8. Modern pedagogy has removed the "grind" of the old-fashioned schoolmaster, but it must not altogether neglect the importance of drill and repetition as the "open sesame" to the solidity of instruction which the business-man demands.

9. In addition to scholastic equipment, tact, common-sense, and good judgment must be the innate qualities of all candidates for business success who hope sometime in the future to become "captains of industry."

E. N. BONNELL, business department, Central High School, St. Paul, Minn.-The course of study proposed is no doubt admirably adapted to the conditions obtaining in a commercial high school. So also would it be in other high schools in which the so-called commercial department is really a department; that is, in which the commercial students are sufficiently numerous to warrant separate classes in all subjects.

Whether or not it would be advisable in the average high school so to group the four years' work as practically to make two courses, one of two years and one of four, is a question. A large percentage of those who elect the commercial work do so with the expectation that they will be fitted in a short time for a position in some business establishment. Their circumstances are such as to make this desirable, and in many cases necessary. To them a two-years' course would offer special inducements. But a considerable proportion of those who fail to complete four years leave at the end of the first year. It might therefore be argued that most of the distinctly commercial work should be put into the first year.

The fallacy of this needs little comment. These short courses have in the past been responsible more than anything else for the failure and ill-repute which have in so many instances befallen commercial departments in the public school. A still more serious objection is that one year, or two years, is too short a time to accomplish much of permanent value in both commercial and other correlative studies, neither of which may be neglected in a symmetrical education.

Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the importance of extended and thoro work in arithmetic. If training in rapid calculation be furnished in the grades, much time may be gained, and the study of bookkeeping and the more formal phases of arithmetic may well begin early in the high-school course. But it can hardly be maintained that the average pupil brings with him into the high school much facility in the handling of figures, particularly without the aid of pencil and paper. Therefore, if the first term, or the first year, be devoted to drill work, not only in computation, but in writing as well, a serious handicap will have been removed from the pupil's progress. Moreover, the English and other subjects of the first year will contribute to the same end, the former directly, the latter by their general developing effects.

In the course under consideration stenography is taken up at the beginning. As its value lies chiefly in the direct use to which the subject itself can be put, this is advisable, perhaps, for the benefit of worthy students who can attend for one or two years only. This purpose may be served by making it elective in those years, leaving as its regular place in the course the third and fourth years. The reason is twofold. The tendency to drop out early with a smattering of business and other subjects will not be encouraged; and a better preparation, resulting from previous informational study, coupled with greater power of sustained application, will be more likely to insure success in a subject in which too few become really proficient.

Business law is a subject which may be advantageously studied with technical arithmetic and advanced bookkeeping. Much of it is quite difficult for pupils of fourteen or fifteen years of age to grasp, tho perhaps not enough so to justify detaching it from the subjects mentioned. Considered without reference to other branches, there is no doubt that it should be placed in the fourth year.

It will be seen that a postponement of a considerable portion of the commercial work to the later years of the four-years' course has been advocated. It should be remembered that this has been done with a commercial department rather than a commercial high

school in mind. The reasons for favoring such a provision for commercial work shall be summed up briefly.

In the first place, this work has been introduced into the public school with two objects in view. One is the direct preparation of the student for business life, so far as this is possible in a school. The other is the discipline or culture which may be gained therefrom. If the first were the only aim, it would be logical to arrange the work so that the student could take up the strictly business branches in the last year or years of his course, hypothetically the third and fourth years, in order that such knowledge and skill as he has acquired may be turned to account before much of it has been forgotten or lost. The other object, which is never to be lost sight of even if not so prominent, does not make similar demands. Hence, if a regard for proper correlation makes the first instance impracticable and some loss ensues, it may well be counterbalanced by gain in the other.

Finally, as before intimated, the older the student the greater is the degree of proficiency he may reasonably hope to attain. Half knowledge in any subject is to be deplored, but it is doubly disastrous in those which are designed to be put to such direct and immediate use as the business branches. Maturity of mind, therefore, is peculiarly desirable in approaching such work, and should weigh heavily in arranging a course of study, care being taken always that there shall be no unjust discrimination against other subjects.

THE PREPARATION OF COMMERCIAL TEACHERS FOR WORK IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

B. H. MEYER, PROFESSOR OF INSTITUTES OF COMMERCE, UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN

The problem of the preparation of commercial teachers for work in the public schools has grown out of the widespread demand for instruction in commercial branches which has asserted itself in all parts of the country in recent years. This demand is deep-seated, real, and permanent. It results from the realization on the part of the constituencies of our schools that the old standard courses fail in some respects to meet the needs of many pupils who are aiming for business careers, and who, because of such failure, may not enter the high school at all, and consequently remain outside of the direct influence of the atmosphere which prevails there. The establishment of commercial courses is meeting this demand and at the same time widening the influence of the high schools and increasing the interest of the community in secondary and higher education.

While this demand of the public should be met as promptly and as efficiently as possible, care must be taken not to go beyond the available resources of the schools. To throw the burden of administering commercial courses upon the existing staff of instruction, in most if not all cases already taxed to its full capacity, would be to bring the new work into disrepute and to weaken or discredit the old, to the incalculable injury of both new and old.

In the high schools in those parts of the country with which I am

most familiar the majority have from three or four to six or eight teachers for all courses. In most of these schools the demand for commercial instruction must be met by having the existing staff undertake the teaching of commercial branches, except stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, office work, and similar technical studies, which quite generally are taught by special teachers. Changes among these teachers are many and frequent, and everyone who has had anything to do with highschool administration will admit the difficulty of securing, thru a series of years, the same combination of talent in the teaching force. The smaller and more general the staff the greater becomes this difficulty, and the necessity of elasticity in courses becomes more urgent. Until the time comes when an adequate supply of properly trained commercial teachers is available, the plan under consideration may serve a useful purpose; after that it will be useless, if not worse.

In view of the fact that much of the commercial instruction in high schools must for some years to come be imparted by teachers whose best training lies in other fields, such teachers should supplement their equipment by additional courses in commerce at institutions providing such instruction. Studies like commercial geography, money and banking, transportation, insurance, materials of commerce, public and private finance must be pursued at some university; for it is university training alone which can provide that breadth of knowledge and intellectual temper which will enable teachers to bring to our high schools that quality and quantity of instruction in commercial branches which can stand out and not shrink from comparison with any other branches taught in that school. The teacher of Greek, Latin, or German can easily acquire Spanish. The teacher of science can readily equip himself to give instruction in the materials of commerce. The teacher of bookkeeping can prepare to teach accounting. The teacher of civics and economics, transportation. An enlargement of the teacher's equipment along these lines is certain to result in high-grade instruction in the schools and at the same time make of the teacher a more thoro and highly educated man. Only in instances of unusual ability and preparation in closely allied fields would it be prudent for a teacher to attempt the newer branches without special supplementary training. Most teachers, no doubt, would be able to spend one or several summers in acquiring the extra knowledge, and a teacher who has the energy and ambition to do this can generally be trusted to do high-grade work in the schoolroom.

At this point we may leave that class of commercial teachers which has been and still is being drawn from the ranks of existing staffs of instruction, and turn our attention to that more recent and rapidly growing class which has had the advantage of special preparation for work in commerce. What shall the preparation for this class of teachers be?

In the first place, I assume thoro training in non-commercial branches,

such as English, history, modern languages, mathematics, and science. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on English, for nowhere is the ability to express one's thoughts clearly, accurately, and forcibly more highly prized than in business. A brilliant American essayist has said that we may study English as a history, as a science, as a joy, and as a tool. Commercial teachers must necessarily aim at the last - English as a tool— and so thoroly must this be done that pupils may learn to use this tool with the facility and efficiency of a skilled craftsman. English as a joy, as a science, and as a history should come later, altho it is sincerely to be hoped that in the preparation of commercial teachers the larger appreciation of our language may find its place. In addition to English, commercial teachers should possess a knowledge of one or more foreign languages. Spanish, French, and German sometimes have a practical value, and together with Greek and Latin afford contributory values to English, not to mention the cultural and æsthetic values which are the gifts of the languages. Courses in history supply suitable background for the study of contemporary institutions, in that they show the connection. between that which is and that which has been. It is assumed that every commercial teacher has the equivalent of a high-school or academy course in Oriental and Greek and Roman history. A course in mediæval history would be valuable, but it may have to yield to more extensive and intensive work in modern history. A thoro course in modern history is indispensable. Similarly, advanced work in United States history, especially in its social and economic aspects, should constitute a part of the teacher's equipment. Being familiar with the general outlines of ancient and mediæval history, and being possessed of a thoro knowledge of modern and American history, the teacher is prepared to enter upon. the study and teaching of the history of commerce and industrial history. The history of commerce and industrial history deal with facts and phenomena peculiar to themselves and having a direct bearing upon that phase of life with which the commercial teacher is to familiarize his pupils. Economic history and history of commerce possess nearly all, if not all, the merits of other historical studies. They admit of extended work with original documents and the employment of the most approved and modern methods of historical treatment. With these fields the commercial teacher should be thoroly conversant. Mathematics and science should receive some attention as a matter of outlook and general intelligence, and for teachers who contemplate teaching commercial branches resting wholly or in part upon these, thoro courses in mathematics and science should be regarded as axiomatic. In other words, the commercial teacher may be satisfied with the elements of those studies which are not fundamental to advanced work in his chosen field, but must apply himself with great diligence and perseverance to every basal branch without the mastery of which broad treatment of subsequent branches is impossible.

To industrial history and history of commerce, then, should be added studies like political economy, political science, commercial geography, the elements of finance, money and banking, exchange, accounting, and commercial law. Teachers may not always be able to study even the elements of all these branches, yet so far as this is possible its desirability will undoubtedly be conceded. For the teacher who is to take highschool classes in money and banking, for instance, much more than the elements of political economy and finance should be required, lest his instruction become lean, fragmentary, narrow, inaccurate, uninteresting, and uninspiring. In handling a subject like commercial geography the teacher is certain to come into close contact with facts the proper use of which involves a knowledge of transportation, finance, exchange, and allied fields. Correct interpretations and accurate impressions of facts is the greatest good to be derived from a study of commercial geography and similar branches. Indeed, the entire list of commercial branches will be taught effectively or loosely according to the preparation of the teacher in contributory branches.

Superintendents, principals, and school boards now generally recognize the imperativeness of a certain degree of specialization, which means concentration and intensive work on the part of their teachers. If we would avoid making our commercial courses the refuge of educational vagrants, we must at the very start make our commercial teachers the equals of the best employed in any other departments. Then instruction in commercial branches will deserve and command respect. If we fail to do so, our work is certain to fall into disrepute, commercial education will be retarded, and future progress impeded by unnecessary obstacles. I should deem it an imposition on your intelligence to enlarge upon the necessity of specialization on the part of high-school teachers, and the principle applies to commercial teachers with as much force as it does to teachers of Latin or chemistry.

The degree of specialization in the college training of commercial teachers ought to be approximately the same for all, while the extent to which the principle of specialization can be applied in the instructional work in the high school will generally depend upon the size of the school and the number of the instructional force. Teachers who are well up in their mathematics, physics, and chemistry can best be intrusted with instruction in materials of commerce; those who have had thoro courses in economics, industrial history, finance, and banking can give instruction in the financial aspects of corporations; those who know a good deal about administration, political science, and jurisprudence would naturally be assigned to classes in commercial law. By following rules of this kind the teachers will be employed to best advantage, and pupils will derive the greatest possible benefits from the instruction they receive. We cannot protest too strongly against any arrangement which places the