National Educational Association.

The Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association met in Boston Tuesday and in Cambridge yesterday and will meet in Boston again today. We give below a summary of the speeches of the morning, afternoon and evening sessions held here yesterday.

MORNING SESSION.The first paper of the morning was by Andrew S. Draper, Superintendent of Schools in Cleveland, whose theme was, "Plans of Organization for School Purposes in Large Cities." Mr. Draper declared that the one great fault of most of our present school systems is that the municipal management is in the hands of men, who are not acquainted with the proper methods of education. This evil cannot be avoided until we do away with politics in the election or appointment of school boards. Moreover, the board should be small and easily wielded, composed of men who have thorough knowledge of all educational requirements. The educational administration, too, should be entirely separated from the financial and other business management. In short, there should be two distinct departments, a superintendence of instruction, and a superintendence of business.

The second paper was by Superintendent Maxwell of Brooklyn, who spoke of "The Supervision of City Schools." He set forth the duties of the principal and of the superintendent. The principal, be said, must be able to judge the teachers under him and also the pupils. He ought to know all the pupils so well that he could advise their parents whether or not, their children should be sent to higher schools. Furthermore, he should be in touch with all teachers and make it a special point to lead them to think for themselves and to study the books of the day that treat of their profession. The superintendent, on the other hand, is the final authority, or ought to be, in all matters of dispute from the scholars up to the principals. They should have control of granting teachers' certificates and should know what progress is being made in every school under their charge. The superintendent ought finally to be a man of keen judgment and a man of conviction. A lively discussion followed on the questions suggested by these two papers.

AFTERNOON SESSION.The afternoon session was opened by Superintendent Gilbert of St. Paul with a paper on the "Reconstruction of the Grammar School House." He said that it had now become a well established principle that we must teach the pupil not facts but the meaning of facts; teach him not what to do in given circumstances, but how to adapt himself to any circumstances that may arise. With any such principle, our present system is incompatible. History and geography are presented to the pupil, without ever allowing him a glimpse of their significance for his own life. He is loaded with arithmetic and the like until no room is left in his mind for noble thoughts, broad ideas, or high aspirations.

Mr. Gilbert thought the study of man and of nature to be the best means to a better education. Let the child study man through history, literature, perhaps geography, let him come into personal contact with nature and absorb her truths. Above all, he ought to be made to appreciate that all studies are linked together, that there is only one knowledge, and that the possession of that knowledge means all to him both for success and for high living.

Superintendent Cogswell then gave a short address, explaining the technique of the Manual Training School. There are two courses of four and six years, promotion is determined by personal supervision by the teachers only, and recently the range of studies has assumed a broader scope.

EVENING SESSION.The first speaker of the evening was Dr. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education at Washington. He took for his subject "What do school statistics teach in respect to moral influence of education." Dr. Harris gave many interesting statistics concerning convicts, in the prisons of the United States, in regard to their moral and intellectual education and showed that learning did not tend to increase crime.

Mr. W. Hudson Shaw, Fellow of Balliol college, Oxford, was the next speaker. He spoke on university extension, describing its beginning, its purpose, and its future work.

"Oxford was later in the field in this work," said Mr. Shaw, "than other colleges but at present it stands at the head of the different branches in Europe. The extension movement was not successful in its first years. It was difficult to proceed until we had good primary schools; as these were bettered, the work of the extension became easier. The movement offers four different subjects: history, literature, (mostly English) economics and natural science. The general method of teaching can be divided into three elements: (1) lecture, (2) class work, (3) essay and examinations.

I now wish to speak on the object of the movement. Education in general has been too exclusive in its scope. The time has now come when we see that the laboring classes should have the advantages God meant to give by education, and it is for this that the movement was begun. We have found it possible to lecture to these lower classes in the arts and be welcomed by them. I have found that the libraries, in places where the movement has been at work, have been used much more than before, thus showing in one instance the good done.

The future work of the extension must be done by the cooperation of the teachers of the land. We soon hope to have summer schools at Oxford and Cambridge opened to the public and by so doing be of great aid to the work. The idea that education is an impetus to high social position is gradually dying out and in its place is growing the belief that knowledge is the path to truth and happiness."