child should chance to be a member of ments, and the regularity of school at his parish, or on the list of his patients, tendance, public elementary education in or to be trading at his store." the States, falls below the English ele "The root of the whole evil is no doubt mentary public school system. And yet to be found in the all but absolutely local | the citizens of the States are, on the whole, standard and government of the schools. more intelligent and better educated, as a Local influences altogether predominate." matter of fact, than the people of this "The untrained teachers being, partly country." as a consequence of their want of training, very poorly paid, take up the work of teaching only as a make-shift, and speedily forsake it when they find the opportunity of obtaining more remunerative employment; many of the male teachers indeed having undertaken to keep school merely as a means of supplementing their earnings from other sources, often from manual labor."

"I must not omit to note one deficiency in the American provision of schools. As a rule, there are no infant schools. Some, indeed, may doubt, from the accounts of juvenile precocity in manners, habits, and dress, of which we often read in American papers, or extracts from such papers, whether there are any children in America fit to be classed as infants after they have learned to walk. In reality, however, the absence of infant schools is probably to be accounted for from the pervasive comfort and superiority of homelife among the American people, as compared with the masses of our English population. Nevertheless, infant schools are a great power, are really good for the children of the well-to-do classes as well as for the poor, are full of happy instruction and entertainment, beautifully combined, for young children, and greatly facilitate their acquisition of knowledge and culture in the after departments of education. But infant school teaching, pre-eminently is a part of educational science; and of teaching, as a science, little comparatively is known, among either the teachers or the people of the

States."

"Such is school education in the United States. As a whole, it is inferior; inferior in all respects to that of this country. As respects normal colleges and training, the qualifications and supply of teachers, the school-rooms, their furniture and appoint

"The American child is born into a reading, intelligent family, conversant with the history and politics of the coun try, with business, with all that belongs to civil and social life; is born, also, into a thriving, active, self-reliant community; is born into the midst of thoughtfulness, of moral and mental energy, of practical shrewdness and experience."

"He is surrounded, from the very first, with all the infinite activities of the most exuberant commercial and political life that the world knows; and he has an open pathway before him from the first. Such conditions of life as these enable a youth to rise in the commercial and social scale with a minimum of school education."

"Life in such a nation can hardly be dull or slow; intelligence can hardly be inert. Hence arises one of the most distinctive educational forces of the States, which makes itself felt in the schools as elsewhere. The people have a natural gift of teaching, of impressing others with what they mean, of forcible and picturesque, often very homely illustration."

"Had they, as a class, but knowledge and training, as they have faculty and aptitude, they would, as popular and elementary teachers, be, as I have already said, almost unrivalled."

"In not a few things, English schools and teachers might learn excellent lessons from the best schools of America. Animation, cheerfulness, incisive, effective teaching, are the properties of all good American teachers; brightness and effective discipline are the characteristics of most American schools of any consid erable pretensions; practical sense, which takes the shortest road to the result aimed at, is an attribute of American educators. as it is of the American citizen in all stations of life."

Another thing which can be remedied If these suggestions-which are in the with a very little expense is the miserable reach of all-are acted upon, the result seats that prevail in most of our school will be an incalculable benefit to our houses. Many of them have been broken schools.--From a Circular to Teachers and and patched up so that scholars virtually Patrons.

ECONOMY IN THE SCHOOL ROOM.

BY MRS. H. E. G. AREY, WHITEWATER.

ed by the turrets of wisdom is like a house without a roof-left to be disintegrated by the winds and storms, or to form brickbats for the mob.

Fresh topics, too, are constantly pressing for attention in the school room. In all these wasted years time might be gained for work like this. The dreary months spent in rote learning of gram

We complain of the shortness of the time allotted to study in our High and Normal schools-that the two or three years given is not sufficient for the work that is to be done. But this time would be less cramped if it were not sadly curtailed before it begins-by the incom-matical rules and geographical names pleteness of the work which professes to be done in our common schools. If the pupils from these schools had ever been taught even to read and spell properly there would be a great gain.

could be utilized-saved for other work, and the geographical and grammatical knowledge would not lose, but gain in the process. A list of geographical names, located indefinitely-is the dullest The pupil who has learned only one of all knowledge-hardest learned and thing as it should be learned, is ready for soonest lost. But the moment the teacher the next step. But if no enthusiasm has fixes those places in the mind of the puever been used-if he does not know, and pil-their direction from him as a center does not care what knowledge means,-if-traces the distances-lifts the placesthe page of his text-book presents noth- boats, towers, streets, shops, gardens, ing to him but a mass of words to be learned by rote, then the task of reclaim ing the waste field of the mind makes a sad breach in the time which should be given to positive advancement.

There is so much lumber in most of our common schools-such lack of clear and comprehensive statements in the text-books-such lack of clearness on the part of the teachers—such lack of energy and impressiveness in imparting what would otherwise be clear. The pupil once roused knows inevitably what we are teaching him-asleep he knows nothing.

plantations-before the eye of the pupil the dullness vanishes,—the crushing tax upon the memory is removed, the knowl edge offered has grappled with the mind and taken root. But this process takes much time. Yes. It takes time to winnow the chaff from the seed you sow,takes time to-day, but wins it a hundred fold to-morrow. Thus taught the same task would not have to be gone over again next term, and next year ad infinitum. The time saved would be given to some of the many attractive subjects that science and literature offer. And The work which has been gone the knowledge thus gained would be a over in the history of many of our com- strong hedge set about the fair gardenmon schools might be compared to a of the young mind-keeping out the ship-yard where the master builder with beasts of prey, and keeping in its best his plans has been changed once a month. capacities. This would not be merely an The ground is strewn with plenty of tim- economy of time, but a still greater ber and rubbish, but scarcely a block economy of mental power. And if the that can be used in the structure required. saving of human life is an economy to "They seem to be marching," says Taine the State, is not the saving of mental of the school men, "but they are merely strength a still greater economy? We making time." And this is true of the have scemed to look upon mental energy many of our common schools. With the as an inexhaustible power. The more foundation work thus done there is no you spend, the more you have has seemed time to give roundness and finish to the to be the opinion concerning it. But we knowledge imparted in a more advanced are beginning to learn that it is an excourse, a thing which is like the stamp of chequer upon which we cannot draw the mint in securing its value. The recklessly and yet always find it full. We structure of knowledge that is not crown-say there is no royal road to learning, and

手

the custom has been to give the learner a
task at hewing stones in a perfect valley of
desolation, that he might at least have the
hardship, whether he obtained the learn-
ing or not. The crumb of truth in this
adage is that the mind grasps nothing
upon which it does not turn a clear, sharp
and persistent attention. This kind of
attention to the points required is a royal
road to learning-laid in granite-that
can never wear out. And the object in
thus vitalizing the subjects taught, from
the beginning up, is to grasp and hold
the attention of the pupil so that the
thing once learned is learned forever. In
thus adorning the path by which he
ascends we do not weaken-we strengthen
him. We save his morning energies for
the noontide task. We add also the im-
pulse which the miner receives when he
knows where the gold is, in the shaft he
is digging.

DISCRETION IN DISCIPLINE.

has escaped her. She might let it go, and find out some other way; but earnest to know her duty, and trustful in her teacher, she raises her hand, and on permission, asks the repetition of the order. Miss Vertebra in indignation fires at her the same penalty that would have been inflicted on the most giddy and thoughtless inattention in the room, and tells her to stay half an hour after school, thus striking a cruel iron into the tender heart of the girl, and rousing her parents to resentment. Discretion would have suggested a discrimination in the administration of punishment; and that where reckless inattention deserved the severer penalty, one arising from pure thoughtfulness should have been noticed only in the gentle rebuke which would have done a complete yet healthful work in so true a soul.

Discretion, discrimination, a study of individual character, a careful adaptation of every individual penalty to the character of the delinquent, alone can prevent justice from lapsing into tyranny.-Minnesota Teacher.

GRADED SCHOOLS.

[We welcome the following from an old Superintendent; we hope that others who have had like experience, will occasionally let us hear from them:]

taught, with accommodations for primary schools in convenient localities in the village, or two or three on the old plan, without regard to any higher grade?"

Inattention to the notices and directions given from the desk, is a general and grievous misdemeanor in the school-room. A firm, judicious discipline which will cure this is a desideratum and a duty. Miss Vertebra is a capital teacher in some respects. She sees the mischief of inattention, and decides to crush it out at once. Very good so far. All cases of this mis- In the February number of the JOURNAL demeanor are to be amply punished, and the question is asked, "Which is it best to even-handed justice dealt out in her school-build, a good central school house, room. Ah, it is in the very idea and ex- where a school of a higher grade may be pression of "even-handed justice" that discretion is left out and that injustice lurks. At some point in the day's instructions she has occasion to make some remarks to the school on some interesting topic. Pupil A., an earnest, thoughtful, tenderly conscientious girl, listens, and is cast into a natural train of thought. Pupil B., empty-headed and indifferent, simply hears, but does not give it an original thought. In another moment Miss Ver tebra has given a short notice. Pupil B., with mind unencumbered by any thought, takes it in at once-perhaps, too, may forget it shortly; so she makes no sign. Pupil A. just checks, her innocent reflec. tions in time to discover that the notice

I should always choose the former whenever it can be had, even in the country. There are many reasons why I should so choose. One is, that I would rather teach a class of forty pupils than a class of two or three. The best number for a class is from fifteen to thirty. Each ungraded school will have five, and most of them six Readers in school. The first three Readers at least, have each a class beginning it, and one finishing it— making nine or ten reading classes. Of course each class must read at least once

a day. Each class must spell at least once a day. Each class must have some lesson in numbers once a day, whether simply a counting lesson, a lesson in per centage, or a lesson in cubic root. These, with the grammar lessons, geography lessons, etc., make up from twenty-five to forty

recitations for the teacher to hear in five and a half hours, for at least thirty minutes each day must be taken up in recesses. Of course this great number of recitations is not as it should be, but is as we find it-say an average of thirty recitations each day; eleven minutes to each recitation. Now, if we put two of these schools together, we have twice as many pupils in each class-generally a gain in stead of a loss; and if we divide the school, giving half of the whole number of classes to each of two teachers, we double the time for each recitation, and divide by two the cost of apparatus for illustration. And we unite instead of divide the interests of the community. With the same quality of management on the part of school boards and teachers, I think graded schools always do better than ungraded ones. If graded schools fail it is for lack of suitable school-houses, of apparatus, of proper management by the school board, or of ability in the teachers; or a combination of these deficiencies may cause the failure.

Very truly,

W. H. HOLFORD.

OFFICIAL DEPARTMENT.

OFFICIAL OPINIONS.

Prepared by the Assistant Superintendent.

FORMATION OF DISTRICTS-SITE-LOANS. Q. Our districts are badly arranged, and it is proposed to take a vote in town meeting whether the town board shall re-arrange them; will it be necessary to put up notices of the intention to vote on the question?

A. The notices will do no harm; but the town, as such, has no control over

the formation or alteration of school-districts, and any vote upon the subject will have no legal effect; but an expression of opinion, on the part of the voters in town meeting, would be of some service to the town board perhaps. If their judg ment coincides with the opinion of the majority, of course any action taken will be likely to give more general satisfac

tion.

Q. Can a school board select a site for the school house?

A. A school board may be requested by the district to find a good site, and report, but the district must "designate" the site by vote. (Sec. 19, Fourth.)

Q. Is not the vote of two-thirds of the voters present at a district meeting sufficient to authorize a loan?

A. The school law expressly requires a vote of two-thirds of all the voters in the district. (Section 119.) The same reI wish to correct a mistake in the Jan- quirement is made in the special law auuary number of the JOURNAL (p. 29.) Ithorizing loans from the "trust funds" of believe that third grade certificates should the State. Chap. 42, Gen. Laws of 1871. be granted for one year, (not six months, as stated;) second grade for eighteen months, and first grade for two years.

W. H. NOTHING, in truth, has such a tendency to weaken, not only the powers of invention, but the intellectual powers in general, as a habit of extensive and various reading without reflection. The activity and force of mind are gradually impaired in consequence of disuse; and, not unfrequently, all our principles and opinions come to be lost in the infinite multiplicity and discordancy of our acquired ideas.— Dugald Stewart.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF DISTRICT BOARDS
AND OFFICERS.

If a district clerk refuses to draw an order for a teacher's wages, what can be done?

A. Complaint can be made to the county judge who is empowered to remove a district officer for willful neglect of duty.

Q. It is the opinion of the best lawyers here that the majority of the board can pay the teacher, if the clerk refuses to draw an order for money due; how is this?

A. The majority of a board is suffi cient (a meeting first being called) to give