suited for children of seven, eight, and nine years of age. These figures, however, show marked improvement over the condition of former years. Thus, in 1883-84, of the children over 10 years of age, 42.77 per cent. were presented in standards below the 4th; while in 1878-79 the proportion above 10 years of age in the lower standards was 59 per cent. In other words, there has been during the decade a gain of 65 per cent. in the proportion of children over 10 years of age in standards appropriate to them.

The grant for class subjects was claimed by 89.91 per cent. of the schools for older scholars, having an average attendance of 2,511,057, and was allowed for 86.82 per cent. of the schools on the basis of an average attendance of 2,465,486, that is, 94 per cent. of all older scholars. English, i. e., grammar and grammatical analysis, was the first class subject in all cases.

In 70.98 per cent. of the schools, grants were claimed for two class subjects. In the majority, i. e., 76.50 per cent., geography was the second class subject. Optional needlework (girls), history, and elementary science made up the remaining number.

In their report the committee of council say:

The wider range of class subjects allowed by the code under the head of "elementary science" does not appear to be taken advantage of to any great extent at present. The returns show but 36 schools which have taken subjects under this head.

The 10 per cent. of schools in which no class subject was taken were evidently small schools. They comprised only 4 per cent. of the aver age attendance of scholars, while the average "number for payment" in each of them was 47, as against 127 in the schools which secured payment for class subjects and 66 in the schools which failed.

As to specific subjects, it appears that 14.83 per cent. of the scholars eligible for examination in these subjects were so examined.

The London school board district furnished a large proportion, viz, 39 per cent. of this number; board schools of that district surpassing the voluntary schools in this respect in the proportion of 7 to 3.

The results of the examinations in specific subjects were as follows: Number examined

Examined in one subject only.

Passed......

Examined in two subjects

Passed...

72,781

54,429

42,772

18, 352

11, 149

The subjects giving the highest number of passes were algebra, 30 per cent.; domestic economy, 24 per cent.; animal physiology, 18 per cent. French followed at a distance, having 7 per cent.

The examination developed the fact that cookery had been taught in 1,355 departments; 57,539 girls gaining the grant for this branch.

Military drill, which (as distinguished from the ordinary school drill practiced in every good school) was first recognized by the code of 1871, is systematically taught to the boys attending 1,414 day schools.

Drawing, which has just been made an obligatory subject for boys, is not a new feature of the programme. In 1885 it was pursued in 4,637 elementary schools, and over half a million children passed examination in the elementary stages. Owing to changes in the status of the subject, it declined for a while, but the lost ground has apparently been recovered, as in 1889 the number of children examined in this branch was very nearly $50,000. In Leeds, where drawing has been especially developed, the school board employ an art inspector, at a salary of £350 (81,750).

The scheme of elementary study considered as a whole is an interesting illustration of the conflicting views of the scope and purposes of elementary education under which it has been framed. The narrow range of obligatory subjects accords with the opinion of a large class of English statesmen, who hold that in the interests of economy and public content the education of the people should be confined to the rudiments of knowledge.

The class subjects are a concession to those more liberal-minded men who realize that the rudiments are in themselves lifeless, while in the larger opportunities which the scheme offers to individuals there is a hint of the relation that elementary instruction should bear to complete education. As it now stands, the scheme is not coördinated to or in unison with any other part of the educational provision of the country. Its deficiencies in this respect are radical, as is shown whenever the endeavor is made to bring the elementary schools into direct relations with higher institutions.

Notwithstanding these inherent difficulties, however, many individual pupils in the elementary schools have been successfully prepared for secondary schools, and have eventually gained distinction as university students. These higher provisions are made available to a limited number of elementary school pupils by scholarships created for the purpose and secured by competitive examination. The London board possesses fourteen such scholarships, ranging in value from $125 to $175. Additional scholarships are also annually placed at the disposal of this board. One of the practical results of the passage of students from the elementary schools to the higher institutions of learning is an increased recognition of the need of better adjustments between the courses of study of different classes of schools.

CONDUCT OF STUDIES AND DISCIPLINE.

Intellectual tone of the schools.-The prevailing methods of instruction in elementary schools affect individual minds and characters even more than do the subjects of instruction. These methods depend upon the professional qualification of the teacher and the demands which he is constrained to meet. In the English system, the one overshadowing influence is the inspector's annual examination, since upon the report of this official depends the amount of grant that a school may claim. The

scheme of study already presented is a significant indication of the Government requirement, which guides the work of both teacher and examiner. This is first and foremost, a definite, although very meager, attainment in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Experience has proved that children can be brought to the required proficiency in these subjects by drill of a mechanical kind, which immature and inferior teachers can use as effectively as the able and experienced. Pupil-teachers, however promising they may appear, lack both maturity and experience, and the tendency to grinding routine, inseparable from the peculiar system of examinations, is increased by the large proportion of this class of teachers, who constitute 30 per cent. of the entire force.

The low limit of attainment hitherto required for exemption from school attendance, viz: the fourth standard, which may be reached at 10 years of age, and actually is reached at that age by two-thirds of the children, has tended also to keep the work of the schools within narrow lines. Under these circumstances, professional skill and philosophical insight, which are not wanting to the teaching fraternity of England, count for little. Teachers, school board officials, and others have been urgent in their endeavors to secure some relief from these depressing conditions, and while as yet they have failed in effecting radical changes they have met with some measure of success.

The code of 1890 provides some relief from these depressing condi tions; it allows the teacher greater freedom in the classification of pupils than heretofore, greatly reduces the amount of individual examination, and gives larger credit for excellence in the general conditions of the schools, and raises the age of exemption from 10 to 12 years. These concessions have revived the efforts of those who advocate more natural methods of instruction and a larger range of obligatory subjects.

Moral quality. While the average intellectual standard of the English elementary schools (if both urban and rural schools be included) is not high, the moral quality is positive and pervasive.

This is a very natural consequence of the part which the Church has taken in the establishment and maintenance of the schools. It is further attributable to the influence of the training colleges, through which the majority of the head teachers have passed, which colleges being denominational schools are deeply penetrated with the religious spirit. The attitude of the Government accords with this spirit. A portion of the parliamentary grant is allowed upon the inspector's report as to the organization and discipline of a school. In recommending this grant the inspector is instructed to have

Special regard to the moral training and conduct of children, to the neatness and order of the school premises and furniture, and to the proper classification of the scholars, both for teaching and examination. * * To meet the requirements respecting discipline the managers and teachers will be expected to satisfy the inspector that all reasonable care is taken in the ordinary management of the school to bring up the children in habits of punctuality, of good manners and language, of

cleanliness and neatness, and also to impress upon the children the importance of cheerful obedience to duty, of consideration and respect for others, and of honor and truthfulness in word and act. The inspector should also satisfy himself that the teacher has not unduly pressed those who are dull or delicate in preparation for examination at any time of the year.

Methods of instruction.-Instruction by repetition is a method much in vogue in English schools. One pupil repeats after the teacher and a second pupil after the first, until by dint of reiteration the matter is mastered.

Concert repetition is also a common exercise. In the teaching of arithmetic more attention seems to be given to drill in processes than to the analysis of principles and relations. Object lessons are employed in infant schools and in those for older pupils, but more generally take the form of talks by the teacher than of instruction based upon perception and observation.

Among many excellent features of the system we may note that infant schools have been the subject of special care and thought, and many of them approach very near the ideal formulated by Mr. Fitch. "The English ideal of an infant school," says Mr. Fitch, " as one in which elementary instruction in reading, writing, and counting is interspersed with simple lessons on the phenomena of nature and of common life, and with interesting and varied manual employment, has not prevailed in America. I confess I greatly prefer it. It seems to me to put what are commonly called kindergarten methods and discipline into their proper place, rather as organic parts of a good and rounded system of juvenile acquisition of knowledge than as constituting even in the earliest years a separate organization, having aims and principles different from those which should prevail during the rest of the school life." 1

These infant schools are most numerous in crowded city districts, and with their games, songs, and free converse bring light and joy to multitudes of children belonging to the poorest classes.

Sewing and cookery as developed in the large cities and in certain districts, especially of Yorkshire, greatly increase the influence of the schools over the home life of the poor.

Clay modeling has been introduced to some extent in infant schools, and is attempted occasionally in schools for older scholars in connection with drawing. Manual training experiments have been started in a few cities, and in June, 1890, the Science and Art Department announced that grants would be made toward the maintenance of manual classes in connection with the teaching of drawing in the elementary schools.

By recitation in English schools is meant the verbatim repetition of assigned selections from the writings of the best authors, an exercise

1 Vide: Notes on American Schools and Training Colleges.

upon which much stress is laid in the higher standards. Another very valuable language exercise which is much used, although not included in the obligatory course, is the analysis of words, and the grouping together of those having a common root.

What is known as the peripatetic plan of instruction has been successfully employed for science classes in Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Huddersfield, and other manufacturing towns, and also in London. By this plan a special teacher, accompanied oftentimes with an assistant and equipped with a portable laboratory, goes from school to school to conduct classes. Physical training, as we have already seen, is not entirely ignored. The Swedish system of gymnastics has been introduced extensively into the London schools for girls. Swimming classes for boys have also been formed in some schools of the metropolis and of other cities.

Lessons in thrift and economy are enforced by the maintenance of savings banks, or by use of the post-office savings system. In 1889 the number of schools reporting penny banks was 2,509, which is very nearly three times the number reported in 1884..

From an exhaustive inquiry made in the board schools of London in 1887, it appeared that very few banks had been established in the schools, but the post-office system was popular.

The way in which this system was operated in the schools is thus described in the report of the investigation:

The working of the system is in this wise: On a Monday morning a teacher takes the moneys saved by each scholar, from a penny up to a shilling, and enters each amount in a cash book opposite the scholar's name. As several amounts are thus entered they are transferred to a ledger, whence the total savings of each scholar can be seen. Having done this the teacher sends the total sum received on the Monday to the nearest post-office and obtains a deposit receipt in an ordinary savings-bank book, which serves as a pass book.

Again, that which is known as the stamp plan is used in a few schools, the teacher supplying stamps to the scholars for the purpose of being affixed to a form which is also supplied to each scholar. When a dozen stamps have been thus affixed the form is sent to the post-office and an account is opened. In that case no cash book or ledger is kept at the school.1

With respect to text-books the local managers have entire freedom, and the text book trade flourishes in England. The books are not, however, comparable either in respect to contents or to typographical finish with those used in the United States or upon the Continent.

Efforts are also made to supply schools with general reading matter; in 1888-89 school libraries were reported from 4,311 schools, or about one-fifth of the whole number.

Discipline.-The discipline of the schools is as various as we find it in our own country. Corporal punishment is very generally employed, but is guarded in many ways.

The London board, for instance, prohibits any but head teachers from inflicting it, and orders a detailed record of each case to be made.

'See report with fuller details in "School Board Chronicle" of December 24, 1887.