LC 
 .\i3 
 
6 
 
 POPULAR EDUCATION DOCUMENT No. 8. 
 
 [Kriiin Ihr- Aine-ili-iiii |i)ariial of Education. 
 
 THE EARLY 
 
 WITHDRAWAL OF PUPILS 
 
 FROM SCHOOL. 
 
 ITS CA.USES AND ITS REMEDIES. 
 
 ;iN ESS.W RE/CiD BY ")VlLLIAM T. WaRRIS, AT THE J^ATIONAL EdUC/\.TION AL 
 
 Association, in ■posTON, ^ug. 7TH, 1872, 
 
 OF all subjects of investigation that 
 claim the attention of the active 
 laborers in Physical Science at the present 
 day, that of Meteorology holds the fore- 
 most rank. The next great victories over 
 nature are likely to be obtained in this 
 province, and the benefits to be derived 
 from an application of discoveries in this 
 realm will far transcend anything hitherto 
 achieved. The government of the cli- 
 mate, or the complete avoidance of its 
 inconveniences, the development of a 
 completely scientific agriculture, are fore- 
 most and obvious advantages resulting 
 from this application. 
 
 But there are more remote and f^r more 
 valuable fruits. The iinal conquest of the 
 sea, which will be eff"ected by this, is not 
 of so great nnoment as the conquest of the 
 air as a means of transit. The age of 
 steam has created for us a new type of man, 
 and a new spiritual world of humanity 
 has been the result. The age of aerial 
 navigation will be still more potent, in 
 developing for us a new era of spiritual 
 growth. 
 
 Looked at from a scientific standpoint, 
 Meteorology differs from other natural 
 sciences in the fact that its object is a kind 
 of synthesis of all the other departments. 
 The ends of the special threads of the 
 sciences of nature come together into one 
 knot, and this knot is the problem for the 
 solution of meteorology. Optics discover- 
 ing the lines in the spectrum ; Astronomy 
 discovering the flames and spots in the 
 sun; Geology noting the causes of earth- 
 quakes ; Mineralogy noting the laws of 
 crystalization — all these find themselves 
 in a vortical whirl, swiftly drawing near 
 a center wherein they are to form one 
 process of action and inter-action. 
 
 The profounder thinkers in natural 
 science announce for us the doctrine of 
 the correlation of forces, wherein light, 
 heat, electricity, magnetism, and organi- 
 zation, rise from the abyss of gravitation 
 and ceaselessly vanish into each other, 
 weaving the web of creation. What Faust 
 heard in the depths of his cell wlien the 
 world-spirit came before him blinding 
 his vision, lAal we are slowly realizing 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 in science: it is this subtle correlated 
 process, deep down in nature, thought 
 out by the natural philosopher and traced 
 out by the meteorologist, that manifests 
 the ^^Rrd Geist." 
 
 "At the roaring loom of Time I ply, 
 And weave the livinjj- garment of the Deity." 
 
 What emotions arise in the mind of the 
 astronomer as he looks out upon the uni- 
 verse of stars, and sees them "slow'y 
 gathering into one flock," impelled by the 
 resistless might of gravity ! Similar must 
 be the feelings of the positivist who sees 
 the special sciences blending in one dis- 
 solving view — an intimation of one all- 
 pervading impulse to unity. All things 
 return to the center whence they origin- 
 ated. 
 
 But to pursue this thought into the 
 abyss of nature is not edifying. The most 
 ancient nations looked as we do upon the 
 spectacle of nature : a vast process of 
 creation and destruction of individual 
 forms — the perpetual losing of individu- 
 ality. The worship of Adonis — the pitiful 
 wailing and lamentation over individuality 
 that is born only to die — was wide-spread, 
 and became the basis of the ''mvsteries" 
 of the Greeks and Romans, and of the 
 rites of our secret societies in modern 
 times. Man saw all natural forms rise 
 and decay, impelled by a negative, de- 
 stroying might, and he shuddered at the 
 thought of his own destiny. The deep 
 sadness, the inward pain at the thought 
 of dissolution has made man more and 
 more internal, more and more it has 
 caused him to build up, out of the sub- 
 stance of his thought, a spiritual dwelling 
 of his own, "far removed from birth and 
 decay." This imperishable world of spirit 
 — the joint product of the earnestness, the 
 suifering, the sweat of blood, the wrestling 
 prayers of the human race — is the com- 
 plex of the institutions of civilization. 
 Nearer to man by far than the physical 
 wor!d around him it stands to each human 
 soul. For it is by its mediation alone 
 that the material world shall be used and 
 enjoyed, or the cup of sorrow tasted at its 
 hand. If you but think of it, you shall 
 not put forth your hand to take aught — 
 whether it be of the nature of food, cloth- 
 ing, or shelter — unless with the good-will 
 and consent of human society. For in all 
 your actions you shall presuppose contin- 
 ually the laws of property and possession. 
 Thf*e laws are the acts of rerosrnition on 
 the part of society in anticipation of the 
 individual ; society stands waitingfor him, 
 and insists persistently on this point of 
 etiquette — "You, particul-ar individual, 
 shall take what you need only in the form 
 of property {_i.e., universalized goods and 
 
 chattels), and thus shall recognize me 
 (society) as your alter idem, and through 
 such recognition shall eXevdite yourself to 
 a universal existetice — that is to say, to a 
 spiritual existence." Therefore it is that 
 man, at his advent, finds not only his 
 presupposition in the family, but he finds 
 it still more in civil society and the State. 
 He cannot make his exit, nor can the 
 earth hide him, without the same recog- 
 nition on the part of society : the formal 
 registration, or the still more formal sit- 
 ting of the coroner's jury. 
 
 Therefore it is that we speak of man's 
 spiritual dwelling — ctviltzatton, with its 
 mansions of special institutions, the fam- 
 ily, society, the State, religion — as a more 
 direct and immediate existence to the in- 
 dividual than mere physical nature; for 
 it is on all hands the instrument through 
 which the latter is seized and appropriated 
 by him. Physical ntture must first be 
 universalized — made property through 
 the impression of the spiritual stamp 
 upon it — before it can be used by the in- 
 dividual. Like the current coin, it must 
 first receive the stamp of society before it 
 can lawfully circulate, i. e., be used by the 
 individuals of the community. Even the 
 general elements shall not be enjoyed ex- 
 cept through the same mediation. The 
 individual man shall not walk in the 
 street, breathe the common air, be warm- 
 ed by the sun, or fanned by the wind, 
 unless society licenses him, with more or 
 less formality, to live within its precincts. 
 
 Our thoughts, at the contemplation of 
 the science of meteorology, with its cos- 
 mical interaction of correlated forces, 
 recur, as we look ypon the vast web of 
 conventionalities and formal usages or- 
 ganized into institutions under the aggre- 
 gate name of civilizatio?i. Here at last 
 we have found a one, a unity, for which, 
 in which, and through which all indi- 
 viduals exist and come to the fruition of 
 their being. 
 
 It is the investigation of this wonderful 
 process that gives rise to social science, 
 the foremast spiritual science of the daj', 
 just as meteorology is the foremost physi- 
 cal science. Like the latter, too, it com- 
 prehends in its extent the functions of a 
 myriadof minor instrumentalities. These 
 latter depend upon the general science 
 for their explanation; for the central 
 process contains the moving principle in 
 its entn-ety. It was Anstotle who first 
 taught the scientific thinker to trace the 
 fragmentary provinces of a system back 
 to the central moving principle; by its 
 means are to be explained the others; 
 they are only its accidents — in its evolu- 
 tion it produces them. 
 
\ 
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 In studying the phenomena of human 
 life, from the broad pointof view of social 
 science, we find the definitions and limits 
 of education, a^ well as of political econo- 
 my and the allied sciences. Social and 
 political ^cience should investigate the 
 essence of civilization, its laws of growth 
 and decay, and preservation. The evolu- 
 tion of national ideas, their relation to 
 previous and contemporary national ideas, 
 and their limits which doom them to yield 
 their place in the world of actuality — the 
 study of these national ideas is the neces- 
 sary preliminary to intelligent insight 
 into the growth of history. The natural 
 limitations, such as territory, climate and 
 surroundings, are to be studied for the 
 temporal element — the brick and mortar 
 with which the architect-idea is to make 
 itself visible. 
 
 Now, education is that branch of social 
 science which treats of the preservation 
 of civilization — not of its evolution, 
 growth, or decay, for the causes of these 
 lie tar deeper than in a system of educa- 
 tion. 
 
 • It is necessary to bear this in mind ; for 
 every day we hear the would-be social 
 reformer, or the professional croaker, 
 refer to education things entirely beyond 
 its scope — things which education can do 
 little to make or to mar. 
 
 Coming togeth'.'r as we do. represent- 
 ing the educational interests of the nation, 
 it is of especial importance that we dis- 
 cuss our problems in the full light of 
 social science. When we see clearly what 
 education may accomplish, and how far 
 it may extend, and wherein it is supple- 
 mented by other social sciences, we sliall 
 then be able to see and apply practical 
 remedies for pedagogical evils, and shall 
 not waste our time in portraying ideals 
 that can never be realized. We shall not 
 be annoj'ed by our diflferences from other 
 nations or peoples in this or that respect, 
 but shall be able to justify our own 
 methods, while recognizing the merit of 
 other methods for different circumstances. 
 
 These considerations lead us to the 
 point of view from which to discuss the 
 present theme — that of the early with- 
 drawal of youth from school. 
 
 It is obvious that education has a two- 
 fold province when we consider it as the 
 means of preservation of civilization. It 
 includes the initiation into X\\^ practice oi 
 what belongs to civilized man, and sec- 
 ondly, an initiation into the ideas that lie 
 at the basis of that practice : in short, it 
 is an inculcation Of forms and convention- 
 alities — moral education ; and inculcation 
 of theory — intellectual education. 
 
 Inasmuch as, in our nation, we require 
 
 all to ascend to a participation in govern- 
 ment, it is essential that our education 
 embrace not mi reU' the passive side of 
 moral education — the inculcation of forms 
 of practice — but it must furnish an insight 
 into the necessity of these fi^rms. Where 
 the individual is to find his limit from 
 within, we must see to it that his,i:envic- 
 tion is cultured so far as to baseT^itself on 
 an insight into the rational necessitv of 
 moral action; otherwise he will substitute 
 caprice and selfishness for ethical motives. 
 
 Education takes place through the 
 school, and through other agencies, such 
 as the famil)', social intercourse, and 
 municipal regulations. Its relative pro- 
 portion in each of these agencies varies 
 with the nation or country Where, as 
 in Germany, the family, social and muni- 
 cipal influences are very str^-^ng, little is 
 lei't for the school to do in the way of 
 moral education : the boys and girls are 
 good, and may be safely left pretty much 
 to themselves so far as the discipline goes. 
 They will work, each for himself, to learn 
 the appointed tasks. But in our coun- 
 try all these first mentioned influences are 
 comparatively weak, and more is left for 
 the school to perform. The school must 
 seize the pupil, and train him by a strict 
 discipline to obedience, before it can do 
 much with him in an intellectual point of 
 view. A lax school allows the weeds of 
 selfishness, indolence, and insolence to 
 grow up and choke the fair virtues that 
 spring from self-restraint and renuncia- 
 tion. 
 
 It is therefore especially important that 
 we in this country extend the school-life 
 of the child during the most plastic period 
 of his growth. Moral education requires 
 time — far more than theoretical educa- 
 tion. Where we must do both — give the 
 child theoretical and practical education — 
 we should require the maximum of time 
 in school. In one word, our whole edu- 
 cation should aim to give the pupil direct- 
 ive power; he is to be called upon (more 
 than is the case in any other nation) for 
 the outlay of directive power. He must 
 therefore be practised for a long time in 
 self-government, and he must be tho- 
 roughly initiated into the social necessity 
 that underlies moral action ; he must see 
 principles. Upon such, and such forms 
 alone, is the combination of man with 
 man based, and this combination is the 
 necessary condition for the ascent of one 
 and all above the life of mere animals. 
 
 To the superficial observer the extra- 
 ordinary demand made on the individual 
 in our time for directive power is merely 
 transitory, it is only contingent on the 
 newly settled condition of our country. 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 To a close observer, however, it is appa- 
 rent that this demand for individuality is 
 one that is likely to increase through all 
 the future. The extraordinary facility of 
 transit and communication— steam, the 
 telegraph, and newspaper, are merely the 
 instruments created by the idea of the 
 age. which desires the existence of an 
 active, thinking being in each human 
 brain. The result is that all people are 
 living on the frontiers of their national 
 life, and are continually acting the part of 
 pioneers. The intens)ty of this life will 
 increase with the continued growth of 
 inter-communication; the ties of family, 
 and society, and State, are destined to 
 relax in behalf of the ties of humanity — 
 clannishness is to give place to cosmo- 
 politan culture. The function of the 
 school is therefore destined to grow in 
 importance in all nations, and thus it is 
 a legitimate inquiry for educators to make : 
 How can we increase the pupil's time in 
 school. 
 
 Again, it is not an indifferent matter to 
 the educator whether the pupil spends the 
 first years of his youth in school, or his 
 later years. In case the first years are 
 devoted to school, more of unconscious 
 practice may be had, and the forms will 
 make a deeper impression; there will be 
 less of conscious insight, "however. In 
 case the later years are spent in school, 
 self-determining reflection and insight 
 maybe acquired, but habits already form- 
 ed will receive less modification. If we 
 are to choose, in the light of the demands 
 of our civilization, we should say the later 
 education rather than the earlier. But, 
 fortunately, w-e are not obliged to choose 
 It happens that early education is of great 
 influence in preventing premature with- 
 drawal from school. 
 
 I. IMPORTANCE OF KARI.Y SCHOOL- 
 ING. 
 
 I shall therefore mention, as one of the 
 causes of such early withdrawal, the neg- 
 lect of school education until the pupil is 
 advanced into the later period of youth. If 
 he attends school then, he is subjec: to con- 
 tinual mortification on account of his com- 
 paratively low standing with pupils of his 
 own age. He is shut out from competition 
 with those whom he chooses as playmates, 
 and must constantly see himself surpassed 
 by striplings. This cause works power- 
 fully to prevent older youth from getting 
 the education they feel the need of. 
 
 For this reason it is felt to be a very 
 important thing to attract pupils to our 
 schools while they are yet quite young. 
 I am of the opinion, however, that in 
 general this matter is not sufficiently at- 
 
 tended to. We have in all our States 
 manv special conditions that enhance the 
 importance of this early schooling. There 
 is the call for youth to enter the fields of 
 productive industry, at an age closely 
 bordering upon infancy. In our manufac- 
 turing population, now growing far more 
 rapidly than any other population, this is 
 a very serious evil. Various devices, such 
 as statute laws, requiring a certain num- 
 ber of months per year, or a certain num- 
 ber of days per week, have been tried. 
 Evening schools have been established, 
 libraries and reading rooms opened; still 
 the problem is but indifferently solved. 
 Looking at this phase of the subject, and 
 considering the fact that in such com- 
 munities the family life at home is mostly 
 pernicious to the child, and his life on the 
 street still more so, I think it necessary to 
 modify the character of our lowest primary 
 schools, allowing the entrance of pupils 
 at the age of four years, and making the 
 exercises less severe, and more entertain- 
 ing to the pupil. Large changes, looking 
 in the direction of the kindergarten sys- 
 tem of Froebel, can probably be made to 
 advantage. 
 
 Pupils thus received and nurtured at 
 an early age will be at least made to love 
 school, and to form good habits. They 
 will be likely to continue at school to a 
 far greater age than otherwise, for two 
 reasons; first on account of the fact 
 that having learned to love school life, 
 their preference will go far to determine 
 the consent of the parents. The child in 
 this country has so much self assertion 
 that he, as a rule, prevails over the will 
 of his mother; and the two combined — 
 what father can resist.' Great power lies 
 in the hands of school managers, there- 
 fore, to control school attendance by 
 making schools attractive to children. 
 The other reason for this eftect of earl}- 
 school life upon the continuance of it has 
 been adverted to in speaking of the fact 
 that mortification at disparity of age and 
 advancement deters many from attending 
 school who would do so in later youth 
 although they had neglected it before. 
 
 II. COLLISIONS IN DISCIPLINE. 
 
 I would mention as a second cause of 
 the early withdrawal of youth from school, 
 collisions in discipline.. Want of skill on 
 the part of the teacher, arising from im- 
 perfect self-control or from lack of insight 
 into human nature, is the fruitful occa- 
 sion of this deplorable result. This is a 
 problem difficult of solution for the school 
 manager. The most efficient means I 
 have found is the prompt transfer of the 
 pupil to some other school, by the su- 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 perintendent. Great delicacy is necssary 
 to prevent the feeling of triumph on the 
 part of the pupil or the parent. But with a 
 proper degree of stress laid on the various 
 phases of the en or of the pupil and a 
 few words on the necessity of the teacher's 
 .position, one can usually manage lo make 
 both pupil and parent feel that a trial in 
 in another school is very considerate 
 treatment and worth strong promises of 
 amendment. But the best of this system 
 of transfer is the hold it gives the super- 
 intendent on the self-control and general 
 management of his teachers. Teachers 
 who have their mistakes thus corrected 
 are apt to take great pains to Jivoid them. 
 Unless one can have some check of this 
 kind on school discipline it is extremely 
 liable to become harsh and produce the 
 results mentioned; many a youth with a 
 brittle temper will leave school before 
 his tinie, if the teacher's system is not 
 adapted to anneal his temper before at- 
 tempting forcibly to bend it. 
 
 In this connection it is worthy of remark 
 that the system of corporal punishment 
 generally employed is likely to go out of 
 use altogether before the close of the 
 century. Any review of its history will 
 convince one of this. The sense of honor 
 is developed earlier and earlier with each 
 succeeding generation, and corporal pun- 
 ishment should give place to punishments 
 of honor as soon as this sense developes. 
 Honor is the feeling of the recognition of 
 one's essentiality on the part of the com- 
 munity. To be deprived of this recog- 
 nition is a keen suffering to most 
 American youth above the age to enter 
 school. Suspension from school is a 
 means of punishment based on the sense 
 of honor in pupil and parent, and also 
 on the desire of the latter for the culture 
 of his child Municipal authority in the 
 shape of truant and vagrant regulations 
 must be relied on to supplement a mild 
 school discipline, and special reform 
 schools in which the spirit of military 
 discipline prevails, will train into mechan- 
 ical habits of obedience those who are 
 morally too weak for the common school. 
 
 III. DEFECTIVE Gl^ADIiNG. 
 
 I would mention as a third cause of 
 early withdrawal Defective Grading-. As 
 the second cause mentioned is defective 
 discipline, the third is defective instruc- 
 tion or organization of chisses for in- 
 struction. In the unclassified schools the 
 pupil necessarily feels that he gets little 
 of the teacher's attention. The teacher 
 divides up his time among his pupils, 
 hearing many classes that contain only 
 one two or three pupils. His time is so 
 
 dissipated that he gives only five minutes, 
 or so, to a recitation. This suflfices merely 
 to hear the pupil repeat the words of the 
 text book. The pupil on arriving at 
 years of reflection, finding that he gets 
 very little of the teacher's time and that 
 he really learns only what he gets from 
 his text book unaided, sees no use in con- 
 tinuing his attendance upon school and 
 therefore leaves school. When we con- 
 sidei the value of the unclassified school 
 as a means of cullure to the community 
 we find it extremely limited, and do not 
 so much lament the decision of the older 
 pupil who leaves, for the reason here 
 mentioned. The advantage to him was 
 of a moral and social kind, but very 
 small, theoretically considered. The un- 
 classified school has disappeared from 
 our cities and large villages, but it still 
 exists in the countrj' districts very gener- 
 ally. Whenever the sizes of the schools 
 have been such as to admit of it, a system 
 of classification has been introduced and 
 the immediate consequences have been : 
 (a), great increase in the length of reci- 
 tation; (5), far more thoroughness in the 
 discussion of the lesson, siftingthe different 
 statements and probing the meaning of the 
 same; (c), great stimulation of the men- 
 tal activity of the pupil through trial and 
 competition with other members of his 
 class. These three advantages can scarce- 
 ly be overestimated. They multiply the 
 teacher's power just as organization im- 
 proves the strength of an army. In the 
 unclassified system the teachei is only a 
 private tutor, and the fewer pupils he has, 
 the better for each and all. In the clas- 
 sified system the proper quota of pupils 
 is a potent instrument in the hands of 
 the teacher, and he uses the whole class 
 to correct and stimulate each one in it. 
 The lesson, as recited and discussed by 
 and before the class, gets all its phases 
 stated, restated, and criticized as it never 
 could in the case of a single pupil with a 
 private tutor. The presence of the class 
 arouses to a high pitch of energy the 
 teacher, and each individual in the class 
 is excited by the presence of the teacher 
 and the rest of the class. These cir- 
 cumstances account for the high esti- 
 mation in which the graded system is 
 everywhere held. So many good things 
 have a tendency to hide some very serious 
 defects. It is this very system, however, 
 that is so organized as to prove the very 
 greatest of all causes for the early with- 
 drawal from school. To this aspect of 
 graded schools I therefore invite your 
 most earnest attention while I endeavor 
 to portray its injurious effects and suggest 
 the remedy for them. 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 The tendency of all classification is to 
 unite pupils of widely different attain- 
 ments. Especially is this found in small 
 schools. The consequence is that the 
 lesson is too long for some and too short 
 for others. The best pupils in the class 
 are not tried to the full extent of their 
 ability; they consequently lose in some 
 degree the discipline which they should 
 gain. The poorest pupils of the class are 
 strained to the utmost. They are drag- 
 ged, as it were, over the ground without 
 having time to digest it as they should. 
 This developes the result that the over- 
 worked pupils are frequently discouraged 
 and drop out of the class, and likely 
 enough out of the school altogether. In 
 large systems of schools where classifica- 
 tion is very perfect the evil here spoken 
 of need not occur to a serious degree; but 
 it dees so very frequently from the fact 
 that the course of study is laid out in 
 grades (ten more or less in number) and 
 all pupils are classified or graded so that 
 each belongs to one of these grades. 
 All the pupils in the grade must be in the 
 same degree of advancement at about 
 the same time. The result is that the 
 school is classified in such a way that 
 the'-e are ten classes separated by inter- 
 vals of from five to ten month's work. 
 Then promotion is made from one grade 
 to another at set times, annually or semi- 
 annually. All who pass the examination 
 commence the work of the next grade : 
 all who do not, continue until the next 
 examination in the work of the grade 
 through which they have just passed. 
 The effect of this is tVightful as a cause 
 of early withdrawal from school. The 
 parent and pupil feel very keenly the time 
 lost. The pupil must have been over 
 much of the work of the year : perhaps 
 nine-tenths, or three-quarters, or perhaps 
 only one- half of it. Yet what he has done 
 entitles him to an advanced position over 
 his fellow pupils of the next class below 
 him. If he returns to school after being 
 thrust back a year for his lack of less 
 than half a year, he appears in the ranks 
 of a class who were a 3'ear's work behind 
 him. He has lost his ambition : he is 
 sometime in the class before they come to 
 work difficult enough to arouse him to 
 the exertion of his full energies. Mean- 
 while he has lost his discipline for hard 
 study and he is very likely to break down 
 a second time on the work of the year. 
 A .second failure for promotion is nearly 
 sure to cause withdrawal from school. 
 The parent has lost faith in the talents of 
 his child and puts him into business or 
 apprentices him to a trade. The youth 
 has lost his own confidence in himself 
 
 and is a stunted intellectual growth for 
 the rest of his life. 
 
 Was there any advantage in this kind 
 of grading.^ How could it otherwise have 
 transpired? Instead of the procrustean 
 bed of grades, the pupils should have 
 been classified into classes of thirty, or 
 less, each. These classes in all large 
 schools would be separated by intervals 
 of about five weeks' work. As often as 
 these classes, any of them, become too 
 small by the withdrawal of pupils, or too 
 large by the assignment to them of new 
 comers, there should be a new formation 
 of classes. The best pupils of one class 
 are to be sent up to the next, the best from 
 the next below are to be promoted and 
 joined with the pupils remaining. Those 
 not promoted are now united with the 
 best of the class that is five weeks' work 
 behind them. The degradation is scarcely 
 felt. It was rather called, in both cases, 
 a promotion of the best ones, not a de- 
 grading of the poorest. It is a process of 
 cutting up the school into classes anew, 
 and as a matter of fact the pupils need 
 not have changed rooms to any very great 
 extent. 
 
 A set time for examination and promo- 
 tion is injurious, just in the ratio of its 
 infrequency. Annual examinations for 
 promotion, and the discontinuance of pro- 
 motions at other times, is an extremely 
 pernicious system, and occasions early 
 withdrawal from school more than any 
 other cause. It is evident that the farther 
 advanced the pupil, the more unfavorably 
 will it affect him; and yet, in our schools 
 throughout the country, the system is so 
 arranged that this procrustean device ap- 
 plies more especially to the advanced 
 pupils. In how many of our cities is there 
 promotion to the High School oftener than 
 once per year.'' What becomes of the 
 pupils who lack one per centum of mak- 
 ing the standard required.'' Are they not 
 sent over the work of the highest grade 
 of the grammar schools again, and thus 
 made to occupy a year in doing what 
 they might do in one-fourth of that time? 
 And do they not leave school at this crisis 
 more than at any other time in the whole 
 course? Are not our High Schools ar- 
 ranged in grades or classes just one year 
 apart in their work? And is all this ne- 
 cessary? Not certainly where there are 
 pupils enough to make two or more divi- 
 sions of thirty pupils each. If the pupils 
 from the highest grade of the Grammar 
 Schools had been classified according to 
 their rank in the examination, the first 
 thirty would have formed the highest 
 division on the High School work, the 
 next thirty the second division, and so 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 through those who had made a reasonable 
 standard. Then would have come the 
 highest thirty pupils in rank of those not 
 admitted, who should be admitted to a 
 central schopl and conditioned to five 
 weeks' work on the studies of the first 
 grade of the Grammar School, and then 
 examined again ; the next thirty to a 
 longer period, and so on. Pupils thrown 
 back five weeks, and then classified with 
 their own fellows who had been unsuc- 
 cessful, would find the hardship a very 
 trivial one, and would scarcely think of 
 leaving school in disgust. 
 
 For schools where the number in any 
 grade fell short of the requisite thirty 
 wherewith to form a new division — of 
 course this plan of subdivision could not 
 be carried out. But so far as the first 
 grade of the Grammar School is concerned 
 this would rarely happen, and still less 
 likely would it occur with classes below 
 the 'highest grade. The principle is 
 clearly this : Not a procrustean bed of 
 grades on which the school is to be 
 be stretched so as to reduce the number 
 of grades of advancement to ten, or any 
 other special number; but a thorough 
 classification of all the pupils into classes 
 on a certain quota as a basis, whether 
 this be thirty or twenty-five, or whatever 
 other number is considered the best. The 
 endeavor will be to have classes separated 
 by as small an interval as possible. But 
 four or six weeks' work is small enough 
 for all practical purposes. And in order 
 to make this arrangement uniform, the pu- 
 pils in upper grades, when too few to form 
 classes with the required quota, should 
 be brought together in central schools; 
 and this principle should be applied as 
 far as possible : if the highest grade in the 
 High School consisted of sixty pupils or 
 more, the division of it into two classes 
 would be required. 
 
 The results of the arrangement here 
 proposed will work the following good 
 effects : 
 
 1. It will enable one to fix a higher per 
 cent, for admission to the High School, 
 and for promotion from class to class. 
 
 2. It will bring together into classes 
 pupils who are comparatively near to- 
 gether as respects qualifications. 
 
 3. It will render possible the new for- 
 mation of the divisions by promotion of 
 the best pupils from each division into 
 the next higher, whenever considerable 
 inequality begins to manifest itself in any 
 of the classes or divisions. 
 
 4. This continual adjustment will ren- 
 der far more efficient the instruction, the 
 good pupils being very seldom kept back 
 for the poor ones. 
 
 5. The whole school system will be- 
 come elastic and mobile. Like the cur- 
 rent of a river there will be, everywhere, 
 forward motion — in the middle the current 
 is more rapid, at the sides the current 
 fiows more slowly. The work of the grade 
 laid down for a year's study will be ac- 
 complished in three, or three and a half, 
 quarters by the brightest, by the dullest 
 and slowest in five quarters 
 
 6. There will be no temptation to push 
 on a slow pupil, or drag him beyond his 
 powers; no temptation to promote a pupil 
 to a new grade's work before thoroughly 
 completing what is belovy him. 
 
 7. This system will reduce to a mini- 
 mum the early withdrawal from school 
 on account of non-promotion. 
 
 8. Its economy is a very considerable 
 item, inasmuch as the divisions in the 
 upper grades would be kept continually 
 full by promotion from below. 
 
 9. Inasmuch as pupils are continually 
 entering school, and others continually 
 leaving, it is clear that a system of grades 
 nailed to the calendar, and inflexible as 
 the seasons, is not so well adapted to 
 actual emergencies as one wherein the 
 extreme of classification is reached com- 
 patible with the established quota for the 
 size of classes. 
 
 10. By this plan would be checked a 
 pernicious system of holding back pupils 
 from examination for the High School 
 simply for the purpose of gaining a repu- 
 tation for the school through the high 
 per cent of its pupils in the competitive 
 examination. 
 
 Doubtless there is a certain degree of 
 thoroughness requisite in the lower 
 branches before the pupil can profitably 
 take up the studies of the next higher 
 grade. After attaining this per cent, it is 
 possible to continue the pupil drilling 
 over the lower work, in order to secure a 
 certain mechanical thoroughness, so long 
 as to waste much time that might be bet- 
 ter expended for the pupil's culture and 
 growth on the higher studies. 
 
 It is in these higher studies that the 
 pupil gets most directive power — the most 
 valuable power that the community can 
 obtain from its schools. When a com- 
 munity does not educate its directive in- 
 telligence, it is forced to import it at a 
 very exorbitant price. With reason, there- 
 fore, it is a matter of concern to a com- 
 munity to prevent, if possible, the early 
 withdrawal of its youth from school. 
 
 The causes which I have discussed here 
 are, lack of early schooling, injudicious 
 discipline, bad grading, including the 
 lack of classification and the making of 
 the system too rigid. Other causes, such 
 
( « ) 
 
 as the pressure of poverty, or the avarice 
 of parents, or the over demands of pro- 
 ductive industry (as happens in the case 
 of war where the adults join the army and 
 leave the older youth to carry on their 
 tasks at home) — these causes and others, 
 such as dissipation or criminal negligence 
 of parents, I pass over for the reason that 
 they belong to the legislator, or to the 
 political econoinist to consider, and not 
 specially to the educator. 
 
 ADI^END A. 
 
 Objectiotis considen-J in the Debate that followed 
 the reading of this paper . 
 
 I come next to consider certain objec- 
 tions that are likely to be made. Inas- 
 much as the conventional forms of activity 
 become also moulds for the formation of 
 opinion on all related subjects, the new 
 scheme is censured for not fulfilling func- 
 tions entirely dispensed with in the 
 system based upon it. I hear the ob- 
 jection made, that this system would 
 cause a collection of the dull and stupid 
 pupils into classes by themselves — a de- 
 plorable result. But this is one of the 
 evils which this system is adapted to cor- 
 rect. The fact that the best pupils from 
 below are allowed to rise through the 
 masses above them, as fi-'.st as their ability 
 can carry them, is surely not likely to 
 prevent the slower pupils who are their 
 companions from exerting all their ener- 
 gies, and making considerable progress. 
 The sti-eam of bright pupils from below is 
 inexhaustible; from the primary grades 
 it ascends, continually passing fixed 
 points, or points that move on more 
 slowly. In every class there will be its 
 quota of bright pupils, some leading the 
 class and some just sustaining themselves 
 in it, having recently joined it. But in 
 the old system, all the bright pupils had 
 attained the top of the class, and the dull 
 ones had fallen hopelessly to the bottom, 
 long before the needed re-classification 
 took place. 
 
 It has been further objected that this 
 system causes so rapid a change from 
 teacher to tea cher that the very important 
 personal inftuence of the teacher is mate- 
 rially impaired. But under this system 
 in the higher grades the pupil would 
 hardly change teachers oftener than once 
 or twice per year, and a change as often as 
 this is desirable for the healthy individual 
 culture of the child. The school should 
 not be ^family influence, exclusively. It 
 is the transition to civil society; conse- 
 
 quently the pupil must change teachers 
 often enough to correct any one-sided 
 tendencies of social culture that he may 
 be liable to acquire from the individual 
 teacher. 
 
 In small towns where the High School 
 classes do not number over thirty pupils 
 each, such subdivision as I have here 
 described cannot be accomplished. But 
 in such places there is ample occasion to 
 apply this system to the district schools, 
 which frequently suffer more than the 
 High School from the wide intervals be- 
 tween the higher classes. Transfer of the 
 same to the High School as a preparatory 
 class, or to intermediate schools will be 
 found a salutary measure. 
 
 In the next place, it is objected that this 
 plan prevents a general examination of a 
 system of schools on one standard, as 
 conducted by a superintendent. At a 
 given time in the year the pupils in any 
 one grade will not be found in the same: 
 degree of advancement, but will be at as 
 many different stages of work as there are 
 classes. But this general examination is 
 no longer required as a test for promotion, 
 and hence its value is limited to the dis- 
 covery of differences between classes, a 
 function that it will perform excellently 
 under the system proposed. More than 
 this, by the new system one can test the 
 thoroughness of a class by comparing its 
 work on the examination with that of 
 other classes next to it, above or below. 
 
 In the St. Louis schools there are 29 ' 
 pupils in the first year's work to 22 in the 
 second, 21 in the third, 12 in the fourtn, 
 7 in the fifth, 4 in the sixth, 2^ in the 
 seventh year's work, and 2j in the High 
 School course of four years. Thus the 
 grading there is uniformly good in the 
 lowest three years of the course in all the 
 schools. In the upper four years of the 
 District School course, and in the High 
 School course, it becomes necessary to 
 transfer pupils to central schools, in order 
 to secure the same advantages. The sys- 
 tem of Intermediate Schools in Cincinnati 
 was designed to accomplish this object. 
 In Chicago and St. Louis the grad- 
 ing in the lower classes of the District 
 Schools has been for some time conducted 
 on the system here proposed, and with 
 satisfactory results. The introduction of 
 the same system into the liigher classes, 
 as here proposed, would seem to be 
 demanded by all practical considerations, 
 such as economy of teachers' salaries 
 and economy of time on the part of the 
 pupil. 
 
021 588 984 1