of the school work is set forth in Chapter IV under the head of subjects of instruction (pp. 280-282). Many subjects that were formerly treated as optional-English, geography, elementary science, history, and needlework-have been made compulsory in all schools. Moreover, the proportion of pupils taking subjects that have been retained as optional has been steadily increasing, and reached in 1902 a total of 160,382, or more than one-fourth the entire number enrolled in the board schools. French and algebra were the optional branches pursued by the greater proportion of the pupils.

The policy adopted by the board with respect to the employment of special teachers for modern languages and science is briefly outlined in Chapter IV (p. 281).

The board schools are all free, and school books, apparatus, and stationery are supplied without cost to the pupils. The income of the school board is derived chiefly from the government grant and local taxes. For the year ending March 25, 1902, the total expenditure reached the sum of £3,250,486 ($16,252,430).

In addition to the annual expenditure for the maintenance of the schools the board has borrowed £13,548,756 ($67,743,780) on the security of the rates for the purchase of sites and the erection of school buildings. Of this amount £3,117,888 ($15,589,940) have been repaid. Against this indebtedness the people have above 500 valuable. sites and buildings.

The total current expenditure in 1902 was equivalent to £4 12s. 8d. ($23.16) per capita of average enrollment. Of the total named, the Government grant supplied 24 per cent and local taxes 75 per cent, leaving a small balance derived from other local sources. The everincreasing expenditure, though severely criticised, bears witness to the faithfulness with which the school board has maintained its trust. The rate of local tax which it has entailed is equivalent to 14.66d. on every pound of assessed valuation.

In addition to the provision and maintenance of day schools, the London board has carried on a vast amount of extra work, educational and sociological, essential to the efficient discharge of its responsibilities. This auxiliary work comprises evening schools, with an annual attendance in recent years of above 140,000 pupils; special schools for the physically and mentally defective; and industrial and reform schools for neglected and vicious children. London led the country in provision for mentally defective children, and its work in this respect has become a model copied by other nations. Extended accounts of this work, which, from its beginning in 1891, has been under the general charge of Mrs. Burgwin, are given in Chapter IV, pages 289–291. The endeavors of the London board to meet the necessities of the poorest and most unfortunate children have entailed a vast amount of charitable work, including the supply of food and clothing for destitute children,

which has been secured through the cooperation of philanthropic societies. The condition of the poorer children early drew attention to the importance of medical inspection for schools, and an efficient service of this kind has been organized by the board. The medical staff in 1902 comprised the chief officer, 3 assistants, 6 oculists, 3 nurses, 4 clerks, and a messenger. A brief report of the service is included in Chapter IV. The London board has also maintained a very efficient truant service, particulars of which are given on pages 287–290. It is noticeable that the solicitude of the committee charged with the oversight of the truant schools does not cease when a child's term of detention is over. Interesting particulars are given of the efforts to secure some satisfactory arrangement for the subsequent life of the pupil.

In view of this long and impressive record of service it is easy to understand the excitement caused by the proposition to abolish the board and the reluctance manifested by the London county council to assume the onerous task. It was urged by many eminent advocates of the general law of 1902 that London should be made an exception to the rest of the country by leaving its school administration to a body constituted especially for that work. As we have seen, other views prevailed and the metropolis is entering upon a new policy of school administration.

American universities.-In Chapter V (pp. 293-317) President Charles F. Thwing, of Western Reserve University, has given an account of the development of American universities, their organization, conduct, and relations to the moral and material life of the nation. In the nine colleges planted during the colonial period English conditions prevailed. The motives for founding them, as in the case of the English universities, were largely ecclesiastical, the principal one in the colonies being to educate young men for the ministry. Of the 76 graduates of Harvard between 1642 and 1656, at least 59 became ministers. The course of study also followed the English precedent. Besides the Bible and the three ancient languages (Latin, Greek, and Hebrew), philosophical and rhetorical studies were chiefly pursued, with very little variation. Indeed, there was probably less change in the curriculum of the colonial colleges from their first establishment down to the close of the Revolution than there is now made in the same colleges in a single decade. The first classes of Harvard were admitted without a knowledge of mathematics, and the subject was not taken up until the senior year.

Some few French influences and points of contact during the first half century following the Revolution are noted. The chief embodiment of French methods and ideas was realized in the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson in 1825. The influence of German scholarship and thought, which began to be felt in the first half of the

ED 1903

nineteenth century, was much more far reaching and lasting in its effects. It was then that German literature came to be known and studied in this country, while great numbers of American students, educated in German universities, returned home imbued with German ideas; also, the presence in the United States of many Germans of lofty character and profound scholarship, some of whom were political exiles, contributed to the enrichment of American education.

The colleges of the early period were under church control; subsequently, institutions began to be founded by individuals as such, and not as members of a church, such as Williams, Bowdoin, and Amherst. Finally, in recent decades, the State has more definitely entered the field of higher education and established colleges or universities as the crown of the public school system. These three forms of control, viz, church, private, and public, are not sharply defined in all cases, yet they serve to typify the forces at work. The three types of higher institution may-and in many States do-exist in harmony, side by side, each finding its sphere of usefulness and fulfilling its allotted functions.

The progressive development of the purpose, scope, and constitution of higher institutions in the United States is a noteworthy feature of recent decades. The changes in the character of the governing boards, the enrichment of the curriculum, the introduction of graduate courses, the addition of or affiliation with professional and technical schools, and changes in the methods of instruction, have marked the period of transition from the college to the university type in a great number of instances. The course of study has been broadened so as include the physical and sociological sciences, modern languages—all branches of learning, in fact, whether pursued for the acquisition of knowledge alone, for their disciplinary effect, or as a professional preparation. The elective system of study has steadily won its way, often in the face of strong opposition; indeed, it may now be seen that this system was the inevitable result of the expansion of the curriculum to correspond with the enlarged bounds of the field of knowledge and the necessity of training students for a multiplicity of diverse ends. Doctor Thwing touches on the subject of the higher education of women, distinguishing briefly the three agencies made use of, viz, the coeducational college, the affiliated college (Radcliffe, Barnard, etc.), and the independent college (Wellesley, Vassar). About 70 per cent of the 500 colleges in the country are coeducational.

The growth of university endowment funds has kept pace with that of the wealth of the country at large. The productive funds of Yale College have increased from about $30,000 in 1830 to over $5,000,000 at the present time. The growth of libraries has also been significant in particular instances, yet the "libraries of most colleges are inade

quately furnished and inefficiently administered." University architecture is traced through the stages of colonial, Greek, and Gothic; at present all types are met with, sometimes intermingled on the same

campus.

Undergraduate life is highly organized. In such universities as Yale and Harvard there are as many as fifty clubs and societies, formed for purposes most diverse; athletic associations have attained a special degree of prominence. Student fraternities enroll more than 100,000 members, and university clubs are found in most of the great cities.

The functions of universities in American communities are considered by Doctor Thwing under various aspects. First, as conserving forces in the presence of a democracy inclined to make all things new; then, as inspiring with high moral ideals an age inclined to pursue mere material aims. The university promotes the conditions favorable to the creation and growth of literature. As an agency to promote systematic research, the seeking after truth as such, the university fulfills an increasingly useful function. It presents the materials for the study of all truth, in the world of nature and in the world of man. Early English writers on education.-In Chapter VI (pp. 319–350) are included notices of a number of early English writers on education, with extracts from their works, by Prof. Foster Watson, of University College, Wales. These notices cover the period from 1553 to 1574, including the reign of Mary and the earlier years of Elizabeth. The educational ideals and practice of that age have many side lights thrown upon them by the extracts given and the notes of Professor Watson. The whole forms an interesting contribution to the history of education. It gives the needed evidence of the state. of education in England in the century preceding the English colonial settlement in America, setting at rest many questions as to the schools of the home country in which our forefathers were instructed.

Public school systems of the United States.-In Chapter VII (pp. 351– 358) Supt. Aaron Gove, of Denver, Colo., has outlined some of the leading features of the schools of this country. Though each State has a school system of its own, distinguished from all the others by peculiarities whose origin must be sought in the history of the State, or is due to geographical, industrial, or other conditions, yet all the systems have the same broad statutory basis. That is to say, in each State legislative provision is made for a system of unsectarian schools, free to all children within given limits of age (commonly 6 to 21), and supported at the public expense. The law in each case also provides for their administration through an organization composed of State and local school boards and superintendents. While, as may be supposed, there is great diversity in the details of administration, there are certain features which are common to many State systems and

therefore may be considered as representative, while others, less common, represent ideals in the direction of which the trend of practice is rapidly setting.

While school buildings vary from the one-room house to those holding 2,000 or even 3,000 pupils, Superintendent Gove considers a building of 12 or 15 rooms the typical one for medium-sized cities. Eight years is the period commonly set apart for elementary instruction, though the brighter pupils may complete the work in seven or even in six years. In some States legal provision is made for a preliminary kindergarten course of one or two years. Secondary instruction occupies four years, during which the pupil comes under the influence of special teachers. Both sexes attend the usual high school, the girls preponderating in the ratio of about three girls to two boys. The curriculum is the same for both sexes; but the different courses that are given (classical, English, etc.) and the introduction of electives, permit a choice of studies to be made adapted to the sex and the future career of the pupil. Every course, however, must include three lines. of training, viz, mathematics, science, and language. The enrollment of secondary schools ranges from 3 to 12 per cent of that of primary schools.

Physical training is given in all first-class schools, frequently by specially trained instructors. School hours range from five to six daily. In the buildings erected in recent years increased attention has been given to architectural design, hygienic appointments, etc., especially in the case of high schools. Adjustable seats and desks have been in some cases provided for pupils, though Superintendent Gove considers the ordinary desk and seat sufficient for the 90 per cent of pupils who are of normal stature. The custom of providing free textbooks seems to be on the increase. A recent and characteristic innovation is the concentration of rural schools and the free transportation of pupils living at a distance from the central school.

The typical American child, who enters the primary school at 6 years of age and graduates from the high school at 18, in many of the States. may continue his education at the public expense for another period of three or four year at the State university or agricultural college, at the end of which he receives a college degree.

The uncertain tenure of school-teachers and the lack of men teachers are two sources of weakness. The average term of service of women teachers does not perhaps exceed four years. Normal schools and the training of teachers receive some notice from Superintendent Gove, who emphasizes the fact that the accommodation for normal students in this country is very limited, compared with the number of teachers. required. The chapter closes with an account of the scope and character of the instruction given in manual training for both sexes, music and drawing.