study." In 1876 the city superintendent, speaking of the school established in 1852, says that "it is hardly an exaggeration to say that during almost the whole period that has elapsed since the establishment of the school the arrangements and provisions for giving the requisite normal training to female teachers for our public schools have been insufficient and unsatisfactory." Speaking of the new school the same authority says: "Its course of training is but one year, but it is exclusively profes sional. The four great pedagogical branches-psychology, physiology, ethics, and logic-are here judiciously handled."

In 1875 the deputy superintendent of Pennsylvania, Mr. Curry, after a thorough examination of the normal schools of that State, says (remarking, however, that in some schools the candidates were quite up to the requirements for graduation in the elementary course), "But in others the course has been practically abridged by restrictting the study of some of the branches to the contents of superficial text-books, too meager to furnish more than a fragmentary knowledge of principles involved.”

In 1876 the superintendent of public instruction of New York began to attack most determinedly the academical features of the eight normal schools of New York. He says in his report for 1876 (dated 1877): “For myself I am free to say that I would greatly prefer to have our normal schools what they profess to be-institutions simply and solely for the training of teachers for the common schools of the State. They ought to be mainly schools where those in attendance should be taught how to teach, having reasonably fair understanding of what to teach. The young person who is appointed a pupil in a State normal school is required to possess a good English education. As I understand it, the function of the normal school is to teach this young person how to impart successfully to others the knowledge which he or she may possess, how to govern a school, how to win the confidence of pupils, and how to instruct them to obtain from books knowledge of an order far higher than that which the teacher possesses. It ought not to be expected that the State should, in a few localities, support high schools and colleges."

The bold move of the State superintendent to improve the State normal schools was simultaneous with another on the part of the governor suggesting the expediency of abolishing them. On June 11, 1877, the superintendent discontinued the academic departments in the normal schools, but the legislature in 1878 requested him to revoke his order.

In 1877 the principal of the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Mich., remarks that the admission of 16 graduates from high schools was a "new feature" that promised much good to the normal school, as it would insure that those who thus obtained admission were more qualified to follow the course. The work of the school was divided into two departments, one called scholastic or academic and the other professional. "Such is the low condition of common school instruction in the State," says the principal, "that a considerable portion of the instruction is to impart knowl edge and discipline; but as these are required for a definite purpose, our methods of instruction are directed to that end." "Professional instruction, however, should be the peculiar feature of the work of a normal school, and it is the constant effort of the faculty to make this feature more and more prominent every year." The same tendency towards a more professional status is quite as observable in the schools of Minnesota about this time.

In 1878 the board of visitors of the Michigan State Normal School, after an examination on two different occasions, spoke thus in regard to that institution:

"As to the general question of normal instruction, your committee recognizes the difficulty of finding a satisfactory solution. The first object of the normal school is, as the name implies, instruction in the art of teaching. It is, however, inevitable in the present condition of things that this should be supplemented by purely academic instruction, and the tendency has always been to give what seemed to many persons a disproportionate share and attention to what should be in strictness only subordi nate. This seemed to us to be the case at Ypsilanti. At the time of our visit there, our opinion was substantially that of the visitors of last year, that the normal school was more like an excellent academy, with some excellent instruc ion given in pedagogics and the science of education, than a normal school proper. With the growth of the school system, with the increase in the number of graded and high schools, the necessity of academic instruction in the normal school becomes less imperative, and the disproportionate time and attention bestowed upon it more offensive."

The visitors then speak of the reorganization that had been made since their last visit "to look more closely into certain matters, concerning which complaints had been made," and continue thus:

"We sincerely hope that the requirements for admission, as set forth in the prospectus, may not be at all lowered. The catch-all common school course of the past 7 years, with its low standard of requirements, its diploma, and its constantly increasing roll of graduates' has been the bane of the normal school. We earnestly hope for better things in the future."

In the report of the visitors for the following year (all new men as compared with their immediate predecessors), the following opinion is expressed:

"With the new building, it was fitting there should be this new life. We believe the normal school is doing a good work-work that must necessarily render our schools more efficient; yet the maximum has not been reached. Much remains to be done before it takes its rightful position in the educational system of the State."

The changes referred to are noticed in our Annual Report for 1878, at page 123; those particularly applicable in this connection are, (1) the division of the normal course proper iuto common school, higher English, and language courses fitting teachers respectively for the lower and higher grades in the State common and graded schools; (2) higher requirements of admission; and (3) professional instruction.

The remarks of the superintendent of the Boston schools on the question of the normal school, then much agitated in Boston, are given in our Report for 1879 at page lxxviii, and it is not thought necessary to repeat them here. Secretary Dickinson, of the Massachusetts Board of Education, says under date of January, 1880: "A teacher's seminary should have for its special object the training of teachers to teach. This includes a thorough study of the philosophy of teaching, and a discussion of a course of studies embracing an elementary and scientific course, It includes also as much practice as possible in teaching in experimental schools, the topics of the course of studies made out, and to such pupils as will study the same topics in the public schools, and lastly a study of the best methods of school organization and school government. If the normal schools are to be confined pretty closely to their legitimate work, the standard for admission to their classes must be raised."

CHAIRS OF PEDAGOGICS.

Towards the close of the eighth decade two terms not before in common use began to appear with considerable frequency, pedagogics and didactics, both used it seems as different names for the same thing, the science, or the science and art of teaching. But one of them was an old term in the University of Iowa, where the degree of bachelor of didactics was offered in 1870 to those who would complete an "advanced course" for one year and teach for two years successfully. This advanced course may be considered as a purely professional one, and finally in 1873 became a "chair," having the design to prepare teachers for advanced schools; "hence" says the catalogue, "only those academical seniors who intend to become teachers and special students, who may become qualified to be classed with them, will be allowed to pursue normal studies." In 1878 a "college of normal instruction" was opened in the university and granted the "academic normal degree of bachelor in pedagogics" to those graduates of one of the four academical courses who took also one semester of higher pedagogics; but it is the Chair of the Science and Art of Teaching in 1879 in the University of Michigan that will best enable us to show the stage of advancement that the pedagogical public had attained to as regards education as a science.

The object contemplated in establishing this chair, says Professor Payne, who oc cupied it, was "to fit students for the higher positions in the public school service," "a natural function of the university as the head of our [the Michigan] system of public instruction;""to give a more general diffusion to educational doctrines," which involves human interests of the highest order; "to promote the study of educational science;" "to teach the history of education," "to promote the transformation of teaching from an occupation to a profession," for "the very basis of professional activity is in an articulate body of doctrine."

The courses were as follows:

1. First semester: Practical, embracing school supervision, grading, courses of study, examinations, the art of instructing and governing, school architecture, school hygiene, school law, etc.

2. Second semester: Historical, philosophical, and critical, embracing the history of education, the comparison and criticism of the systems of different countries, the outlines of educational science, the science of teaching, a critical discussion of theories and methods.

The first course was evidently intended to cover the duties of a superintendent. The second course may be illustrated by the following topics, which were a part of it: Analysis and synthesis as related to method, acquisition, the office of books in education, empirical law of conduct; Comenius; the comprehensive nature of education as a liberal study, plastic theory of development theory; the two factors in primary instruction, art of interpretation, etc.

PEDAGOGY AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT IN THE EUROPEAN TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR

TEACHERS.

It is well known in informed circles that an educational revolution has occurred in France during the last decade; but it was not a blind, unreasonable revolution based on vague theories, but one carried forward in a scientific, patriotic spirit. The

educational revolutionists to whom we refer saw how powerless they would be with out trained teachers, and as early as January, 1881. the commission charged with preparation of a programme for the normal schools for men and women, established or about to be established, began to solicit from foreign lands such information as would enable them to know what other countries had done in the same direction. These requests were made a matter of state, and the diplomatic agents of the Republic collected and forwarded the information, which has since been put in print, and to which we are under obligation for the following matter,-matter which we have introduced not only as an appendix that will complete our review of the American normal school curriculum, but also that the reader may use it as the French commission used it.

The arrangement is simple. Under each country will be given the character of the purely pedagogical course and then, in tabular form, the position that it occupies in the curriculum of the school. The manner in which the other subjects of the curriculum, such as history, geography, etc., are taught present no particular claims for translation; but it is to be regretted that the method by which the several countries provide for the instruction of their future teachers in the mother tongue is not germane to the subject-matter of this paper.

FRANCE.

MEN.

First year-General principles of education.-Physical education: General hygiene plays and exercises of the child, gymnastics. Education of the sense by observation.

"Intellectual" education: Ideas upon the intellectual faculties, their development at different ages, their culture and their application to the different kinds of knowledge; role of the memory, of the judgment, of reason, of imagination; method, its different procedures, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction. Moral education: Will, the liberty of man [free-will ?] studied in the child; moral conscience, responsibility and duty; relation of duties and rights; culture of the child's sensibility; modification of character and formation of habits; natural diversity of instincts and characters.

Second year―The school (education and instruction in common).—Schools: Kindergarten; the primary, elementary, and higher school; continuation (complèmentaire) schools.

Buildings and fittings: Buildings and furniture; appliances for instruction; collections; libraries.

Pedagogical organization: Classification of students; programmes; use of time; register (journal de classe). Forms of teaching, intuition, object teaching (enseignement par l'aspect), interrogating, oral exercises, correction of pupils' work, school promenades (promenades scolaires). Study upon the particular procedures applicable to the teaching of each part of the programme.

Examination: Certificate of primary studies, composition.

Discipline: Rewards, punishinent, emulation, self-respect in the child; personal activity of the teacher, the conditions of his authority, his relations with the stu

dents and their families.

Third year-History of pedagogy and school management.-Revision, theoretical and practical, of the subjects studied during the first two years.

History of pedagogy: Distinguished educationists and their doctrines; analysis of the more important work.

Legislation and administration of school affairs: Laws, decrees, regulations, admin. istrative circulars. Organization of normal schools and the conditions of admission. Elementary schools: Different kinds of public schools; creation and support of communal schools; mixed schools, as to sex, as to religious belief; admission of children in the schools; gratuitous education; construction of school buildings; boarding places annexed to public schools; higher elementary schools; national scholar ships (bourses); accounts of the public schools; communal and departmental accounts relating to the elementary instruction; school registers; private schools taking the place of public schools; private schools.

Kindergartens: Their relation to the elementary classes; their history; their special government.

School aids: Popular libraries of the school and other popular libraries; courses for adults and apprentices; public lecturers and courses; school museums; school funds; school savings banks; shops for manual work; gymnastics.

Personnel: Teachers and their assistants in public and private schools; appointment; legal position; professional duties; ten year engagement; pay; pension; authorities established for supervising and directing elementary instruction; pedagogical libraries; pedagogical conferences.

WOMEN.

The work in pedagogy and school management is the same for women as for men, except that in the third year only the "history of pedagogy" is taught and a summary outline of elementary school education given.

THE HIGHER NORMAL SCHOOLS (ÉCOLE NORMALE SUPÉRIEURE D'INSTITUTRICEs) of france.

2022

Under date of July 13, 1880, the minister of public instruction and fine arts made the following report to the President of the French Republic:

"Mr. PRESIDENT: The law of the 9th of August, 1879, imposes the duty on each department to provide, within four years, a normal school for women who desire to prepare themselves for teaching; while the decree of the 5th of June last has es ́ablished an examination for the persons who are to become directors or professors of these schools, which requires special knowledge on the part of candidates for these positions.

The Government is thus placed under the necessity of providing in a comparatively short time a numerous personnel that is to fulfill conditions as to aptitude more difficult than those which have obtained in the past. Under these conditions the Government is concerned to find the means of making headway against the difficulties of the situation.

"Excluding the idea of individual preparation (which would be very insufficient), different measures have been proposed. Some would create a normal course in each academy; others would establish a fourth year of study to the existing course of the normal schools. But it is not possible to see the results of these two combinations. Moreover, the putting them in practice presents difficulties.

"The educational press has proposed that a beginning be made by creating a higher elementary normal school (école normale primaire supérieure), and a bill for the establishment of a high school of pedagogy for women has been presented. Without waiting for the legislature to pass upon this bill and without intending to prejudge as to the final character of the projected establishment, it seems to me necessary to take

The University of France is composed of seventeen "academies." These academies are not buildings, but educational jurisdictions. The departments are subdivisions of the academy.

those steps during the current year which if not taken will make it very difficult to provide a personnel sufficiently well prepared for the normal schools which are about to be opened."

The same day the President of the Republic signed the decree establishing the school, which is now known as the École Normale Supérieure d'Institutrices, Fontenay-auxRoses.

On the 30th of December, 1882, the following order was issued "relative to the conditions of admission to the higher elementary normal school for women at Fontenayaux-Roses":

ART. 1. An examination for admission to the higher elementary school for women at Fontenay-aux-Roses is held every year during Ju y.

ART. 2. To enable the candidate to compete, she must be unmarried or a widow, and not less than 10 years and not more than 25 years of age at the date of October 1 of the year in which she presents herself for examination. She must have made engagement for 10 years as provided in the decree of the 29th of July, 1881, and must be provided with a higher brevet or a college diploma (diplôme de bachelier)3. Finally, to produce a physician's certificate, stating her ability to perform the duties of a teacher.

ART. 3. Modifications of the age limits may be made by the minister of public instruction пpon the motion of the rector of an academy.

ART. 4. Applications [inscriptions] are received, in the departments, at the office of the inspector; at Paris, at the department of public instruction. The list is closed 15 days before the examination comes off. With the application for examination each applicant gives her age and place of birth, mentions her diplomas, and gives a sketch of the duties she has performed in public or private schools. The minister of public instruction makes up the list of those who are to be examined.

ART. 5. No applicant is admitted to compete more than three times.

ART. 6. The examination for admission comprehends written tests, which are eliminating (that is to say, eliminating those who are least fitted to survive,) and oral

tests.

ART. 7. The written examinations are held at the principal town of the department where the application has been made. The papers are placed under the charge of the inspector of the academy, or, in his absence, of a substitute approved by the rector. The written examination is composed of three compositions:

1. For the candidate for the section of letters:

(1) A composition having for its subject-matter a tale, a letter, a literary analysis, the discussion of a maxim, the development of a rule of grammar, etc.

(2) A composition upon a subject selected from the history of France, which may be accompanied by geographical questions.

(3) A composition upon a pedagogical subject.

2. For the candidate for the section of science:

(1) A composition upon a mathematical subject.

(2) A composition upon a subject pertaining to physics, chemistry, and natural

science.

(3) A composition upon a pedagogical subject.

The pedagogical composition may be common to the candidates for both sections. The time allowed for each composition is 3 hours.

The subjects of composition are selected by the minister of public instruction upon the motion of the examination committee and addressed to the inspectors of the academy under seal, to be opened in the presence of the candidates.

The compositions are, immediately after each examination, addressed to the minister of public instruction by the inspector of the academy, with an account of the proceedings.

ART. 8. The written compositions are corrected at Paris by a commission named each year by the minister.

The candidates who are found worthy of admission are called to Paris to undergo the oral examination.

1 In applying for permission to be examined for admission to a public normal school the candidate must file (Decree, July 29, 1881)

(1) Her request, indicating therein the school or schools that she has attended since her twelfth year. (2) Certificate of birth (acte de naissance).

(3) Certificate of elementary studies.

(4) An engagement to serve for 10 years as a public-school teacher. This paper is accompanied by a declaration on the part of the candidate's father or legal guardian, authorizes the candidate to make the contract, and engages to pay the cost of instructing his child or ward if he or she should voluntarily break the engagement.

By the decree of January 4, 1881, three" brevets de capacité" were established for the teacher. The "brevet of the second order or elementary brevet," the "brevet of the first order or higher brevet,” and the certificate of pedagogical aptitude, which was to be complementary of either of the others. To be examined for the higher or advanced brevet the candidate must have obtained the elementary brevet and have attained the age of seventeen on the 1st of January of the year in which he is examined. It should be added that this requirement of a brevet or a diploma does not appear in the text of the order as originally issued.