the average number enrolled in our high school at the end of the fifth month was less than 138, or an average of a little less than 7 per cent. of the entire number enrolled. The average number enrolled at the end of the fifth month of the last two years, or since we removed the eighth grade to the high school, despite the increased demand for child labor during that time, was 300, and the average percentage of high-school enrollment on total enrollment was over 124.

The erection of a fine new high-school building containing a gymnasium and all the modern conveniences, and the withdrawal of the eighth grade from the elementary school and adding it to the high school will account for some of this relative increase in highschool enrollment, but by no means for all of it. Carefully compiled statistics of twenty-one classes belonging to our various elementary schools from May, 1895, to June, 1905, show that during those years an average of 50 per cent. of the pupils entering school at the beginning of the seventh year had dropped out of school at the end of the eighth year, and of those remaining, 3 per cent. failed to graduate from these schools. Further, a large percentage of the graduates therefrom did not enter the high school. I think I can safely say that this condition of things is not now so serious.

A second advantage is the absolute and relative increase of the number of boys entering the high school. Using for comparison the same periods as before, the average number of boys enrolled in our high school during the first period was less than 39; during the second period, 111. The average percentage of boys on the total high-school enrollment was during the first period less than 28; during the second period, nearly 37.

The boys are now brought within the sphere of the uplifting influence of the high school before the spirit of commercialism has taken a firm hold on them. The greater freedom of the high-school life, the pleasurable experiences in the gymnasium, the presence of the high-school library, the glimpses caught of the laboratories, all tend to excite the ambition of these impressionable boys.

All this contributes to two other advantages, the creation of an aspiration among pupils of the elementary schools to become high-school students, and the prevention of the tendency of the pupils, even in the elementary schools, to drop out.

As to the reality of these advantages, several parents have assured me that previous to the making of the eighth grade a part of our high school their boys seemed to have no ambition to enter the latter, but now, since it is so much closer to them in time, and because of the favorable reports of school associates a year or two in advance but now in the high school, these boys talk of nothing else but continuing in school till their secondary course is completed. Invariably, eighth-grade pupils now in the high school, when asked to give in writing their impressions of that institution, express their preference for the conditions found therein.

Another advantage which has accrued from the plan under consideration is the awakening of a livelier high-school sentiment among our citizens and a clearer recognition of the fact that this institution is the most democratic of our educational institutions. The great increase in enrollment has effected this. Many more of our citizens are thus through their children brought into touch with it and aroused to the desirability of a secondary education.

Our experience so far leads me to mention a sixth advantage, which is the saving of about one-half of a year in the total length of the course. Most of our pupils by reason of the longer periods for recitation and the shorter daily sessions, thus affording more time for study, together with perhaps the better teaching of each branch by a specialist, are able to accomplish all the essential part of the work prescribed for the eighth year in about half of that time.

Lastly, it is the testimony of several of our high-school teachers who have ninth-year studies that the pupils who have taken their preparatory work in the high school are better fitted for these studies than were those who formerly remained the whole eight years in the elementary schools. Without in the least reflecting upon the often excellent teaching

of the eighth-grade teachers in these latter schools, I think the reasons for this are obvious.

Now, in presenting these advantages of changing the elementary course from eight to seven years, and of making the high-school course five years, I may be grossly in error; but since I am from Missouri, I shall have to be shown-wherein.

I may now turn to some of the disadvantages of the plan, alleged and real.

One of the alleged disadvantages is the immaturity of the pupils when they enter the high school at the beginning of the eighth year in school. Well, the pupils of the eighth grade admitted to our high school in January averaged: boys, 14 years, 1 month; girls, 14 years, 2 months. These pupils were probably a little older than the average of that grade because the teachers of the seventh grade had been strengthening them. But it can be seen that they were not too immature to take the course which we have mapped out nor to receive the inspiration which the high school affords.

Another alleged disadvantage is the removal of children of so tender an age from the influence and fostering care of a single teacher and the distribution of responsibility for them among several teachers. This objection may have some force, especially if the single teacher is a very lovable and efficient one. But why not make the same objection to any form of departmental instruction; why not make it in the case of ninth-grade pupils, many of whom are not older than fourteen? Is it not also true that about this age boys especially become tired of being "mothered," and will be developed better if they are less guided and pampered (or nagged) and a little more "fathered"?

I mention but one more alleged disadvantage; it is the lowering of the dignity of the high school by incorporating in the student-body a lot of "babies." So far, I have failed to see the force of this objection. If it has any it is more than offset by the dignifying of said babies.

A real disadvantage that we have felt is the opposition of some of our principals to the plan because it deprives them of their advanced class, thus compelling them to relinquish the pleasure of teaching pupils of the maturity of eighth-graders and leading them to dispense with graduating exercises, etc., etc.

I regret this opposition very much and can sympathize with them in the matter, but so far as the public graduating exercises at the end of the elementary course are concerned, I have come to the conclusion that they do not incite the graduates to go higher in their course; and many parents are now-a-days objecting to the expense to them attending the so-called commencements.

I mention lastly as a disadvantage, which threatens to become real to us in Hannibal in the event that our high-school enrollment maintains its rate of increase made during the past two years, a lack of room in the high-school building. Under such conditions the plan cannot be perpetuated except by pushing the eighth-year pupils back into some central building as near as possible to the high school, and placing them under a principal for that grade and his or her assistants, or by adding rooms to the high-school building.

Doubtless, in many medium or small cities the high-school building cannot accommodate a five-year high school.

WHAT SHOULD THE SMALLER CITIES ATTEMPT FOR THE EDUCA-
TION OF DEFECTIVE CHILDREN-PHYSICAL,
MENTAL, AND MORAL?

JOHN DIETRICH, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO "It is the function of the state to force men to be free." It is the right of every child to receive an education. The opportunity and the means should be provided by the parent and the state. Even the defective child is capable of taking some sort of an education that will make him a happier and a more useful citizen than he would otherwise be.

He is entitled to all he is capable of receiving, whether that be five talents, two talents, or one talent-"every man according to his several ability." "Education is a productive expenditure, not mere charity."

Problems pertaining to the welfare of normal children have been met and discussed, and better ways have been devised and more adequate means have been provided for their development. Until within the last fifteen years little attention had been given to the defective or backward child. The great progress that has been made in the department of special education during the last decade is another evidence of the whole-hearted educational spirit of the American people. We have at last come to believe that many so-called dull or defective children are capable of receiving mental training to a degree of efficiency far beyond the most conservative estimates of educators of a few years ago. The amount of development that many of these children are capable of, when properly directed by a trained teacher, is simply astonishing.

In speaking of the possibility of educating even idiots, one writer says, "Idiots have been improved, educated, and even cured; not one in a thousand has been entirely refractory to treatment; not one in a hundred who has not been made more happy and healthy; more than 30 per cent. have been taught to conform to moral and social law, and rendered capable of order, of good feeling, and of working like the third of a man; more than 40 per cent. have become capable of the ordinary transactions of life under friendly control, of understanding moral and social abstractions, of working like two-thirds of a man; and 25 to 30 per cent. have come nearer and nearer the standard of manhood, till some of them will defy the scrutiny of good judges when compared with ordinary young men and women."

We have come to realize also that the number of defectives is increasing at an alarming rate, as a result of the lethargy on our part regarding the problem of subnormal children. In 1890 there were two weak-minded persons to every one thousand people in the United States, or about one-fifth of 1 per cent. About one-half of 1 per cent. or five to every one thousand of the pupils in our public schools today are subnormal, with all possible variety of grades, from those who are merely somewhat slow to imbeciles and idiots. About 95 per cent. of all dull or backward children are defective mentally or physically.

'Practically we have experienced that whether from barbarism and strain of war, or from the little less strenuous anxieties and struggles of our industrial and commercial civilization, or whether from other human strains, dissipations, accidents, and excesses, a large part of our fellow human beings have lost a part, and some the whole, of the original divine heritage of their five natural senses, and that it is these maimed, deprived, disinherited individuals that constitute what is known as our defective classes; and that if some distinctively and effectively preventive means are not speedily adopted, vigorously prosecuted, and resolutely persisted in, a degeneracy-mental, moral, and physical and of the darkest type-will be the immediate and logical result.”

These problems thus forced upon us by the defective classes must be met. The schools of the small city as well as those of the large city must share in their solution. In many instances the work of the small city through its school system will necessarily be somewhat indirect. This will be especially true of cities ranging from two to five thousand inhabitants. In cities having from five to fifty thousand inhabitants the work may be direct.

About twenty states have made some provision for caring for the feeble minded. There are also as many private institutions for weak-minded persons. From forty replies received from city superintendents of schools in answer to the question, "What provision, if any, are you making for the education of the feeble-minded children in the public schools of your city ?" it is evident that about half of them are doing something for these unfortunates; about one-fourth of them believe that the smaller cities can deal as effectvely with the problem of the education of subnormal children as the large cities. All

consider it essential to have state institutions for the education of the feeble minded. About one-third of these superintendents state that state institutions for weak-minded children should supplement the work of the public school, and the remainder of the answers favor these institutions taking complete charge of the education of defectives from the beginning, and especially so, when these children are residents of the smaller cities and rural districts.

These replies indicate that there is a marked and growing interest on the part of boards of education, city superintendents and teachers, looking toward the answer to the question, "What should the schools attempt for the education of defective, backward, or subnormal children ?"

Among the large cities in this country that are giving some special attention to the education of defectives are Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. San Francisco had begun the organization of special schools just prior to the earthquake. Chicago makes no provision for idiots of the first, second, or third degree, nor for subnormal children of the first degree, that is, children who are so subnormal that they will not be able with special training to attain to the equivalent of the fourth grade on reaching the age of fourteen years. Those children who are able to reach this standard are placed in special rooms for subnormal children. They are taught by special teachers, and have, in a great majority of cases, come up to the expectations of the supervisor and teacher. In Baltimore subnormal children are placed in ungraded rooms. Philadelphia has ten truant schools. These are distributed over the city. In each of nine of these there is a room for defective children. New York City has about forty ungraded classes for defectives. The rooms occupied by these pupils are connected with the public schools in order that they may feel that they are a part of the public-school system, and also to give them an opportunity to mingle with the other pupils in going to and from school and while on the playgrounds.

London has a plan of her own for caring for subnormal children. By a rigid examination conducted by a committee of experts, epileptics and the lower grades of mentally deficient children are eliminated from the public schools. These are cared for in a boarding-home. The remainder of the subnormal children are placed in one of the following groups-blind, deaf, mentally deficient, and cripples. The more exaggerated cases of cripples are placed under special teachers and are not assigned to this fourth group.

Among the smaller and medium-sized cities of this country that have made some provision for subnormal children may be noted, Denver with ungraded departments; New Haven, Connecticut, uses one room in her main school building which is in charge of a special teacher; Providence, Rhode Island, has had special schools for defectives for ten years, there being three such schools in this city at the present time, with an average attendance of fifteen pupils each; Rochester, New York, has one room for defectives; Worcester, Mass., has five departments for subnormal children; Patterson, New Jersey, does not set apart a room for defectives but organizes classes for subnormal children in the same room with normal pupils; Los Angeles has twenty ungraded rooms for defectives. That there is a real need for special work for the betterment of subnormal children in the schools of the smaller cities is self-evident, but in many of these places the mere suggestion of an attempt to do something for these unfortunates would bring forth the cry so often heard upon the eve of a needed innovation, "O, The cost! The cost!" But in this instance the cost need not be alarming. The principal item of expense in the small city would be the salaries of trained teachers for the special department. Should it not be desirable to set apart a room in a regular school building, a cottage could be built on some site already owned by the district at a nominal cost. The average city of say from fifteen to forty thousand inhabitants, would have enough of defective pupils to warrant the organization of at least one department for such pupils, and if so-called slow and dull pupils are to receive special treatment, there would be need for several ungraded departments. The enrollment in these special departments should not exceed say fifteen

pupils. In the smaller cities ranging from one thousand to fifteen thousand inhabitants, special classes for defectives could be organized in the same department with normal pupils. While this plan is far from ideal and is not conducive to the best interests of normal or subnormal pupils, it would be found far better than no plan at all for caring for defectives. It is highly important and conducive to the interest of both the normal and subnormal children that they be in separate rooms. Both classes will do better work when so seated. This will be found especially true of the work of defective children. Every precaution should be taken to have defective children escape from the feeling of inferiority. Very much will be gained by having them associate with their peers. Where there are enough of these defectives to warrant more than one special department in the same school there should be a complete segregation of the sexes in the schoolroom, but not on the playground, provided, however, that the playground is under the supervision of some officer of the school during intermission hours.

The question may be asked, "Why not send the defectives of small cities to special departments in large cities, or to some state or private institution for the feeble minded?" It must be evident to any thoughtful person that many of these subnormal children have excellent homes, and that they much prefer to be at home, and that their parents much prefer to have them at home. They will do better work when contented and happy. Again, it is highly important for the sake of the best results in the training of defectives that their education should begin at a very early age, say at five or six years, and as a rule if these children must be sent away from home this would be impracticable, while in their own city their education might begin at that early age.

Why not allow the home to educate the defective? It has been found that home education is unsatisfactory. The influence of the mother for instance under the same roof with the child is usually a hindrance. Many parents prefer that these children be educated in the home because they fear that development will be retarded by association with other subnormal children. But this is not true. Some of the best teachers in charge of these special departments tell us that the mass recitation as a rule accomplishes more for the subnormal child than does the individual plan.

Special departments may be quickly and easily organized. There should be a committee to determine who are eligible for membership in these special departments. This committee may consist of the superintendent, principal, teacher, and school physician, if there be one. If there is no school physician then the city health officer should be a member of the committee. This committee should by careful tests determine who are defectives. Under rules adopted by the board of education these pupils may be broken up into groups. Some of these defectives under the board's rules and the rules of the state school for the feeble minded, should be sent to this institution at once. The remainder of them should be carefully classified and assigned to a class or department for weak-minded children. It should also be the duty of this committee to determine when a pupil of the special school should be transferred to the regular school for normal children. It should also be the prerogative and duty of this committee to make recommendations from time to time to the authorities of the state institution for the feeble minded regarding the transfer of certain pupils, for whom the special department can do no more, to the state institution for such pupils. Rules governing the transfer of pupils to and from these special schools should be so framed as to meet the needs of the particular city or locality.

It should be the aim of the special department to use the course of study of the regular school, but it will be found necessary to modify it to suit the capacity and the needs of the several grades of defectives. Much attention should be given to industrial work, naturestudy, and physical culture, especially out-of-door exercise. Much may be accomplished for these children mentally and morally through a rigid course of physical development. The fundamental branches should be presented in a simple and practical way. No attempt should be made to cover a previously specified amount of work.

Only trained teachers should be placed in charge of these departments. The best