Secondary School Education.

The study of educational methods throughout the country has in recent years attracted a great deal of careful attention which now has taken very definite form. At a meeting of the National Council of Education in 1891, a committee, appointed at a previous meeting, reported through its chairman, Mr. James H. Baker, the principal of the Denver High School, on the uniformity of school programmes and the requirements for admission to college. The committee was continued and authorized to investigate the general subject of uniformity and to report to the National Council of Education in 1892. They made some specific recommendations that were approved, and in turn communicated to, and approved by, the National Educational Association, July 9, 1892. The result was that a committee of ten men was appointed with authority to investigate exhaustively the subject of secondary school education in the United States, and the admissions to colleges. The committee was to appoint sub-committees or conferences to investigate certain subjects and report at a specified time to the committee. The committee was composed of the heads of schools, colleges and universities throughout the country, with President Eliot as chairman. The committee appointed nine conferences, each consisting of ten men, to investigate the following subjects; 1, Latin; 2, Greek; 3, English; 4, Other Modern Languages; 5, Mathematics; 6, Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry; 7, Natural History (Biology, including Botany, Zoology, and Physiology); 8, History, Civil Government, and Political Economy; 9, Geography (Physical Geography, Geology and Meteorology). Great care was taken in the forming of these conferences, as to the scholarship and experience of those chosen, as to the fair distribution of them in colleges and schools, and as to their proper geographical distribution. Every effort was made to have the movement thoroughly representative and exhaustive.

Of the Harvard men who served on these conferences are the following: Professor G. L. Kittridge, English; Professor W. E. Byerly, Mathematics; Professor A. B. Hart, History, Civil Government and Political economy; and Professor W. M. Davis, Geography.

The committee adopted a list of questions as a guide for the discussions of the conferences, which are in substance as follows:

1. At what age should the study which is the subject of the conferences be introduced?

2. How many hours a week for how many years should be devoted to it?

3. How many hours a week for how many years should be devoted to it during the four years of the ordinary high school period?

4. What parts of the subject may be covered during the whole course?

5. What parts may best be reserved for the last four years?

6. In what form and to what extent should the subject enter into college requirements for admission?

7. Should the subject be treated differently for pupils who are going to a college, to a scientific school, or to neither?

8. At what age should a differentiation begin?

9. Can any description be given of the best method of teaching this subject throughout the school course?

10. Can any description be given of the best mode of testing attainment in this subject at college admission examinations?

11. Can the best limit between the preliminary and final examinations of college admission be approximately defined?

The conferences carefully investigated their subjects, had their meetings in different parts of the country, at which they drew up a formal and detailed report to submit to the committee. The committee was then to draw up, in the light of these reports, a report on the best secondary school educational system, that it would be practical to put into effect in the United States, to be sent to the National Educational Association. This report has been printed as a document of the Bureau of Education, and is the most important educational document ever published in this country.

It will now be interesting to see in a general sort of way what has been the outcome of this work. The report is some three hundred pages in length, and of course the merest outline of it can be given.

In the first place, what is most pertinent as well as most surprising, is the fact that the conference reports were unanimous as to certain fundamental points. Not only this, but the decisions of each conference are those of all its members and not of a majority; only two minority reports being presented, namely, the Conference on Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry, and the Conference on Geography. This means a great deal when it is remembered that the discussions were of conditions existing all over the United States. It shows a similarity of educational ideas throughout the country that was not to have been expected. All the conferences desire to have the elements of their several subjects taught earlier than is now the custom. With the exception of the Language Conferences, all desire to have perspective views or broad surveys of their subjects,-expecting that in later years these may be amplified. The fundamental questions, however, and the ones which affect most seriously the preparation in secondary schools, namely, questions 7 and 8, are answered in the negative unanimously by both conferences and committee. This means, that no matter what a student in a secondary school may be preparing for, his education in any topic must be identical with that given to every other student. Not that all the students should pursue every subject for the same number of years; but so long as they do pursue it they should all be treated alike. The stand here taken is very important and of immediate value. A careful reading of each report discloses another point generally agreed to;-namely, that to introduce the proposed changes, teachers more highly trained will be needed in both elementary and secondary schools. This also is a matter of the first importance.

Further, the language conferences desire to have the study of languages begin earlier than is now the custom, and state that not more than one language should be begun in any one year. It is generally expressed also, that in beginning the instruction of a pupil, the different branches of study should overlap, and materially aid each other. As to the question of college admission examinations, it is uniformly agreed that the examination for high school graduation should be identical with that for admission to college.

It now devolved upon the committee to unite these conference reports, satisfy the demands of each as might seem best, and to present from them a system of elementary and secondary school education, through programmes, etc., that it would be practical to put into effect in the present condition of educational methods. It was not intended that this report should be put into effect, but that it should serve as a valuable suggestion to all whose business it is to educate youth. This task was even more difficult than that of the conferences. First, the committee made out a tabular view, including all the requirements in the different subjects. This served as a basis from which to get at the relative amounts of time that should be spent on different subjects in a practical day's work. It was necessary to consider further the methods, equipments, and locations of the different schools in the country. The result of the study was the presenting of certain programmes of educational courses to the pupil's eighteenth year. All the fundamental points were included, the minor ones being left to the discretion of the various local masters.

Throughout this work it has been the aim of the committee only "to emphasize the principles which should govern all secondary school programmes, and to show how the main recommendations of the several conferences may be carried out in a variety of feasible programmes."