the past from defective methods, memorizing and rote recitation having here been carried to the extreme. A reform has commenced in this respect, with results which promise well for future progress. Under this better management the theory of grammar has been assigned to a later period of the student's career and its place supplied by exercises in composition, spoken language, and the writings of standard authors. The experiment has continued long enough to show that the correct use of the mother tongue is more readily acquired by these exercises than by drill in etymology and syntax. Less time is given to arithmetic than formerly, and it is believed that further reduction may be made without the sacrifice of any important processes. Simple book-keeping and the ordinary forms of business correspondence are recommended for the advanced classes of the grade. Penmanship is better taught than formerly, special teachers being frequently employed for the branch. Drawing has been introduced to some extent, and with excellent results where competent teachers have been employed. The endeavor to make elementary science a feature of these grades has revealed the same difficulty in this country that eminent English scientists have pointed out in their own, namely, the want of teachers prepared to give the instruction. The lifeless routine of memorized recitations is worse than useless in science. It paralyzes the faculties by which the facts of science are apprehended, and renders true progress impossible. This is a matter demanding attention in normal schools. In a few cities special means have been provided for meeting the emergency. With reference to such an endeavor in Boston the annual report of the supervisors contains the following statement: The admirable courses of lectures by the professors of the Institute of Technology upon different branches of natural science designed to meet the special wants of teachers have produced their effect upon the schools. City high schools are treated in connection with Table VI, as they are properly classed with secondary schools. The statistics of expenditure, enrolment, &c., for this grade are, however, tabulated in Table II. From the statistics of daily average attendance it appears that the limits are as follows: Evening schools are reported in 32 cities, and, where they are maintained, appear to be upon a firmer basis and more efficiently managed than a few years ago. Evening high schools are relatively more successful than those of low grade. This would naturally be expected. They meet the wants of a class of pupils who understand their own necessities and to whom, as a result of previous training, mental effort is easier and more delightful than to the pupils of lower grade. Evening drawing schools are greatly appreciated wherever they exist. Boston and New York maintain a number of special day schools adapted to particular classes of children and in other cities similar provision is advocated. The school committee of Bangor, Me., urges the establishment of an ungraded school for the benefit of working boys who are employed in shops and mills part of the year and are consequently unable to keep up with specified grades. The school board of Brooklyn, N. Y., has been asked to establish industrial schools for the benefit of poor children not in public schools. In a number of cities arrangements are made by which the children in orphan asylums attend public schools and the schools of reformatory institutions for children are brought into the system of public schools. Everywhere a disposition is manifest to adjust the public schools to the wants of all classes and conditions of youth; the single exception to this tendency is. the neglect of children under five years of age. Here we are met with one of the gravest and most interesting problems of modern life and one in reference to which we have much to learn from European nations. SCHOOL FINANCES. By reference to Table II, appendix, it will be seen that the report of school finances from most of the cities is so full that the entire cost of the free schools and the expenditure for each particular branch of the service may be estimated. The expense per capita of average attendance does not vary so much as might be expected from the diversity of conditions represented in the cities. The charge of extravagant expenditure is hardly borne out by the record, from which it appears that the expense per capita is not above $25 in more than 13 cities. The annual salaries of principals of primary schools range from $365 to $1,215; salaries of grammar school principals range for men from $720 to $2,250, for women from $612 to $1,420, and the salaries of assistants in grammar schools from $350 to $2,280 for men, and for women from $200 to $895. MORAL AND PHYSICAL TRAINING. The relation of the public schools to moral and physical education is justly regarded as a matter of vital importance. That their influence in respect to the former is greater and more excellent than their enemies pretend, no candid and competent judge can doubt. Sectarianism is not and probably never will be allowed any place in their programmes; neither is it the purpose of the American people to commit the religious instruction of their children to this agency. The home and the church are the proper instrumentalities for this work, and if they are not equal to the requirements it is evidence that they need reform or that influences are tolerated amongst us which are fatal to their proper action. It is enough that the schools are not irreligious in their tendency and that by the precepts which they inculcate, the principles which they maintain, and the habits which they develop they are continually promotive of good morals. With respect to the physical training of youth it must be admitted that Americans make no provision for it by means of their schools, homes, or any other institution. In this matter school officers are not more negligent than the public generally; indeed, their efforts to improve the sanitary condition of school buildings and to intersperse the intellectual exercises of school with suitable physical exercises are often thwarted by public apathy or the parsimony of those who control the public funds. So far as it can be shown that the schools are injurious to health or an obstacle to the best physical development of the young, so far they should be immediately reformed. It does not follow-nor is there yet any conclusive evidence-that the schools offer the best medium for physical training; on this subject we are just beginning to engage the efforts of specialists. School officers have not been indifferent to the progress of sanitary knowledge, as is shown by the fact that periodical inspection of school-houses, with reports of their condition and suggestions for their improvement, is required in a number of cities. For further details with reference to city schools, the reader is referred to the heading City School Systems in the abstracts of the respective States. TABLE III.-NORMAL SCHOOLS. The following is a comparative summary of normal schools, instructors, and pupils reported to the Bureau for the years 1872 to 11, inclusive: 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. Number of institutions 773 887 966 1,031 1,065 1,189 1,227 1,422 1,466 1,573 Number of students....... 11,778 16, 620 24,405 29,105 33,921 37,082 39,669 40,029 43,077 48,705 |