and detailed

treatment in which each period is dealt with by a specialist.

Ziegler's _Geschichte der Padagogik_ is a good short history. In

French, Letourneau's _L'Evolution de l'education_ is especially good

on ancient and non-European education. Draper's _Intellectual

Development of Europe_ is vigorous and interesting, but marred by its

depreciation of the work of the Church. Guizot's _History of

Civilization_ is still of value, as are parts of Hallam's _Literary

History_. Lecky's _History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of

Rationalism in Europe_, and Buckle's _History of Civilization_ in

England, contain much that is of value. The best encyclopaedias are W.

Rein's _Encyklopadisches Handbuch der Padagogik_, and F. Buisson's

_Dictionnaire de pedagogie, premiere partie_. Sir Henry Craik's _The

State and Education_ (1883) is an excellent text-book on national

education.

Of books dealing with special periods and topics, S. Laurie's

_Historical Sketch of Pre-Christian Education_, Freeman's _Schools of

Hellas_, Girard's _L'Education athenienne au V^e et au IV^e siecle

avant_ J.-C., Davidson's _Education of the Greek People_, Mahaffy's

_Old Greek Education_ and _Greek Life and Thought_, Nettleship's

article on "Education in Plato's Republic" in _Hellenica_, Capes's

_University Life in Athens_, Hobhouse's _Theory and Practice of

Ancient Education_, Grasberger's _Erziehung und Unterricht im

classischen Alterthum_, Wilkin's _Roman Education_, and Clarke's

_Education of Children at Rome_, are valuable for classical times.

For the somewhat obscure transition centuries there is much of value

in Taylor's _Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_, Dill's _Roman

Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_, especially the

chapter on "Culture in the 4th and 5th centuries," Boissier's _La Fin

du paganisme_, and Hatch's _Influence of Greek Thought upon the

Christian Church_.

The best general account of medieval education is in Drane's

_Christian Schools and Scholars_; and J.B. Mullinger's _Schools of

Charles the Great_ treats well of the Carolingian Revival. G.B.

Adams's _Civilization during the Middle Ages_ is excellent; and

Sandys's _History of Classical Scholarship_ is a valuable book of

reference. On the scholastic philosophy Turner's _History of

Philosophy_, and Haureau's _Histoire de la philosophie scolastique_,

are useful. Medieval schools are described in Furnivall's preface to

_The Babees Book_, which deals with "Education in Early England," and

in Leach's _Old Yorkshire Schools_ and _History of Winchester

College_. The most important books on the universities are Rashdall's

_Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages_, Jourdain's _Histoire de

l'universite de Paris aux XVII^e et XVIII^e siecles_, Lyte's _History

of the University of Oxford to 1530_, and Mullinger's _History of the

University of Cambridge to the Accession of Charles I._ Paulsen's

_Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts auf den deutschen Schulen und

Universitaten_ is the best history of education in Germany.

On the Renaissance in Italy, Villari's Introduction to his _Life and

Times of Machiavelli_, and Burckhardt's _Die Kultur der Renaissance in

Italien_ (translated into English), are of the first importance. Other

valuable books are the first volume of the _Cambridge Modern History_

and Symonds's great work on _The Renaissance in Italy_, especially the

volume on _The Revival of Learning_. Dealing more specifically with

education are Woodward's excellent monographs on _Education during the

Renaissance_, _Vittorino da Feltre_ and _Erasmus_. Janssen's

_Geschichte des deutschen Volkes_ (translated into English) gives a

good account of the social and intellectual condition of Germany in

the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Christie's _Life of Etienne Dolet_

is of value for the Renaissance in France. For the movement in England

Seebohm's _Oxford Reformers_, Gasquet's _Eve of the Reformation in

England_, Einstein's _The Italian Renaissance in England_, and Leach's

_English Schools at the Reformation, 1546-1548_, are particularly

important.

For later times the material is chiefly in the form of monographs, of

which the following, among others, are of value: Adamson's _Pioneers

of Modern Education_, Laas's _Die Padagogik des Johannes Sturm_,

Beard's _Port Royal_, vol. ii., Kuno Fischer's _Fr. Bacon und seine

Nachfolger_, Laurie's _John Amos Comenius_, Morley's _Rousseau_,

Pinloche's _La Reforme de l'education en Allemagne au dix-huitieme

siecle_, Biedermann's _Deutschlands geistige, sittliche, und gesellige

Zustande im XVIII. Jahrhundert_.

For the 19th century and after, the best sources of information are

the official Reports, such as those of the Royal Commissions on the

English Universities, the Public Schools, and the other English

secondary schools; the "Special Reports," issued by the English Board

of Education; the encyclopaedic annual Reports of the American

Commissioner of Education (dealing not only with the United States,

but with progress in other countries); monographs in the French _Musee

pedagogique_, and various German Reports.

For education in the United States, see also Boone's _History of

Education in U.S.A._ (1889); N.M. Butler (editor), _Education in the

U.S.A._ (1900), a series of monographs prepared for the Paris

Exposition; E.G. Dexter's _History of Education in the United States_

(1904); and the _Proceedings_ of the National Educational Association.

On the leading writers on education the monographs in the Great

Educator Series are useful, and editions and translations of the best

known of these writers are available. The greatest systematic

collection is the _Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica_. On the

development of the means of education, Montmorency's two books on

_State Intervention in English Education from the Earliest Times to

1833_, and _The Progress of Education in England_, Balfour's

_Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland_, Allain's

_L'Instruction primaire en France avant la Revolution_, Lantoine's

_Histoire de l'enseignement secondaire en France au XVIII^e et au

debut du XVIII^e siecle_, and Konrad Fischer's _Geschichte des

deutschen Volkschullehrerstands_, may be mentioned. (J. Wn.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For the evolution of the school as such from early times see

SCHOOLS.

[2] See especially _Das offentliche Unterrichtswesen Deutschlands_,

by Dr Paul Stotzner (Leipzig, 1901).

[3] A valuable bibliography of Mr Harris's contributions to

educational literature is given in the Report of the Commissioner of

Education for 1907 (Washington, 1908).

[4] See especially the second Annual Report of the President of the

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (pp. 76-80),

quoted in the Report for 1907 of the Commissioner of Education.

[5] In private schools there were also 1,304,547 pupils.