Chart IV, showing how the time commonly devoted to the natural
school and the differont classes of German schools is divided.

sciences in the American common

Prussian schools. Chart III shows that in the high schools of Prussia
mathematics begins with geometry in the form of arithmetical mensura-
tion, or, as some have it, geometry in object lessons. The comparison with
an average American high school is particularly instructive. In a sub-
sequent chapter it will be shown why in Europe, with the exception of
England, the study of arithmetic is more satisfactory than here.

Chart IV is somewhat misleading, because it would seem from it
that there is no difference in the time given to the natural sciences in
the high schools in Prussia, but in fact the time, that is the number of
hours per week, devoted to those studies differs materially in the different
schools, as may best be seen from the four time-tables accompanying
this, and also from the typical courses of study. (See subsequent chap-
ters.)

A graphic presentation of the time devoted to music, drawing, pen-
manship, and gymnastics has not been attempted, for reasons too obvi-
ous to be mentioned; but the following time-tables will shed some light
on this subject.

XIV.-NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK DEVOTED TO THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES.

NOTE.-Class VI (Sexta) is the lowest, Ib (Upper Prima) the highest grade. In the Gymnasium,
the classes are Sexta, Quinta, Quarta, Tertia (Upper and Lower), Secunda (Upper and Lower), Prima
(Upper and Lower).

NOTE. The totals in the right hand column of these diagrams are most instructive, since they illus trate the prominence given to certain branches.

NOTE. Attention is directed to the total number of hours devoted in French Lycées and in Prussian high schools. If the five to six hours devoted to religion, music, and gymnastics in Prussia be added to the table of French Lycées the total number of hours spent in school would still be about five hours less than in Prassia.

XV.-CAUSES OF RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN STUDIES.

A cursory review of the foregoing charts and time tables will convince even the most skeptical, that the advancement made in Prussia in the studies of the curriculum is a good deal faster than in America. Several leading college professors and other noted teachers of this country, who have made the European schools a subject of study, claim that the average time gained in German schools as compared with American is about three years. That difference ought to be accounted for, and it is easily done. The causes may be enumerated as being (a) the difficult spelling of the English language; (b) the efforts made in learning and applying the tables of our arbitrary measures and weights; (c) the length of the school year; (d) the want of a profession of teachers in this country, and lack of proper teaching. These are not the only causes; there are others of minor importance which might give rise to interesting discussions, but the scope of this work forbids entering into them.

Spelling. The orthography of the English language is most difficult to learn. It is very unruly and arbitrary. The want of rules under which words might be grouped makes the acquirement of correct spelling a case of mere mechanical memory. An hour per day scarcely suf fices to make the average child master of the art of writing correctly without constant reference to the dictionary. Spelling, as a daily study, runs through the entire course, and even the graduates of the high school still need constant drill in orthography to keep up a certain standard of perfection. The amount of time a child spends in learning the orthography of the English language is out of all proportion to that given to other studies, though it is necessary; and the energy wasted in acquiring something which does not aid the child intellectually is deplorable. If by general consent of Congress, press, and school, the English orthography were simplified to the degree it has been done in

Germany it would be a saving of an entire year to every school child in this country. From Chart I (see p. 53) it may be seen how comparatively little time is spent in German schools in the study of orthography, and that it reaches a degree of perfection which is never expected or even hoped for in English or American schools. The time saved in this study is in Germany devoted to history and literature.

Metric system. Our school children generally spend an entire year in trying to learn and apply tables of measures and weights in arithmetic. The chapter of denominate numbers claims a very large portion of space in our text-books in arithmetic, and its study, like that of orthography, consumes much valuable time that might be profitably employed in nat ural history and elementary natural science. The child in continental European schools (we must except England, which still clings to the arbitrary measures) has no tables to remember, for he learns the divisions of the metric system, together with notation and enumeration of numbers, during the first two years in school. As soon as he can enumerate and notate between one and one thousand he can measure and weigh according to the metric system. There are only six names of divisions to be remembered: kilo, hecto, deka, and deci, centi, milli, and four measures: metre for distance, are for areas, liter for fluids, and gramme for weights. These ten technical terms are all that are required. If we think of our yard, acre, gallon, bushel, and different pounds, etc., with all their various divisions, and then consider that each of these measures has a different number of divisions, it does not seem improbable that nearly a year's hard study might be removed by adopting the metric system. As our English orthography is a mechanical cause of retarding the children's progress, so are our arbitrary measures. That our pupils are not advanced in their studies as fast as can be done, and is done in Europe, is in a great measure due to these mechanical causes. The element of time.-The length of the school year in Prussia (and possibly in France) is almost uniformly 10 months or about 250 school days (exclusive of holidays and vacations), while in the United States it varies between 60 and 196 days, with an average of 135 days. This obvious difference alone puts the American school at a disadvantage, but this is not all. It is not only that in Germany the number of school days is greater, but that the school day is considerably longer than in the United States. It is a simple example of multiplication, to wit:

With us a school day is, at various places and during different seasons, from 5 to 5 hours long, which amounts to 980 to 1,078 hours a year. The German child, on the other hand, has 4 days of 6 to 6 hours each and 2 days of 4 hours each in every week of the school year. This amounts to from 1,323 to 1,406 hours in a year. Or to take average numbers: In the United States the child is under the influence of school during 1,029 hours a year; the German child is under that influence 1,364 hours, or about one-third more than the American child.

In the foregoing comparison it should be borne in mind that the reli