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AMERICAN CURRICULA OF SECONDARY
EDUCATION.

HROUGH the good services of American friends, we have mittee on Secondary School Studies appointed at the meeting of the National Education Association, July 9th, 1892, and are able to give our readers a summary of the most important document that has been issued for many years past by the Washington Bureau.

The above-named Committee was composed of ten of the most prominent educational authorities in the States, with Dr. Eliot, the President of Harvard University, as chairman. These in their turn nominated nine sub-committees of ten, to represent the nine chief branches of study in secondary schools. The central Committee, having received the reports of the sub-committees, proceeded to formulate general conclusions, and frame time-tables in accordance with their recommendations. A priori we should have judged that the Committee had set themselves an impossible task-to conciliate the rival interests of nine claimants, to portion out a week of twenty-five working hours among nine professors, each of them requiring five at least (and some twice five) for his own particular study. But, in fact, this difficulty has not arisen, and perhaps the most surprising feature of the report is the moderation of the demands made by the representatives of each group of studies.

Hardly less remarkable is the consensus of opinion, not only on the sub-committees, but on the general Committee. There are in all only two minority reports. No Conference demands more time for its particular study than is now given in schools where that study is seriously pursued. Roughly, five recitations (or hours in school) a week may be taken as the unit for each group of studies. On the other hand, each Conference demands that its subjects should be begun at an earlier age than is now In particular, the latinists urge that Latin, which,

the custom.

it seems, is now rarely begun before sixteen or seventeen, should be taught not later than the thirteenth or fourteenth year. Each Conference again insists on the close inter-connexion of cognate subjects, and the necessity of so teaching them that one shall illustrate and help on the other.

We must content ourselves for the present with noticing the most salient features in the separate reports, and pass by the many valuable hints on method. In English, which includes literature and rhetoric, the same amount of time is demanded as for Latin. This Conference is also of opinion that the best results in English teaching cannot be obtained without the simultaneous study of another language, ancient or modern. The Modern Language Conference recommends elective courses of French and German, and strongly deprecates the commencement of both languages simultaneously. It holds that modern languages offer as good a mental gymnastic as classics, provided an equal amount of time is given to them. The mathematicians wish the arithmetical course lightened in primary schoools, so as to make room for the elements of algebra, and they would have concrete geometry begin at a very early stage. The physicists ask for one period a day in primary schools for the study of elementary natural phenomena, and, for practical reasons, they would place the study of chemistry before that of physics. The Conference on Natural History demand two periods a week in primary schools for the study of botany and geology. The historians require not less than three periods a week for eight years, for the study of history, civil government, and political economy. The geographical section were unanimous in their condemnation of existing methods, and in wishing to extend the purview of the subject so as to include the entire physical environment of men. They admitted that, with the present staff of teachers and equipment of schools, their programme was utopian.

We proceed to summarize the conclusions of the central Committee, which, apart from their interest as the opinions of pedagogical experts, have a special value for us at a time when secondary education in England is, as it were, in the meltingpot.

The fundamental conception of all the Conferences—a conception which the Committee endorse-is that each subject of secondary education, if taught at all, must be taught so consecutively and thoroughly as to make it yield all the training of which it is capable. It will be at once apparent that, judged by this canon, most, if not all, of the curricula of our public schools stand condemned, as formed on a false principle; that they all err in excess, and give alms to oblivion, doles of an hour a week to subjects which are not and cannot be meant to be taken seriously. Table II. of the report shows the weekly periods assigned to each subject, supposing the recommendations of all the conferences to be carried out :

First year :-Latin, 5; English, 5; German or French, 4; algebra, 5; history, 3; total, 22.

Second year :-Latin, 5; Greek, 5; English, 5; French, 4; German, 4; algebra, 22; geometry, 22; astronomy, 5; botany or zoology, 5; history, 3; total, 371⁄2 .

Third year-Latin, 5; Greek, 4; English, 5; French, 4; German, 4; algebra, 2%1⁄2; geometry, 22; chemistry, 5; history, 3; total 35.

Fourth year :-Latin, 5; Greek, 4; English, 5; German, 4; French, 4; trigonometry, 2%1⁄2; higher algebra, 21⁄2 ; physics, 5 ; anatomy, physiology, and hygiene, 5; history, 3; geology or physiography and meteorology, 3; total, 372.

It is obvious that this programme cannot be adopted en bloc. Even a French lycéen would strike at thirty-seven hours a week in school in addition to preparation. The Committee proceed from this ideal table to draw out practical tables suitable for various types of schools, the classical, the Latin-scientific, the modern language, and the English school. We need not give details. It is enough to note the underlying principle of these practical time-tables. Each subject, if admitted at all, is given its full unit of time. For instance, the first year of the classical scholar is allotted thus: Latin, 5; English, 4; algebra, 4; history, 4; physical geography, 3. In the science school Latin has 5 hours a week for the first year and 4 hours for the subsequent years.

We

Another striking feature in these tables is for the first two years they closely agree; in other words, the bifurcation between classics and science is postponed till the pupil's third year. will conclude this preliminary notice by quoting a remark which occurs again and again in the separate reports. In order to introduce the changes recommended, teachers more highly trained than at present will be needed both in the elementary and the secondary schools.

OMENS FOR EDUCATION IN 1894.

THE, educa 10.332, issued by the Education Department on HE educational New Year has opened auspiciously. In January 6th. Mr. Kekewich boldly extends the views set forth last year with respect to infant schools (Circular No. 322) to the "instruction of lower standards in schools for older schools," showing himself, in all essentials, frankly Froebelian; and on January 17th Mr. Acland, when addressing the annual meeting of the Association of Principals and Lecturers in Training Colleges, dwelt earnestly on the necessity for the improvement and wider extension of training for teachers in schools of all kinds and classes and professed himself anxious to take up seriously the question of physical education in elementary schools, especially those situated in large towns. These are good omens; to which, no doubt, will be added further improvements in the Code-perhaps, though we speak rather with hope than with knowledge, in respect to details relating to the grading of some of the subjects.

Mr. Kekewich's advice is so sound and of such general application that we make no apology for quoting it somewhat at length. After pointing out the abuse of spelling lessons, and the mechanical nature of much of the arithmetic work, he says: "It should be borne in mind that object-lessons cannot be dispensed with if habits of observation are to be duly fostered, and they should be treated as a means for mental exercise, and not merely as opportunities for imparting miscellaneous information. Objects should always be present, and in sufficient numbers; and the chief aim should be to call into activity observation and the construction of clear mental pictures, so that the intelligence of the pupils may be exercised and developed. Geography, where it is a class-subject, should be treated in a similar way, and should be taught by visible illustrations, and by actual modelling in sand and clay” (and, we would add, by actual photographs of places, shown by means of a lantern). After touching on the value of pictures "of sufficient size" in the teaching of history, Mr. Kekewich adds: But, whatever may be the method followed, some system of lessons should be arranged in every school by which an intelligent habit of observation and simple reasoning may be fostered; while it cannot be too clearly pointed out that all the subjects simultaneously dealt with in a curriculum should be kept as closely interconnected and made as mutually helpful as possible, and not be unduly isolated and specialized "a matter, as it seems to us, of great and far-reaching importance, to which much too little attention is paid in other schools besides the elementary.

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"As regards hand-and-eye training," says the Circular, “it is much to be regretted that the ingenious and progressive kindergarten exercises for training scholars in deftness of hand and correctness of eye should be almost entirely discontinued after the children leave the infant school; and the more so when it is remembered that the mind itself is most effectively trained by such exercises whenever they are the expression of the children's own thought”—a view which will be heartily endorsed by the Sloyd Association. Many of our readers will fully agree with the opinion that "attention might usefully be drawn to the desirability of employing, in these lower parts of schools for older scholars, women teachers, and especially those who have been trained for kindergarten work"; and every teacher will echo the statement-especially kindergarten teachers-that "it should never be forgotten that unless the lessons themselves are made attractive to these young children by their simplicity of treatment, by the suitability and variety of the illustrations, and by association with their (the children's) everyday life, the most carefully drawn curriculum and the most thoughtful arrangement of time-tables will fail" to produce true and lasting educational results, for the self-activity of the children will have not been called into play. This is very encouraging.

We have so often and so emphatically expressed our views on training that we need not do more here than call attention to Mr. Acland's weighty words on the subject, and express our satisfaction that, much and rightly as he values the training given in elementary training colleges, he is not under the impression that it is perfect or nearly perfect-that, in fact, he realizes that in those institutions by far the greater part of the time is devoted to continuing and improving the general education of the students, and very much the lesser part to their strictly professional teaching as teachers We are also very

heartily at one with him in his desire for more and better playgrounds in connexion with schools in large towns. We trust, however, that he will bear in mind the difference between physical exercise (free play in the playground) and physical education-which last implies the presence and guidance of a well trained and properly instructed teacher, whose work does not necessarily lie in the playground. Town children, and indeed all children, need both, and we earnestly hope that it will be found possible to provide both.

If the Royal Commission on Secondary Education is appointed soon and gets speedily to work, with the intention to lose as little time as possible on mere details, and if the forthcoming report on the Teaching University for London gives encouragement and scope for immediate action, the year which we are commencing will be a very hopeful one and a busy one indeed.

REVIEWS AND MINOR NOTICES.

Reformed Logic. A system based on Berkeley's Philosophy, with an entirely new method of Dialectic. By D. B. MCLACHLAN. (Swan Sonnenschein.) In considering the worth of this book, and the justice of its claim to "reform" logic, two questions are of primary importance (1) the value, for logic, of an explicit metaphysical basis; (2) the superiority of Mr. McLachlan's new method of dialectic to the logical procedure currently accepted. With reference to the latter point, we may remark at starting that though there is a certain amount of justification for the view expressed in the quotation on page iv." that there does not exist anywhere a recognised currently-received body of speculation to which the title. logic can be unambiguously assigned, and that we must therefore resign the hope of attaining, by any empirical consideration of the received doctrine, a precise determination of the nature and limits of logical theory"-yet the case is not so hopeless as is there suggested; for in spite of great variety of definition, and (to some extent) of treatment and terminology, an examination of the matter of logical textbooks, or even (generally) of their tables of contents, will show that both "formal" and "material" logicians, both "nominalists" and "conceptualists," are almost wholly occupied with a consideration of judgments (or propositions) and their constituent elements (terms or concepts) and relations (opposition, inferences of various kinds, fallacy, &c.). We find this, e.g., in Mill as well as in Whateley, in Jevons as as well as in Keynes, in Lotze, Bradley, and Bosanquet as well as in Boole and Venn. All of them, in fact, deal with the relations of propositions (or judgments)-i.e. with their bearing on each other (and the due treatment of this subject involves of course a consideration of the elements and import of propositions).

Logic, as thus conceived, is just the theory of what we all aim at doing well, and actually practise according to the measure of our ability—namely, reasonable thinking, intelligibly expressed according to the current use of language. If this be so, it would seem that difficult and disputed metaphysical theories of the ultimate constitution and transcendental relations of matter and mind must need the most careful application of logical tests before they can be reasonably accepted or rejected; and that, therefore, it is and must be absurd to base logic-the science of reasonable thinking, or of the true relations of propositions—on an abstruse metaphysical doctrine, which, even if we grant it to be not disproved, we certainly must allow to be extremely disputable.

This is not the place in which to examine either Berkeley's view or the curious so-called modification of it which Mr. McLachlan adopts under the name of Substantialism, and in

ness.

recommendation of which, it seems to us, he offers little but metaphor, and dogmatic assertions of extremely disputable and sometimes obscure views-such, for instance, as the following:-"The substantial mind consists of two principal parts a SELF and a PLASMA, the Atman and Akasa of Sanscrit philosophers. Self is the seat of energy and consciousThe plasma is inert and unconscious; it protects the self," &c. "It is mind alone that is conceived as having solidity and energy. Material things are temporary forms of our consciousness; they have length and breadth, but no depth," &c. "I conceive the intellect as a hardening of the plasma in its superficies, the formation of a sort of rind," &c. "The gelatine film [in photography] behaves very like the mental plasma," &c. "The intervals between the objects of a sequence are imagined after the model of lateral intervals in association. This is time." "Truth is expedience; and there is no need to harmonise philosophy and science." With reference to the first or "philosophic" part of the book, the author uses several entirely new terms (e.g., applicate, perspection), and also some old terms (e.g., metaphysic, sentiment, redaction) in new senses, without, as it appears to us, sufficient justification; and his psychological equipment seems to be sometimes at fault. We would recommend to his notice Dr. Ward's article on "Psychology" in the last edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," and the psychological portions of Lotze's "Mikrokosmus."

The second (or logical) part of Mr. McLachlan's book is in six divisions, as follows:-(1) Dialectic; (2) Categories; (3) Redaction of Colloquial Arguments; (4) Fallacies; (5) Academical Dialectic; (6) Studies in Dialectic. Dialectic, he says, is the science of reason, and reason is the art of conceiving the future and unknown. There is no exercise of reason unless there is uncertainty, a more or less conjectural addition to actual fact. Hence, of all the notions of reason entertained by "syllogists," the only true one is analogy. Syllogisms are falsely called arguments, for rational conclusions are never certain-where the conclusion is contained in the premisses there is no argument.

Mr. McLachlan is no more able than other writers to avoid the dilemma between the Scylla and Charybdis of inference (as conceived by Mill, &c.). On the one hand it is not certain; on the other it is not new. He has, indeed, professed to embrace the horn of uncertainty; but he apparently tries to add certainty to novelty (and so to avoid both disadvantages) when, in place of syllogism as a test of valid argument, he offers us what he calls the "Rational Parallel "- -an arrangement in the four angles formed by two straight lines which cut each other at right angles, thus:

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"SA represents the precedent, S is the subject or body of the precedent; A (the applicate) is one property, or a part, or a relation of S abstracted from the rest to illustrate a case. C is the case; I is the conclusion (or inference). I results from imagining C to be associated with a property or relation similar to A."

But, (a) granted that Tyrants deserve death and that Cæsar is a tyrant, no imagination is needed in order to conclude that Cæsar deserves death-the conclusion is as certain as it can be; (b) if the critical point is the establishment of the "precedent "—that is, of such a relation between S and A that the assertion of C justifies the further assertion of I-then what we need is some inductive test, some standard by which to try an inference from similarity to similarity. This test Mr. McLachlan is far from providinghe seems to appeal simply to the uncontradicted experience

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