form blanks, with the intent to secure uniformity and to avoid duplication of work. 6. That it shall be the duty of the board of inspectors to submit to the commission the list of schools recommended by them not later than June I of each year. 7. That it shall be the duty of the commission to publish the list submitted to it by the board of inspectors not later than June 10 of each year, and to cause the same to be distributed to the members of the North Central Association. The board of inspectors as now constituted consists of Inspectors Whitney of Michigan, Brown of Iowa, Aiton of Minnesota, Brooks of Illinois, and Hoge of Missouri. As to college credit for certain work done in secondary schools: 1. The commission favors the general principle that colleges should give advanced credit for secondary school work, sufficient in amount and quality, done in addition to the fifteen units required for admission. 2. In the opinion of the commission no advanced college credit should be given for less than one full year of secondary school work in any subject, except so far as half units are specified in the definitions of unit courses, or for any study that is not pursued later than the second year of the high-school course. 3. The amount of advanced credit to be awarded in any subject should be determined by the college which the student enters. In closing I quote from Professor H. P. Judson, chairman of the commission: "It is understood that the plans herein outlined will form a basis on which work may begin. It is not supposed that practical experience will justify every point in detail, but as fast as the commission learns that modifications are needed, they can readily be adopted. In making the tentative list of secondary schools, it is the plan of the commission to select only those which, beyond question, would be approved by all colleges in the association. It seems wiser to make, at the outset, a list which can be extended gradually, rather than a list which will need cutting down later." DISCUSSION DIRECTOR GEORGE N. CARMAN, of Lewis Institute, Chicago, in discussion of Professor Dexter's paper, gave an instance of the embarrassment due to a lack of correlation between the secondary schools and one of the larger eastern universities. PROFESSOR JOHN C. HUTCHINSON, of the University of Minnesota, spoke in favor of the examination of the school, rather than of the pupil, and explained in detail the organization of the high-school board of the state of Minnesota. PRINCIPAL E. V. ROBINSON, of the high school of St. Paul, Minn., called attention to the importance of provision by the colleges for credit to the students of the larger high schools who have done more than the college requirement in certain subjects. He spoke of the demoralizing effect upon the pupil of being forced to duplicate such work in the college. Very careful inspection of the schools would of course be necessary, but that would be welcomed by schools competent to do advanced work. DIRECTOR CARMAN replied that such a scheme was perfectly feasible, and expressed his regret for the prevalence of the idea that the universities are ipso facto infallible, and the schools ipso facto fallible. F. P. KEPPEL, of Columbia University, New York, raised the question of the neces sity, in the case of technical schools, for a strict system of entrance requirements, with comparatively little elasticity, and consequently frequent embarrassment to students. He believed that it was impossible to allow the same leeway in the case of these schools as in the case of the "old-fashioned" college, with its elective courses. PROFESSOR G. W. KNIGHT, of the Ohio State University, emphasized this distinction between liberal and technical courses, and the necessity for a different policy with regard to their entrance requirements. In reference to Professor Dexter's paper, Professor Knight said, further, that in his experience there was difficulty in obtaining at the colleges a really honest certification from certain secondary schools, and that, mainly on this account, a doubt had arisen in his mind within the last few years as to the efficacy of the certificate system as a whole. President Northrop raised the point that it was most difficult to provide efficient checks for moral dishonesty in any stage of the pupil's education. Professor Knight replied that, if some official supervising body, independent both of the colleges and the schools, could be devised, most of his objections to the certification system would be removed. PRESIDENT J. L. SNYDER, of the State Agricultural College of Michigan, spoke of the danger to the schools of laying their emphasis on the one pupil who is planning to go to college, instead of on the nine who will be unable to do so. Professor Dexter called attention to the great elasticity of the entrance requirements of the universities of the Middle West, and stated that there was no reason why the high schools should suffer in the way that Professor Snyder suggested. Professor Dexter stated also, as an evidence of the growth of an organized system of advanced credits at the University of Illinois, that, altho the requirements for admission prescribed only thirty-six units, the average number of units offered by entering students was no less than forty-two (forty-four?). PRINCIPAL L. H. FORD, of Webster City, Ia., brought to the attention of the Department the difficulty which the smaller high schools, with limited resources, and frequently under illiberal boards of education, found in meeting the requirements of the colleges, and made a plea for a policy on the part of the colleges liberal enough to make it possible for any graduate of one of these smaller high schools to enter the colleges. Mr. Ford raised a question, also, in reference to Professor Knight's experience as to the dishonesty of certificates from secondary schools, as to the universal honesty of the certificates issued by the universities to the teachers whom they send out to work in the high schools. In answer to inquiries, Acting President Folwell explained the make-up of the Minnesota high-school board, and the manner in which the examiners of the schools are, indirectly at any rate, under the authority of the university. He explained also the system of bonuses for such schools as prepare students for one or more of the courses of the university and are willing to submit themselves to examination by the high-school board. He stated also, as an interesting development of the system, that the scheme of bonuses had now extended down into the district schools and graded schools. PRINCIPAL CHARLES ALDEN SMITH, of the high school, Duluth, Minn., in a discussion of Director Carman's report, emphasized the value of a uniform and definite statement of entrance requirements to ambitious schools. He said, also, that the results of the inspection of schools worked most happily for the uplifting and inspiration of the latter. He mentioned, with approval, the development of the crediting system now in practice at Cornell University and other institutions, whereby the college sends back a report to the school regarding the work done by its graduates. PROFESSOR JOHN F. BROWN, high-school inspector for the State University of Iowa, speaking from the standpoint of the high schools, showed the advantage to the schools which comes from the inspection system, and cited instances where the recommendations of the inspector, altho without official authority, frequently brought about reforms in the schools which the principal, unaided, had been unable to get thru the board of education. PROFESSOR THOMAS NICHOLSON, of Cornell College, Iowa, called attention to the movement in Iowa, which had been very successful and valuable. There the state university and the other degree-conferring institutions had united, thru the college department of the State Teachers' Association. They had first agreed upon certain minimum conditions in number and scholastic ability of professors, equipment, etc., with⚫ out which an institution should not be recognized as "a college." The fifteen institutions in the state which fulfilled, or more than fulfilled, these requirements had organized a state board, composed of representatives of the colleges and the high schools, the object of which was to improve the educational conditions by voluntary co-operation. The result had been very gratifying. The best of feeling prevailed; the reduction of the recognized degree-granting institutions from twenty-three to fifteen had dignified the college degree in the state and had tended to stop cheap institutions from competing for students by lowering requirements and deceiving the ignorant. This board had made an accredited list, uniform for all the colleges, had secured uniform entrance requirements, for the colleges of the state, had agreed on certain allowances for subjects not in the regular entrance scheme, but which certain high schools were compelled to teach. It had been able to prescribe kind and quality of work and to materially aid the high schools to better courses and to more efficient work. They had issued a high-school manual, which was approved by the general association of the state and the state superintendents, and which was doing much good, and had also developed a uniform system of blanks, used by all the colleges and containing a place for the entry of the student's record in every subject legally taught in the Iowa high schools. The principal certifies to this detailed statement, and not merely to the fact that the student has graduated from the high school. A complete copy of the scholastic record of each applicant is, therefore, on file in the college to which he goes, and it affords a means of checking up any accredited school where there are deficiencies or where poor work is being done. Professor Hutchinson explained that much the same system in this last particular was in successful operation at the University of Minnesota. PROFESSOR FOLWELL, the acting president, closed the discussion by stating as his opinion that the contest between colleges and fitting schools will never be composed until the secondary schools are given their full scope. The colleges must at length yield to these schools about two years of work. The schools will then complete the instruction of youth and turn them over to the university to proceed with advanced studies. So long as colleges and universities are engaged in part in conflicting secondary education there will be contests over the division line between themselves and the high schools. When the whole secondary education is committed to the secondary schools there will be nothing left over which to contend. This question was discussed in an address by the speaker before the Association in 1875. ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN BRAZIL HORÁCE M. LANE, M.D., LL.D., MACKENZIE COLLEGE, SAN PAULO, When some eighteen years ago I was called upon to return to Brazil, to take up the educational work in which I had been engaged in the late 50's and early 60's, for the purpose of reorganizing a small American school and developing from it a system of education which should be distinctly American in spirit and purpose, the first thing I found it necessary to do was to discover if possible what our American system was. I very soon found that American institutions differed very widely among themselves, and also from those of the Old World; that the American college and university was at once something more and something less than the institutions of Europe bearing the same name; that we had not yet any clear and well-defined limit or scope of action either in university, college, or school; that our college had no exact analogue in European systems; and that, while the older institutions of the East had fairly stable, and in some cases stereotyped, processes, those in the middle and western states were irregular, erratic, and partook of the progressive and expansive nature of life in those regions. I found that the attempts to take over into Brazil en bloc any of the European systems had retarded rather than advanced the development of a distinctly American system. Unfortunately, names did not then and do not now stand for much in our educational parlance; they seem to have drifted away from their etymological moorings and lost their historical connection. (They are beginning to recover them again.) I was much perplexed. I had set about to adapt to and ingraft upon a Latin-American society, whose social condition, political aspirations, and future importance in the history of America were somewhat analogous to those of this, our Anglo-Saxon America. I set about resolutely to learn what we were really doing and to infer from it what we wanted to do. I sought a solution of the question in the official organization of courses of study, which usually covers the whole domain of knowledge, and in the voluminous reports of state superintendents and college presidents. I attended the great educational conventions, studied the varied literature of the subject, and made extensive personal inspection of work actually done in college and school. In some places there was genuine education, in others simple instruction and drill for examinations, (not a whit better than the Chinese.) There was such a lack of uniformity of thought in organization, methods, and even in principles, as to raise a doubt about our having any distinctively American system of education. Yet the products of this olla podrida were so characteristically American that I felt there must be something among the essentials that was common to all these varied institutions. I made an extended inspection of European institutions, for a comparative study, and found many special processes and devices that could be appropriated, and, singularly enough, found that some of the German methods had their best development in the United States, but that no complete system could be profitably taken over as a whole. The great problem of how best to influence the heterogenous masses which flock to the shores of both Americas, and transform them into good citizens, is not touched by European systems. It is not exactly how to teach this or that special branch, but how to co-ordinate the work and relate all branches to the rapidly changing conditions of American society, respecting the rights of the pupil, of the parent, and of society at large; to make the most efficient men and women who can do and be as well as know something, and also to prevent, as far as possible, waste of time and energy. We found it difficult to follow the vertiginous activity of American educators along all lines, or to wade thru the voluminous literature which accompanies it, brought from the ends of the earth; but, believing that there was a truly American system in process of development, we tried to catch the trend of thought and anticipate the results. Entirely free, unhampered by politics or precedent, with no fads or need of seeking favor from governments or patrons, but at liberty to select what was best from all sources, it will be readily conceded that we had a decided advantage over the educational reformer of our own country. The following, in very brief outline, has been in operation for fourteen years at San Paulo, Brazil, as the result of our study, and has been eminently satisfactory; so much so that it has been applied to the public schools of the state. I. A primary school of five years with a minimum of one hundred school days of five hours each per annum for the ungraded country school, and 210 (a full school year) for the graded city schools. This course has for its spinal column reading, writing, and the four operations. of arithmetic. Arithmetic is made the test of advancement, but great attention is also paid to expression and language, and very early are introduced small vocabularies of the two modern languages that later are to be studied systematically, using the natural method - French and English by French and English teachers. This is done with pleasure and profit to the pupil. Thus in the very beginning of school life the habit of comparing modes of expression is cultivated, which later will be applied to processes of thought. Thru geography the study of nature is begun, and our relations to the world in which we live are studied; thru manual training and the drawing preliminary to it, things and their relations are studied, and the child is taught to see and do as well as to think. This is that part of education which society, for its own safety, must demand for every girl and boy in the land. It is all that can be given to the children of the masses, the very poor, the wage earner, who must go to |