THE

HE National Education Association at its annual meeting each year makes a declaration of its principles, which are always admirable, and in which one can always be sure of finding an accurate reflection of current educational sentiment. The subjects that are prominent in the thought of the educational world during the year are succinctly stated, and a declaration of faith in regard to them is made in the name of this most influential body. Instead of publishing these articles of faith "in toto" we propose to take them up one by one (they are ten in number) and present them to our readers, with very brief comments, in this editorial department of successive numbers of EDUCATION. The first article is as follows: "We affirm our faith in the schools of the Republic, believing that it is impossible for the citizens of a great democracy to develop power and efficiency without public schools owned and controlled by the people.

This gives us the splendid basis of the American public school system. It is founded on the faith of the people, who desire this nation to be a democracy which shall develop power and efficiency. We believe that the public schools are the means by which this great country can be kept true to its high destiny. We think of them as owned and controlled by no faction, no party, no private interests, but by the people themselves. Magnificently are they fulfilling this high ideal. The schools of the United States are a great factory where American citizens are made. The raw material is furnished not only naturally from the homes throughout the land, but artificially in the vast hordes of foreign immigrants that annually pour into the land from over the ocean. Coming with alien. habits and standards of thought and conduct, often with ignorance, vice and disabilities of all sorts, these people and their children are thrown into the alembic of the public schools and transformed into loyal Americans. At the worst this process takes but one or two generations. The control of the schools by the people is a thoroughly American ideal. It works wonderfully well. The common

consciousness, or in other words the common sense of the people as a whole, is the only power on earth to which it is safe to commit so vast a responsibility. If any special faction or party gains a momentary undue influence, this is soon corrected by public sentiment. Nowhere is there to be found a more earnest desire to know and to do the best that can be known and done than is seen in the management of our public schools by the money and the votes of our citizens. There are yet evils to be corrected and improvements to be made. But where there is such earnestness of purpose and such unity of interest as exists in relation to these problems we may rest assured that the best ideals will be ultimately realized. Our declaration of faith may well begin with this first strong article in the creed of the National Education Association for the year 1910.

It

T is an important part of the business of the public school to teach the children how to read. It is equally important, but an often forgotten obligation, to teach them what to read. The child who has once learned to read easily any ordinary English has arrived at an age when life has assumed an intense interest to his quickening senses and his expanding mind. He is impelled by an irresistible curiosity to know more about everything than he does know. He is without extensive experience, and he looks out into the limited environment in which he lives and questions people and things that he may know more and experience more, and thus be prepared for independent judgments, choices and acts that shall make up his own career. He soon finds that in books the range of vision is vastly extended. Books record the experiences, real or imaginary, of other lives-lives lived in an almost infinite variety of circumstances and in parts of the world which he may hardly hope ever to visit, and in all periods of past ages. Here is material for his hungry mind by which many of its questionings that must otherwise remain unanswered may find ready and satisfactory answer. So he eagerly reads books, all sorts of books that come his way, and is particularly interested in those that deal with real human life and adventure, that tell how people think and feel and act in circumstances different from those he has known, how they conduct themselves in various crises and adventures and experiences into which he imagines he or any one may be brought some day. From the way they act he takes his cue. The standards of the hero of his book become his standards. The aims, motives and ideals that he finds in his book inevitably affect his forming character. Here is the opportunity and the danger of the boy and his book.

Books are of three kinds,-the good book, the bad book and the indifferent book. The first kind of book is not excessively large, there are plenty of the second kind; and the name of the third is "legion." Since the books that a child reads affect him as surely, and probably more subtly, than the companions whom he chooses, why should not the school, which is responsible to make him into a good citizen, warn him against the bad books, persuade him in relation to the insipid, trashy books, and cultivate him to choose the wholesome, helpful books? This it will do if his teachers are wise and thoughtful and not so overworked as to be unable to give the individual child and his problems individual attention. Some one should be interested in the reading of every boy and girl in the grammar and high schools, and be a counselor and friend and guide in regard to this vitally important matter. There is a field for service here that is often overlooked because "what is everybody's business is nobody's.'

Foreign Notes

INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

The International Bureau of the Federation of Teachers held its fifth annual reunion at Paris, on August 3d and 7th, during the sessions of the second international congress on primary education, which was organized by the Bureau.

The following countries were represented at the reunion: Prussia, England, Austria, Belgium, Bohemia, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Roumania and Switzerland. Regrets were read from the Swedish and Spanish associations affiliated to the Bureau. The report of the secretary showed that the Bureau comprises 17 associations of teachers numbering 400,300 members. The largest of these bodies is the Deutscher Lehrerverein with 120,000 members; the second is the Federation des Amicales d'Institut, Luxemburg, with 95,000 members, and the third the National Union of Teachers, Belgium, with 67,500 members. These numbers emphasize the growth of the international spirit among the teachers of Europe, who are drawn together by the sense of common purposes.

In an address before the congress on primary education, the President of the International Bureau, M. Rossignol, of Brussels, reviewed the movement of pedagogic ideas from the fourteenth century to the present time, rehearsing briefly, but graphically, the contribution of each nation to the general development. Thus far the science of education," to quote the words of M. Rossignol," appears as the result of an unconscious international collaboration."

The world's congress of international associations held at Brussels, May 9th to 11th, brought together representatives of 112 international associations. Of this number 29 have not a fixed location, 8 have their central offices in Germany, 3 in England, 15 in France, 2 in Holland, 13 in Switzerland and 42 in Belgium. The entire realm of intellectual and moral interests is covered by the activities of these bodies. One of the chief motives for the maintenance of their international relations arises from the fact, that the value and importance of the greater part of the experimental sciences depend upon a great diversity of particulars. These must be brought together and carefully compared before classification is possible, and for this work the co-operation of savants throughout the world is necessary.

An international congress on higher technical education held at Brussels, September 9th to 11th, was marked by the active participation of representatives of the smaller nations. This is partly due to the fact that Belgium, which had taken the lead in calling the congress, is in close sympathy with the nations referred to; but it indicates also the great awakening on the part of these nations to the importance of technical education for the development of their native resources and the promotion of their material welfare.

One of the most interesting papers before the congress was on the Royal Technical Academy of Copenhagen, presented by Prof. H. J. Hannover, Director of the Danish State Laboratory for testing materials. The paper sketched the development of the Technical Academy from its small beginnings in 1829, down to 1890, when it entered upon an era of expansion under the vigorous administration of the director, Julius Thomsen. As a consequence of the discovery by Professor Thomsen of the application of the kryolite of Greenland to the fabrication of soda, the state realized a large income from the license granted him, and this was used to endow and perfect the technical academy. Since that year its development has been uninterrupted, and the courses of study have been systematized and extended in duration.

Candidates for admission must have completed the full course of secondary studies or must pass an equivalent examination. The tuition fees are not heavy, amounting to one hundred crowns ($26.80) a year until the first examination is passed, and after that to forty crowns ($10.72) a year. The courses of instruction pertain to four specialties: applied chemistry, mechanical engineering, constructing engineers and electricians.

The papers presented before the congress have been published and may be obtained from the general secretary, M. J. P. Fontaine, 27, place de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.

A. T. S.

Book Notices

The New Geographies. First Book. By Ralph S. Tarr and Frank M. McMurry. The Macmillan Company.

This is a revision wherein the authors revise; they do not merely make additions, subtractions and corrections in the text; they have revised it, rewriting it almost entirely and adding thereto whatever of information and explanation the subject demanded. Not only has the text been remade, but the illustrations are new and the maps redrawn. We looked for an old book revamped, we find a new book made along the lines that caused the old book to be one of the most successful text-books on geography, but recast and enriched with a care that serves to stamp it the most valuable text-book in elementary geography published. We marvel at the restraint of the authors of the book, so much of material had they at hand to use, so superbly they have refrained from padding the book with facts, useless and bewildering to beginners in the study, worthy and needed in a compendium on geography. The authors have plainly studied not only the subject but those who are to use the book; they have made a book not to show how cleverly it could be built up with assembled facts and diverting cuts and over-named maps, but rather to present the salient facts of the subject in such a manner as to awaken an interest in them to the end that observation and attention may be aroused and developed. They have made an everyday geography for everyday children in the schools. It is not material to specify the many changes, suffice it to say that the page of the book has been widened from one column of three and three-quarters of an inch to two columns of two and three-quarters of an inch to each column, thus making the book nearly equal in size to other text-books in this subject. With its double-columned pages, its splendid maps, fine half-tone illustrations from photographs, full-page colored pictures, and practically new text, the authors have produced a work that stands unique in its excellencies. It is the very latest word to beginners in geography, and stands a model for all books of its kind to follow.

Practical Algebra. First Year. By Jos. V. Collins, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, State Normal School, Stevens Point, Wis. American Book Company. Price, 85 cents.

This is a simple book for first year courses, omitting everything unessential, and treating everything essential, so that it is not unduly difficult or obscure. It has been prepared to meet the demand for a first year course by those high schools which make the study of the more advanced parts of algebra elective. Departing from the American plan of keeping arithmetic, algebra and geometry separate, the author has correlated algebra with physics, geometry and other branches of mathematics, providing a large number of practical and informational exercises and problems. Thus the book meets its aim, which is to increase the practical value of elementary algebra, both in the ordinary and in the cultural or educational sense; it is for those who do not go to college, and for those who do. The book is featured by great