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The United States..
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South Atlantic Division...
South Central Division...
North Central Division...
i 2
itutions, public and private, and excluding elementary pupils, who are classec
and is somewhat too small, as there are many secondary pupils outside the c
eges and scientific schools. Students in law, theological, and medical departmi
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in universities, colleges, and public and private high schools.
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are no means of enumerating.
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chools are included in columns ,
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;r, 21,687 students talcing normal
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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
53
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APPEN
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56
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
[132
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wcrT .'c-S*-* 'rtrtrt- *bfl rt x' t JS
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133] ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 57
APPENDIX V Corporal punishment
In one state, New Jersey, the teacher is forbidden by law to
inflict corporal punishment. No other state goes to this length,
but Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Pennsylvania, South
Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia specifically prescribe a
penalty for excess amounting to cruelty. Legal punishment would
be meted out to a brutal teacher in the other states just as surely
as in these, but resort would be had to the common law and not to
a statute. Only in Arizona is there formal statutory authority for
corporal punishment, but whipping has been the common mode of
discipline in school from time immemorial ; custom legalizes it, and
unless forbidden in express terms the teacher does not need the
authority of a special permissive law. Judicial decisions to this
effect have been made in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana,
Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,
and probably in other states.
Local school boards have always the implied power to make
regulations for the order and discipline of their respective schools,
and three states, viz., Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania,
expressly grant them this power. Acting under this power,
expressed or implied, several cities, notably New York city,
Chicago, and Albany, have prohibited absolutely the use of the
rod. The same is true of Providence, Rhode Island, except in
the primary grades, and in them whipping must not be inflicted
unless the written consent of the parent or guardian has been pre-
viously filed with the city superintendent.
Corporal punishment may be used as a last resort and under
rigid regulations as to reports, etc., in a great many cities, among
them being Baltimore, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Minne-
apolis, New Orleans, Pittsburg, Rochester, St. Louis, San Fran-
cisco, Worcester, and Philadelphia.
58 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION [134
APPENDIX VI Teachers pensions, and benefit associations
Voluntary mutual benefit associations for temporary aid only
exist in Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chi-
cago, Buffalo, San Francisco, St. Paul, and one interstate. These
have from one to two dollars initiation fee, one to five dollars
annual dues. Special assessments of one dollar each are made in
some cases. Benefits in sickness range from fifty cents a day to
ten dollars a week ; at death funeral expenses only are paid in
some instances, and in others a sum equal to one dollar from each
member of the association.
Associations for annuity or retirement fund only are in New
York city, Boston, and Baltimore, and there is an annuity guild in
Massachusetts. The initiation fees reported are three to five dol-
lars ; the annual dues one to one and a half per cent of salary up
to eighteen or twenty dollars. The annuity is from 60 per cent of
salary to $600 a year. Time of service required for retirement,
from 2 to 5 years with disability, from 35 to 40 years without
disability.
Associations for both temporary aid and annuity exist in Ham-
ilton county (Cincinnati), Ohio ; Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and
District of Columbia. Initiation fees, one to ten dollars ; annual
dues, five to forty dollars ; annuity, five dollars per week to $600
a year, and $100 for funeral expenses in case of death ; temporary
aid during illness, five or six dollars per week ; minimum service
for retirement with disability, 3 to 5 years; without disability,
35 to 40 years.
Pension or retirement funds are authorized by state legislation
for St. Louis, all cities in California, Brooklyn, New York, Detroit,
Chicago, New York city, all cities in New Jersey, Cincinnati, and
Buffalo. Dues, one per cent of salary; annuity, $250 to one-half
of salary; minimum, $300, to $i, 200 maximum ; minimum service
with disability, 20 to 35 years; without disability, 25 to 35 years.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
59
APPENDIX VII United States railroad mileage; census years
1830-90
1800
1880
iS/O
1860
1850
l840
1830
87 724. 08
Miles per 10,000 population.
26.12
17.49
12.75
9.20
3.71
1.61
.03
APPENDIX VIII Text-books; selection and supply.
In a few states text-books do not form a specific subject of legis-
lation, but local boards have control under the general charge of
the welfare of the schools.
In most states legislation regulates the selection of text-books.
In some states a guaranty is required from publishers to supply
books, according to samples, at wholesale, retail, introduction,
exchange, mail prices, part or all, for a term of years.
In fewer states the school boards buy and sell the books on pub-
lic account. In certain states boards continue to own the books
used free by pupils. Indigent pupils are more frequently supplied
at public expense.
' In most states special or general laws give cities the control of
the details of their school administration, including text-books.
Specific penalties are expressed in certain cases for using other
than prescribed books, but in general such use would be only a
violation of law, to be dealt with as it occurred.
State superintendent is here used to indicate the chief officer of
the state schools.
In the states immediately following, individuals, except indi-
gents, buy their books :
Arizona. The lists are fixed for 4 years by territorial board.
Arkansas. The list is fixed for 3 years, with exceptions, by local
board, from books recommended by state superintendent.
California. The state prepares, publishes, and sells books for
primary and grammar schools, but high schools supported wholly
by local effort are almost free of the law. Penalty for using
other than the state list, forfeiture of one-fourth the apportionment
from state funds. Indigent pupils are furnished free.
Georgia. County board fixes list. Unchanged within 5 years
except by a three-fourths vote of the full board. Penalty, teacher
cannot receive pay from pupils using other books.
6O ELEMENTARY EDUCATION [136
Indiana. A state board selects books under publishers' guaranty.
County boards may fix a list of additional books for high schools
for 6 years. Books are bought and sold by, or subject to, arrange-
ment of local board, and become private property. Districts sup-
ply indigents.
Illinois. District board fixes list for 4 years. Indigents sup-
plied free.
Kentucky. County board of examiners fixes list for 5 years,
with publishers' guaranty. The county judge furnishes indigents.
Louisiana. State board fixes list for 4 years, with limited local
discretion.
Mississippi. The county school board adopts a series of books
for 5 years on publishers' guaranty. Penalty, pupils without the
prescribed books in any branch are not to receive instruction in
that branch.
Missouri. A state school-book commission fixed a list, with
publishers' guaranty, for 5 years from September i, 1897, to be
handled through dealers. Indigents are supplied from local con-
tingent funds.
Nevada. State board fixes list for 4 years. Penalty, forfeiture
of apportionment. District furnishes indigents.
New Mexico. The territorial board of education is authorized
to fix a list for 4 years and to contract with publishers and sell to
counties. Districts furnish indigents.
North Carolina. County board fixes list for 3 years, with pub-
lishers' guaranty.
Ohio. A state commission fixes a list on publishers' guaranty,
from which local boafds fix lists for 5 years (with exception).
Boards may buy and sell to pupils or arrange with dealers to sup-
ply them. Indigents are furnished.
Oklahoma. Territorial superintendent fixes a list for 5 years on
publishers' guaranty.
Oregon. State board fixes a list for 6 years on publishers'
guaranty.
South Carolina. State board fixes a list for 5 years on pub-
lishers' guaranty, and may require publishers to have depositaries
in each county, or county boards may furnish books at cost.
Tennessee. County superintendent suggests suitable books.
Texas. The law resembles that of Missouri. Penalty, upon
any teacher or trustee, $10 to $50 for each offense. Every day of
violation of law to be considered a separate offense.
137] ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 6 1
Virginia. Two books of John Esten Cooke Virginia, a His-
tory of Her People ; Stories of the Old Dominion are prescribed
by law. State board fixes a list.
West Virginia. A contract list for 5 years is part of the law of
1896, with exceptions. County school book boards are established
by act of 1897. Publishers keep books with local depositaries on
account of district building fund. Penalty, on every officer or
teacher, $3 to $10 for each offense.
Wyoming. A convention of superintendents fixes a list for
5 years.
The states following, regularly or through stated action, author-
ize provision for free use of books by pupils :
Colorado. District boards fix list for 4 years, with exceptions.
Indigents are furnished and, on popular vote, all pupils, free.
Connecticut. State board may fix list for 5 years. Town boards
may take additional action and, on popular vote, furnish free text-
books.
Delaware. State board fixes list ; district board furnishes free
text-books.
Idaho. Books adopted by a state board of text-book commis-
sioners for all common, graded, and high schools are furnished free
by the district ; under contracts with publishers for 6 years.
Iowa. Local boards may buy and sell to pupils at cost.
County uniformity *can be fixed for 5 years. Text-books are fur-
nished free to indigents, and, on popular vote, to all, by the
district.
Kansas. A school text-book commission (1897) has selected
text-books in common-school studies for five years and contracted
with publishers to furnish them to pupils through agencies at every
county seat. On popular vote, with a two-thirds majority, school
boards may purchase books and furnish their use free to pupils.
Penalty for using other text-books, except for reference, $25 to
$100, with or without imprisonment.
Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island (towns),
New Jersey, Pennsylvania (local boards), Maryland (counties), fur-
nish free text-books.
Michigan. District boards furnish books to indigents, and, on
popular vote, to all pupils, free.
Minnesota. Local boards may fix a list for 3 to 5 years, with
publishers' guaranty, and may purchase and provide for loan free
or for sale at cost to pupils.
62 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION [138
Montana. A state board of text-book commissioners fixed a
list for 6 years to be handled through dealers, with publishers'
guaranty. Upon vote of a district, free text-books are furnished.
Nebraska. Local boards furnish books free ; may fix list with
publishers' guaranty not beyond 5 years. A local dealer may be
designated to handle the books on agreed terms.
New York. Every union free school board is " to prescribe the
text-books * * * and to furnish the same out of any money
provided for the purpose."
Common-school districts, by popular vote, may furnish indigent
pupils.
North Dakota. Local boards may furnish free text-books, and
must on popular vote. Contracts must be for 3 to 4 years with-
out change.
South Dakota. A county board of education is required to
adopt a uniform series for 5 years, to be furnished through desig-
nated depositaries under publishers' guaranty. On petition of a
majority of electors, a school corporation must arrange for free
text-books.
Utah. A convention of superintendents fixes a list, except for
cities, for 5 years, on publishers' guaranty. Penalty, on teacher,
loss of eligibility. Boards of education are authorized to furnish
free text-books, and, in cities, to select books.
Vermont. County authority fixes a list for 5 years on pub-
lishers' guaranty. On popular vote, local boards furnish free text-
books.
Washington. The state board of education fixes a list for 5
years on publishers' guaranty. Penalty, on district, forfeiture of
one-fourth the apportionment. Local boards furnish indigents,
and, on popular vote, all pupils.
Wisconsin. District board fixes list for 3 years. Penalty on
every member of the board, $50. On popular vote, books are fur-
nished free without time limitation as to change.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
APPENDIX IX Average total amount of schooling (expressed in
years of 200 school days each) each individual of the population
would receive as his equipment for life, under the conditions exist-
ing at the different dates given in the table, and counting in the
work done by all grades of both public and private schools and
colleges
1870
I880
1890
*
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
United States
fi
4.4.6
A. %>
3 3
o y"
North Atlantic Division
S .o6
5.69
6.05
6. 15
6.18
6.10
6-35
6.47
6.52
6.64
6.76
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
1.23
I. 12
2.22
1.86
2-73
2.42
2.78
2.62
2.74
2.69
2.79
2.64
2-95
2.89
2.95
2.65
2.93
2.7O
3-5
2.75
3-14
2-95
North Central Division
4-01
4.65
5-36
5-35
5-31
5.38
5-57
5.69^
5-84
5-8?
S-8 7
Average total amount of schooling per inhabitant, etc., considering
only the public elementary and secondary schools, and expressed as
before in years of 200 school days each
1870
1880
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
i 8<
A. 28
4 *6
North Atlantic Division
South Atlantic Division
4- 5 3
.80
4.84
1. 00
4-99
2.42
5-06
2.46
5.10
2.46
5.10
2.51
5-28
2.70
5-47
2.68
5-52
2.66
5.61
2.78
5 'Z I
2.87
South Central Division
.80
I -57
2.20
3.3t
2.41
2.38
2.59
2-59
2-44
2-49
2.68
North Central Division
3-?i
4.19
4.67
4-74
4-7S
4.84
5.00
S-iS
5.21
S.28
5-25
Western Division
3.98
4.16
4.45
4.87
4*95
5.02
5.25
NOTE. The figures of this table for the years previous to the current year have been revised
and differ slightly from those heretofore published.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
FOR THE
UNITED STATES COMMISSION TO THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
MONOGRAPHS ON EDUCATION
IN THE
UNIXKD STATKS
EDITED BY
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
Professor of Philosophy and Education in Columbia University, New York
SECONDARY EDUCATION
BY
ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN
Professor of Education in the University of California
THIS MONOGRAPH is CONTRIBUTED TO THE UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT BY THE
STATE OF NEW YORK
SECONDARY EDUCATION
One could not expect to find distinctively American insti-
tutions among the colonists of the seventeenth century.
There was as yet no distinctively American character. Two
opposing influences were at work shaping the colonial life :
the first was the spirit of protest against European institu-
tions, which many of the colonists had brought with them
from the Old World ; the second was the ever-present
instinct of imitation. Real American schools might be
expected to develop with the development of real American
nationality. In the beginning, there could be only such
schools as might arise under the mingled influence of a
desire to be like the mother-country and a desire to be
different.
We find, as a matter of fact, the history of American sec-
ondary education presenting three pretty well-defined types
and stages of development. There is, first, the colonial
period, with its Latin grammar schools ; secondly, the period
extending from the revolutionary war to the middle of the
nineteenth century, during which the attempt was made to
solve the problem of American secondary education by
means of the so-called academy ; and, thirdly, the succeeding
period down to the present time, chiefly characterized by the
upgrowth of public high schools.
The specific influences which most vitally influenced the
early development of secondary education in America were,
on the one hand, the example of the " grammar schools " of
old England ; and, on the other hand, the rising spirit of
democracy, in large measure Calvinistic as to its modes
of thought, and in touch with movements in the Calvin-
istic portions of Europe.
SECONDARY EDUCATION [144
THE BEGINNINGS
Early in the history of the colony of Virginia, funds were
raised and lands set apart for the endowment of a Latin
grammar school. But these promising beginnings were
swept away by the Indian massacre of 1622, and the school
seems never to have been opened. The town of Boston, in
the Massachusetts Bay colony, set up a Latin school in 1635,
which has had a continuous existence down to the present
time. This school was established by vote of the citizens in
a town meeting. It was supported in part by private dona-
tions, and in part by the rent of certain islands in the harbor,
designated by the town for that purpose. A town rate seems
also to have been levied when necessary to make up a salary
of 50 a year for the master.
Other Massachusetts towns soon followed the example of
Boston. The money for the support of these schools was
obtained in a variety of ways. School fees were commonly
but not universally collected. A town rate, which was
depended upon at first only to supplement other sources of
revenue, gradually came to be the main reliance ; and by the
middle of the eighteenth century the most of the grammar
schools of Massachusetts charged no fee for tuition.
Latin schools were early established in the colonies
included in the territory of the present state of Connecti-
cut: one at New Haven in 1641, and one at Hartford not
later than 1642. A notable bequest left by Edward Hop-
kins, sometime governor of Connecticut colony, whose later
years were passed in England, became available soon after
the middle of the seventeenth century. The greater part of
it was devoted to the maintenance of Latin grammar schools
in Hartford and New Haven, and also in the towns of H ad-
ley and Cambridge in Massachusetts.
The Dutch at New Amsterdam now New York
opened a Latin school in 1659. This school was continued
for some years after the colony passed under English rule.
Secondary schools were established in the colony of Penn-
145] SECONDARY EDUCATION 5,
sylvania in the latter part of the seventeenth century. One
of these, the William Penn Charter School, at Philadelphia,
has continued down to the present day. King William's
school, at Annapolis, was erected by the legislature of Mary-
land in 1696. Similar schools were from time to time estab-
lished in different sections of the same colony. The
eighteenth century saw schools of like character opened,
partly by legislative enactment, partly by private initiative,
in these and in the remaining colonies. Some of the num-
ber, like the University Grammar School in Rhode Island
and the Free School at New York, were either the fore-
runners or the accompaniments of colonial colleges.
Not only were these several schools opened during the
colonial period : important beginnings were made also in
the organization of colonial systems of secondary educa-
tion. The Puritan colony of Massachusetts took the lead
in this movement. In 1647 the colonial legislature decreed
that an elementary school should be maintained in every
town having a population of fifty families ; and that in
every town having one hundred families there should be
a grammar school, in which the students might be fitted
for admission to the university.
This liberal provision was soon copied by the neigh-
boring colonies of Connecticut and New Hampshire. In
Connecticut the provision was afterwards changed to a
requirement of a grammar school in each county town.
These New England colonies maintained and enforced
^uch provisions regarding grammar schools, with varying
degrees of strictness, to be sure, down to and even after
the revolutionary war. Maryland established by law a
system of county grammar schools, thus keeping pace
with the more northern colony of Connecticut.
The interest in secondary education declined and many
schools fell into decay as the revolutionary period
approached. When the colonies were transformed into
states, after the declaration of independence, the four sys-
tems of schools mentioned above were continued with little
6 SECONDARY EDUCATION [146
change. No other of the thirteen states had anything that
could be called a system of public instruction.
COLONIAL SCHOOLS
The chief emphasis in these schools was laid on the
preparation of future collegians to pass the college entrance
examination. The most of the schools were in this sense
" preparatory " or " fitting " schools. The requirements for
admission to college determined their course of study. In
the middle of the seventeenth century, the requirements of
Harvard college, which fixed the scholastic standard for
New England, are stated as follows : " When scholars had
so far profited at the grammar schools that they could read
any classical author into English, and readily make and
speak true Latin, and write it in verse as well as prose ; and
perfectly decline the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the
Greek tongue, they were judged capable of admission in
Harvard college." A century later, the requirements of
Princeton college, which profoundly influenced the second-
ary schools of the middle states, were described in these
words : " Candidates for admission into the lowest or fresh-
man class must be capable of composing grammatical Latin,
translating Virgil, Cicero's Orations, and the four Evangelists
in Greek ; and by a late order * * * must understand
the principal rules of vulgar arithmetic."
The colonial grammar schools taught accordingly Latin,
and a little Greek. They gave instruction in religion ; but
little else was added to the classical languages.
Social grades were pretty sharply distinguished in the
colonies. The grammar schools and colleges were intended
especially for the directive and professional classes. They
had little if any connection with such elementary schools as
there were. In Massachusetts, towns which maintained
grammar schools were not required to maintain reading
schools. Sometimes pupils were taught to read in grammar
schools. But the grammar school teachers objected to this
burden ; and the mixing of the two grades of instruction in
147] SECONDARY EDUCATION 7
one school was recognized as an evil. There seems to have
been no middle grade of school, answering to the needs of a
middle class in society. And for girls there was no provision
whatever beyond occasional instruction in the merest rudi-
ments of learning.
In the colleges, the ecclesiastical spirit and purpose was
paramount. The students were for the most part preparing
for the clerical vocation in some one of the Protestant
denominations. But naturally only a part of the students in
the grammar schools showed the disposition and the aptitude
to pursue classical studies and enter the profession to which
they led. The grammar schools exercised a kind of selective
function, discovering latent capacity for the higher studies
and starting talented youth on the way to college. Those'
who showed capacity of a lower grade or of a different sort
seem to have received but little attention or encouragement
in the schools of that day.
A TIME OF TRANSITION
As we approach the revolutionary period, we find new
social conditions giving rise to a new order of schools. In
the earlier days there had been, in most of the colonies, a
close connection between ecclesiastical and political func-
tions. With the growth of sectarian differences, there
appeared a decided tendency toward the separation of gov-
ernmental from ecclesiastical affairs. The grammar schools
and colleges had been established for the public good as
represented in both church and commonwealth. They had
been founded and maintained by a remarkable combination
of governmental, ecclesiastical, and private agency. Some
of the colonies must be reckoned among the foremost of
modern societies to exemplify direct governmental participa-
tion in educational affairs. But as governmental and eccle-
siastical interests drew apart, the position of educational
institutions was disturbed. This change tended to lessen
the prestige of colonial systems of education among the
more zealous adherents of the several religious denomina-
8 SECONDARY EDUCATION [148
tions. At the same time, a growing distrust of the colleges
appeared among those who were most in accord with the
secularizing tendency of the time. These influences com-
bined with many others to weaken the old grammar schools.
In their stead there grew up a new type of secondary school,
commonly known as the academy. For two or three genera-
tions following the revolutionary period this type was in
the ascendancy. The effort to solve the problem of sec-
ondary education by this 'means ultimately failed. But the
academy nevertheless occupies a place of great significance
in the history of our educational institutions.
THE ACADEMIES
Both the name and the character of the new institu-
tion were suggested by English precedents. In England,
dissenters from the established religion were excluded from
both grammar schools and universities. In the latter part of
the seventeenth century, following a suggestion of Milton,
the non-conformist bodies proceeded to establish so-called
academies. These schools were in the main of second-
ary grade. Yet they undertook to prepare candidates for
the clerical office in non-conformist congregations ; and
they offered a wide range of literary and scientific studies,
in free imitation of the universities. They even afforded
instruction in some studies, chiefly of a technical and prac-
tical character, not commonly taught in the universities.
The American colonists were, many of them, in close rela-
tions with various bodies of English dissenters ; and the
fame of the English academies would seem to have influ-
enced their thought in the matter of public education. At
one time, the strong theological bent of their English proto-
types reappeared in the new American schools ; at another
time, the resemblance was more obvious in the range and
character of the studies offered. But the American acade-
mies soon came to have a well-defined character of their
own, apart from any conscious imitation of English models.
As early as the year 1726, a school for classical and theo-
149] SECONDARY EDUCATION 9
logical studies was established by the pastor of a Presby-
terian congregation at Neshaminy,'in Pennsylvania. It was
described by a visitor as an " academy " ; but was more com-
monly known as the " Log College," in allusion to the fact
that it was conducted in a small building made of logs.
This school in the wilderness was the center of deep and
widespread interest in classical studies as well as in the
religious life. It sent out large numbers of zealous pastors
and teachers, who established " log colleges " all over the
highlands of the middle and southern colonies.
Through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, a school was
established at Philadelphia, legally incorporated as an acad-
emy in 1753, which was probably the first institution in
America to be formally designated by that title. It was
under the control of a self-perpetuating board of trustees.
A fund was raised by private subscription for its establish-
ment and maintenance. This was supplemented by a grant
from the city treasury and by tuition fees. But fees were
remitted in the case of those who were unable to pay. This
academy was organized in three departments or schools ;
viz., the Latin, the English, and the mathematical. The
theological element was not prominent here. Much stress
was laid on the teaching of the English language and litera-
ture, and the mathematical sciences. The school ultimately
developed into the University of Pennsylvania.
Within two or three decades from the founding of this
school at Philadelphia, a number of schools somewhat simi-
lar in character, and some of them bearing the name
academy, were established in the middle and southern colo-
nies. The new movement received fresh incentive and
definiteness of direction from the establishment of the two
Phillips academies, one at Andover in Massachusetts and
the other at Exeter in New Hampshire, incorporated, the
former in 1780 and the latter in 1781. These schools, well
endowed, and conducted under self-perpetuating boards of
trustees, were the pioneers of a long line of similar estab-
lishments in New England. Their influence extended to
IO SECONDARY EDUCATION [150
remote states, especially in the growing west ; and they rank
to-day among the strongest and most influential of our sec-
ondary schools.
STATE SYSTEMS
Soon after the close of the revolutionary war, new state
systems of education began to be established, in which
special provision was made for secondary schools. The
earliest and most remarkable of these was the University of
the State of New York, erected in 1784 and remodeled in
1787. This institution is a notable example of the strong
and increasing influence which French thought then exer*
cised in American affairs. The conception of a university
put forth by Diderot and others of the great French writers
of the latter half of the eighteenth century, was first realized
in the state of New York. The New York university
embraced the whole provision for secondary and higher
education within the state, with the exception of schools of
a purely private character. It seems to have been intended
at the outset to embrace elementary schools as well, but
these were organized later under a separate administrative
system. The university was placed under the control of a
board of regents, consisting of the governor and the lieuten-
ant-governor of the state, ex officio, together with nineteen
others, elected by the state legislature. At first this board
of regents had been identical with the board of trustees of
Columbia college. But this arrangement was unsatisfactory
for many reasons : because of the ecclesiastical character of
the college, for one thing ; and also because of the growing
belief that the interests of the college were distinct from,
if not opposed to, those of the new academies. The reor-
ganization of 1787 accordingly made the board of regents
a body distinct from the trustees of any institution included
in the university. The trustees were to exercise control
over their several institutions. But this control was made
subject to the general and not at all rigorous supervision
of the regents.
I5l] SECONDARY EDUCATION II
In 1813 the legislature of the state established a perma-
nent fund known as the literature fund, the income of
which was to be applied wholly to the support of secondary
schools. The distribution of this fund was made subject to
the control of the regents of the university.
This university set up by the state of New York appealed
to the imagination of men by its comprehensiveness and
novelty. It exercised great influence on later systems ; but
only one state and one territory seem to have modeled their
scheme of public instruction after the New York pattern.
An act of the legislature of Georgia, passed in 1785, pro-
vided that " All public schools instituted, or to be supported
by funds or public moneys in this state, shall be considered
as parts or members of the university." But the university
of . Georgia never realized the large and liberal plan pro-
posed for it.
In the territory of Michigan, an act was passed in 1817
instituting a university of imposing character. The presi-
dent and professors of this institution were empowered " to
establish colleges, academies, schools, libraries, museums,
athenaeums, botanical gardens, laboratories and other useful
literary and scientific institutions * * * throughout the
various counties, cities, towns, townships, and other geo-
graphical divisions of Michigan." As may be supposed,
this establishment existed mainly on paper. Yet it should
be noted that before the act was repealed, in 1821, there had
been opened under its provisions a college, a classical school,
and several primary schools.
But although the comprehensive type of university
organization was not widely adopted, there was a general
desire in the early part of the nineteenth century to establish
complete and well-rounded systems of public instruction.
Primary education was still all too largely neglected. In
the state systems which were from time to time devised,
emphasis was laid at one time upon secondary schools, at
another upon institutions of higher learning. Some of the
best thought of our political leaders was devoted to the
12 SECONDARY EDUCATION [152
problem of devising systems which should meet the needs
of our rapidly growing states in all of the several grades of
instruction.
The legislature of Tennessee declared, in 1817, that,
" Institutions of learning, both academies and colleges,
should ever be under the fostering care of this legislature,
and in their connection with each other form a complete
system of education."
Even more significant is the provision of the constitution
of Indiana, adopted in 1816, that, " It shall be the duty of
the general assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit,
to provide by law for a general system of education, ascend-
ing in regular gradation from township schools to a state
university wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open
to all."
For the most part, however, actual state agency in sec-
ondary education was as yet limited to the subsidising of
privately managed academies. In Massachusetts, the pro-
vision for grammar schools under town control was continued
after the colony became a state. But the law was so changed
that only the larger towns were left subject to this require-
ment. At the same time academies established by private
initiative were endowed by the legislature with grants of
public lands. The state assumed no control whatever over
the academies which it thus subsidised.
In Kentucky, the state legislature granted six thousand
acres of public lands to an academy in each county. In
Pennsylvania, colleges and academies received financial aid
from the state for many years, culminating in 1838 in a
general state system of educational subsidies. Five years
later, such aid was discontinued. In others of the states,
the granting of state subsidies, in money or in lands, to sec-
ondary and higher schools, was customary for many years.
For the most part, there is but little of system or consistency
observable in the distribution of such aid ; and the state-
aided institutions were not subjected to any sort of state
control.
153] SECONDARY EDUCATION 13
CHARACTER OF THE ACADEMIES
The type of secondary school which grew up under these
conditions demands closer consideration. The old acade-
mies were generally endowed institutions, organized under
the control of self-perpetuating boards of trustees or of
religious bodies. They were established for the most part
to serve the need of a wide constituency and not merely of
a single community. They were often located in small
country places. Many of them made provision for boarders
as well as for day pupils.
They were not intended in any especial or exclusive sense
for the training of future members of the learned pro-
fessions. Many of them, to be sure, as time went on, drew
near to the colleges and became known primarily as prepara-
tory schools. In the western states, colleges were often
organized with preparatory schools attached to them, and
these preparatory schools were commonly called " acade-
mies." But such was not the earlier purpose of the acade-
mies. They were largely schools for the middle classes of
society, and sought to give a good middle grade of instruc-
tion, with only occasional or subordinate reference to college
preparation. They answered to a growing desire after
learning for its own sake, or for the increased efficiency it
would give in other than professional pursuits.
The training which they offered was regarded as more
" practical " than that of the colleges. Their course of
instruction presented a wider range of studies than that of
the grammar schools ; not infrequently wider than that of the
colleges themselves. They laid new stress on the study of
the English language, together with its grammar, rhetoric,
and the art of public speaking. They gave instruction in
various branches of mathematics, often including surveying
and navigation. They made important beginnings in the
pursuit of the natural sciences. Natural philosophy (phys-
ics) was a favorite subject, of which astronomy constituted
an important division. Geography was also taught ; and his-
14 SECONDARY EDUCATION [154
tory, especially the history of Greece and Rome, and of the
United States. French was sometimes taught ; more rarely
German. In the better academies, the Latin and Greek
languages still constituted the substantial core of the instruc-
tion offered.
In the earlier days, the course of study in these schools
was not well defined. In some subjects, especially English,
Latin, and mathematics, a good degree of continuity of
work was apparently maintained. In others, classes were
formed at irregular periods. Many young men who were
obliged to labor on the farms during the rest of the year,
would attend an academy during the winter term, and the
order of instruction would to some extent be arranged with
reference to their needs. There was necessarily great
diversity among the different institutions, those in the same
state or even in the same county presenting great differences.
When finally definite courses of study were laid out, they
varied in length from three to four or five*years.
Parallel courses were offered. That including classical
studies and covering the required preparation for admission
to some college was commonly regarded as the standard
course of the school. Along with this might be found an
English course. At a later date, a scientific course was
often provided in place of or in addition to the English
course.
The religious character of these schools should be noted.
Many of them were established by religious bodies. It
was during the period which we have under consideration
that Catholic secondary schools began to appear in consid-
erable numbers. These were for the most part established by
the several teaching orders. The Society of Jesus founded
institutions of secondary and higher education in the United
States after the revolutionary war. The Brothers of the
Christian Schools opened their first school in America at
Montreal in 1838; and soon after set up establishments
within the United States, at Baltimore and New York.
These were doubtless of elementary grade at the start ; but
155] SECONDARY EDUCATION 15
the brethren extended their courses after a time to include
secondary studies. Many conventual schools for girls/were
also established, and it became no uncommon thing for them
to draw a large clientage from other than Catholic families.
The academies established by Protestant bodies were in
some instances under direct ecclesiastical control ; but more
frequently their formal connection with ecclesiastical societies
terminated with their legal incorporation. They were, how-
ever, generally characterized by great moral earnestness, on
the part of both teachers and pupils ; and many of them
were remarkable for the intensity of religious life which
they fostered. The religious instruction which they carried
on concerned itself for the most part with the broad under-
lying principles of Christianity, avoiding in large measure
the discussion of doctrines upon which the sects of Chris-
tendom are divided. It consisted mainly of lessons from the
King James version of the Bible both the Old and the
New Testament. This was often supplemented by instruc-
tion in moral philosophy. Thus, the non-Catholic academies,
even such as had arisen from the initiative of religious socie-
ties, tended toward the non-sectarian character which has
been more fully exemplified in the public schools of later
times.
The grammar schools had been exclusively for boys.
Such was the case with many of the academies. Others of
these schools were co-educational. With the increasing
interest in education for women, there grew up a large num-
ber of academies for girls, which were all too often weighed
down with the title of " female seminary." These two types
of secondary education for girls prepared the way for two
types of institution of higher education, both of which
appeared in the fourth decade of the nineteenth century,
viz., the co-educational college and the college for women
exclusively.
The academies aroused and ministered to a strong and
widespread desire for education. They greatly broadened
the intellectual horizon of families and communities. They
j6 SECONDARY EDUCATION [156
reinforced the protest which was arising against the too
narrow curriculum of the American colleges. In many other
ways they rendered a timely and most efficient service in the
betterment of American thought and life.
One specific service must receive separate mention. In
the absence of special schools for the training of teachers,
the better elementary schools were for a long time in the
hands of teachers who had studied in the academies. In
New York and Pennsylvania, this service of the academies
received recognition at the hands of the state legislature.
Special classes were organized in these schools for instruc-
tion in the art of teaching. A seminary for teachers was
opened in connection with the Phillips academy at Andover.
When state normal schools began to be established, in Mas-
sachusetts in the year 1839, suggestions for their organiza-
tion and management were drawn from this seminary and
from the current practice of the academies.
THE HIGH SCHOOL MOVEMENT
In the early part of the nineteenth century, there appeared
in the several American states a strong demand for schools
under the exclusive control of the state government. Various
influences contributed to this sentiment. The Calvinistic
view of the civil power had apparently prepared the way
for state agency in education. The spirit which drove the
Jesuits from France and during the French revolution made
education a part of the program of democracy, roused an
answering spirit in America. The steadily advancing sepa-
ration between church and state kept alive the question as to
the relation of the schools to both. So far as the higher
education was concerned, it seemed to be the well-estab-
lished theory that the state should grant charters to col-
leges, authorizing them to manage their own affairs under
close corporations, with incidental aid from the state in the
shape of gifts of land or money. And this had come to be
the prevalent method of meeting the demand for secondary
education. But the notion of higher institutions chiefly
157] SECONDARY EDUCATION IJ
supported and directly controlled by the state now began
to get abroad.
The University of Virginia, under the guidance of Thomas
Jefferson, led the way to the realization of this idea. In New
Hampshire, the legislature undertook to transform Dartmouth
college into Dartmouth university, without the consent of the
college corporation. The attempt was frustrated by a decis-
ion of the United States supreme court. This decision was
of the utmost importance in the history of American educa-
tion as well as of American jurisprudence. It declared, in
effect, that an institution founded and administered as was
Dartmouth college was a private corporation ; that the char-
ter granted it by the state was in the nature of a con-
tract, and accordingly could not, under the constitution of
the United States, be altered by the legislature without the
consent of the board of trustees. This decision established
the inviolability of chartered rights. It thus gave security
and stability to all incorporated institutions ; it drew also a
sharp distinction between " public " and " private " institu-
tions, and placed the most of the then existing higher and
secondary schools in the latter class. These schools served
a public purpose and were open to public resort. They were
in all but the legal sense public schools. But the clear defi-
nition of their legal status served to strengthen the rising
demand for schools which should be public in every sense
of the word. The growth of cities and many other causes
combined to reinforce this demand.
The first step in the establishment of public secondary
schools to supplement or fill the place of the academies
was taken by the larger towns and municipalities, under
the lead of Boston. The new institutions were a direct out-
growth of the system of elementary schools. The course
of study in these schools was becoming better defined and
was slowly extending. In Boston, it was extended down-
ward in the year 1818 to include primary schools in which
the first steps in reading were taken. The same system was
extended upward in 1821 by the establishment of an " Eng-
1 8 SECONDARY EDUCATION [158
lish classical school," which soon took the name of " English
high school." The name seems to have been adopted in
imitation of the high school of Edinburgh. There had been
for many years close intellectual sympathy between the Mas-
sachusetts town and the Scotch capital. The new Boston
school differed, however, in important particulars from its
namesake in Edinburgh. The ancient languages were not
included in its curriculum. It did not employ the moni-
torial method of instruction, then in vogue in Edinburgh.
But the two schools were alike in this : that each was sup-
ported and controlled by the municipality and was an object
of municipal interest and pride.
The English high school was established to meet the needs
of the middle, and especially the commercial, classes. Its
course of study was three years in length, embracing the
English language and literature, mathematics, navigation
and surveying, geography, natural philosophy (including
astronomy), history, logic, moral and political philosophy.
Latin and modern languages *were added later, and the
course extended to four years. Students were received into
the high school from the elementary schools of the city, but
were not at the first prepared in the high school for admis-
sion to college. That was still the function of the Latin
school. But with the addition of foreign languages to its
course of study, the English high school has fitted its stu-
dents for admission to certain higher institutions, and particu-
larly to the Institute of Technology.
Boston was still a town when she set up her English
classical school, but became a city in the following year.
The new school was proposed by the school committee, and
was approved by the people, assembled in town meeting.
Other Massachusetts towns soon followed the lead of Boston
in this matter. Philadelphia, in 1838, established the Cen-
tral high school, under special authorization from the Penn-
sylvania legislature. Baltimore followed, with the establish-
ment of a " city college." Providence opened a public high
school in 1843. Hartford, in 1847, transformed her old
159] SECONDARY EDUCATION 1 9
grammar school into a school of the newer type. New York
opened a "free academy" in 1848, the name of which was
afterwards changed to " the College of the City of New York."
This school was established in accordance with a special act
of the state legislature, ratified by vote of the people of the
city. Other high schools sprang up in various parts of the
country before the year 1850 in Connecticut, in New York,
in Ohio. Since that time the movement has steadily con-
tinued, until now these schools are found in every state in
the union, in cities, in smaller towns, and even occasion-
ally in thickly populated country districts.
The zeal of communities in the establishment of these
schools not infrequently outran the express provision of state
school laws. But the movement encountered hostility from
various sources, notably from those who regarded the
academy as the final or best solution of the problem of pub-
lic secondary education, and from those who were opposed
on principle to the recognition of secondary education as a
proper field for governmental agency. The legal questions
involved in this latter contention were brought to a settle-
ment in the supreme court of Michigan, in what is com-
monly known as the " Kalamazoo case." The decision of
the court in this case was prepared by one of the most emi-
nent of American jurists. It was summed up in the words,
" Neither in our state policy, in our constitution, nor in our
laws do we find the primary school districts restricted in the
branches of knowledge which their officers may cause to be
taught, or the grade of instruction that may be given, if their
voters consent, in regular form, to bear the expense and raise
the taxes for the purpose."
This case not only settled the question which it raised
within the territorial limits of the state of Michigan. It
settled also the general policy of the American common-
wealths in this matter. The opinion of the court, in its
ample setting-forth, made clear the fact that American
thought and purpose were moving steadily toward a com-
plete system of education, under full public control, its
2O SECONDARY EDUCATION [l6o
several parts well knit together so as to form an organic
whole.
But in several of the states the people were not left to
work out the problem of secondary education in the isola-
tion of scattered communities. In these states, well ordered
systems of secondary schools were established by statute.
As early as 1798, Connecticut authorized the opening of
higher schools by the local authorities (" school societies ").
In Massachusetts, the law requiring grammar schools in the
towns was so far weakened, in 1824, that towns having a
population of less than 5,000 were allowed to substitute
therefor an elementary school, if the people should so
determine by vote at a public election. This marks the low-
est ebb of public school sentiment in the Bay state at
least so far as secondary education was concerned. The
academies were then at the height of their prosperity. But
two years later the return movement set in. It was enacted
that every town having five hundred families should provide
a master to give instruction in history of the United States,
bookkeeping, geometry, surveying and algebra ; and every
town having four thousand inhabitants, a master capable of
giving instruction in Latin and Greek, history, rhetoric, and
logic. The young state of Iowa adopted a provision in
1849 expressly permitting the adding of higher grades to
the public schools; and in 1858 authorized the establish-
ment of county high schools. In New York, the systematic
grading of the schools went steadily forward ; and the
" academic departments " of these schools, corresponding to
the high schools of other states, formed a part of the uni-
versity of the state of New York and received financial aid
from the literature fund. In Maryland, the county acade-
mies, which had displaced the grammar schools of colonial
days, continued for many years to receive financial aid from
the state, and only in comparatively recent times were
merged into a state system of high schools.
Other important state establishments have taken shape at
so recent a date that they will be described later under the
account of present-day systems of schools.
l6l] SECONDARY EDUCATION 21
THE OLD AND THE NEW
We have seen that by the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury a great change had come over secondary education in
the United States. Two aspects of the new order of things
are worthy of note : First, the position in which it placed
the old academies ; secondly, the tendency which it marked
toward a closing up of gaps in the system of public
instruction.
The academies had long been the ordinary and accepted
agency for secondary education. They had provided a
general training for the great body of students. They had
also drawn near to the colleges, and now prepared a large
proportion of the candidates for admission to the fresh-
man class. Private schools had grown up which paid
especial attention to fitting boys for college ; and from the
earliest times many had received such preparation at the
hands of private tutors, and particularly under the personal
direction of clergymen. But the academies were now par
excellence the preparatory schools of the country. The
growth of high schools had taken away from them the char-
acter of the ordinary provision for secondary education.
Many of them declined as the high schools advanced ; many
were given over to the communities in which they were con-
ducted and became high schools, under public management.
Those that survived laid more and more stress on their func-
tion of preparing for college. A goodly number of these
are stronger now than ever before ; and new schools- of this
type are founded from time to time. In recent years the
increase of wealth, the rise of new social distinctions, dis-
satisfaction with the colorless religious character of the
high schools", and many other causes, have caused a new
demand for such schools to arise. They prepare for col-
lege, but do not in general look upon this as their sole
function. They are recognized as constituting a highly
important part of American provision for public education.
While the high schools are for day pupils only, the acade-
22 SECONDARY EDUCATION [l62
mies are generally boarding schools. They afford favorable
ground for the deep rooting and vigorous growth of tradi-
tions of culture and scholarship. The more famous of them
draw students from long distances, and accordingly exercise
a widespead influence upon American educational standards.
The high schools, on the other hand, are an evidence of
the widespread desire in America for complete systems of
education under public management. The impulse which
resulted in their establishment is closely related to that
which, especially in the southern and western states, led to
the founding of state universities. The organic connection
between the high schools and schools of elementary grade
has already been noted. At the first there was a recognized
gap between the high schools and institutions of higher
learning. The earliest high schools were intended specifi-
cally for those who were not preparing for college. But
there soon appeared a disposition on the part of the public
school authorities to close up this gap. Studies regarded as
distinctively preparatory to college were from time to time
introduced into high school courses. Of these, Greek
had and still has the most precarious hold upon public
favor. Yet there were and still are even small communi-
ties remote from the great centers of wealth and learning,
where Greek has an assured and honored place in the
high school curriculum.
A CONTINUOUS SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
It .should be stated here that well-established American
usage now recognizes three consecutive stages of instruction,
commonly distributed as follows : Eight years are assigned
to the elementary school ; four years to the high school or
academy, following directly upon the elementary course ;
and the four years next following to the college, which offers
finally the bachelor's degree. The whole course from the
primary school to the first degree is accordingly sixteen
years in length. It should be noted, however, that there is
a growing disposition to recognize the first two years of the
163] SECONDARY EDUCATION 23
college course as offering instruction which is essentially of
secondary grade. And there is also a growing demand for
the introduction of secondary studies and secondary methods
into the upper grades of the elementary school course.
The tendency of public high schools to assume the func-
tion of preparation for college met with strong opposition.
It was claimed that this service could best be rendered by
special schools conducted for that express purpose. The
discussion of this question has brought out two contrasting
ideals of American life, and has shown more clearly the
nature of the movement which called the high school into
being.
The colonial period was a time in which distinctions of
rank were still fairly well defined in American society.
The higher schools of that time, intended especially for the
ruling class, had no organic connection with the lower
schools. The secondary schools were a part of the higher
system, and had little or nothing to do with the lower.
The first fifty years or more of independence was a time
of readjustment. The earlier system of social levels was
gradually transformed into a continuous series of grada-
tions. Society became an inclined plane, as it were, with
free and open passage up and down the scale. Every school
child was taught to consider himself as started on a way
which might lead to the highest places.
It seems inevitable that public education should in turn
have been influenced by the sentiments which it had helped
to form. An unlimited system of public schools was neces-
sary to the realization of the unlimited aspiration of the
people. The prevalent instinct slowly rose to a conscious
determination that there should be no cul-de-sac in the edu-
cational systems of the republic.
THE SCHOOLS AND THE COLLEGES
Even when the high schools had begun to prepare their
more favored students for college, the connection between
the secondary and the higher institutions was not so close as
24 SECONDARY EDUCATION [164
was desired. In some of the leading states of the east, the
chief, or indeed the only, provision for higher education was
in institutions managed by private corporations. In many
of the newer states, there were growing up universities under
full state control. But these universities were supported out
of funds separate from those devoted to the common schools,
and were controlled by separate administrative boards. The
requirements for admission to college were determined by
the college faculties, with only incidental reference to the
purely educational problems confronting the secondary
schools. The fitness of candidates for admission was deter-
mined by an examination, conducted at the college, by col-
lege instructors, and covering the requirements which the
college had prescribed.
This system, to be sure, possessed great advantages. It
compelled all schools which undertook preparation for a
given college to come up to a definite scholastic standard
imposed from without. It exercised no authority over the
schools, but exerted an influence which a preparatory school
could not escape. Besides, the standard set for classes pre-
paring for college had an indirect influence on classes in the
same school which were pursuing other lines of study. So
the most powerful single agency affecting the course and the
methods of instruction in the better high schools, as in the
academies, was for many years the entrance examinations of
the several colleges.
But there were evils attendant upon this system. When
the excellence of a four-year course of school instruction was
to be tested by a single examination at the end of the course
this examination being conducted by the instructors in
another, and often a remote institution, with sole reference
to the plans and purposes of that institution, it was inevi-
table that the lower school should become merely tributary
in all essential particulars to the higher. The college exam-
ination became the chief end and aim of much of the work
in our secondary schools. There appeared a marked ten-
dency to substitute a cramming process for real educational
165] SECONDARY EDUCATION 25
procedure. Teachers in secondary schools were too largely
turned aside from independent investigation of the essen-
tial problems of secondary education, to the more petty
inquiry into the exact nature of the entrance examinations
at certain colleges. It was clear that such a state of things
did not answer to the organic continuity of instruction which
American social conditions seemed to demand.
The attempt to correct this evil has taken several different
directions. Some of the most interesting movements affect-
ing our secondary education within the past three decades
have had this origin. How may a more vital relation be
established between secondary schools and colleges, which
shall conserve the highest educational interests of both ?
Such is the general question for which a solution has been
sought.
THE " ACCREDITING SYSTEM "
One of the earliest and most noteworthy attempts at its
solution is the so-called accrediting system, introduced by the
University of Michigan in 1871. Under this system, the
university admits to its freshman class, without examination,
such graduates of approved secondary schools as are espe-
cially recommended for that purpose by the principals of
those schools. This system has met with great favor and
has had widespread application. The United States com-
missioner of education reported in 1896, that there were
then 42 state universities and agricultural and mechanical
colleges, and about 150 other institutions in which it had
been adopted. It depends upon a purely voluntary agree-
ment between the secondary schools and the higher institu-
tions. The college or university satisfies itself that the
secondary school applying for such recognition is properly
taught. Usually a committee of the faculty is sent to
inspect the school, and the school agrees to submit itself to
such inspection. It is the school rather than the individual
that is examined ; and the inquiry relates chiefly to the vital-
ity, intelligence, and general effectiveness of the instruction.
-26 SECONDARY EDUCATION [l66
Hardly any two institutions follow exactly the same
method in the practice of accrediting schools. The Michi-
gan system provides for inspection of each school by a com-
mittee of the faculty, consisting of one or two members.
On a favorable report from this committee the school is
accredited for one, two, or three years, according to the
degree of established excellence which it presents. With
the spread of the system to other institutions, it has differ-
entiated on the one hand in the direction of a more frequent
and thorough-going inspection of the schools, and on the
other hand in the direction of less thorough inspection or
none at all. Perhaps the lowest outcome of this differentia-
tion is represented by the announcement of the authorities
of one college that " Students bearing the personal certifi-
cates of a former teacher, concerning studies satisactorily
completed, will be given credit for the work they have
done."
On the other hand, the highest grade of efficiency in
university inspection is found in such a system as that main-
tained by the University of California. Here the accred-
iting of schools is in the charge of a committee of the
academic senate, representing the chief departments of
instruction. All secondary schools within the state which
apply for accrediting public high schools, private schools,
and institutions under corporate or ecclesiastical manage-
ment are visited each year under the direction of this
committee by several members of the teaching force of the
university. A given school is commonly so visited and
inspected in the course of each year by instructors from
each of the university departments of English, Latin, his-
tory, mathematics, and physics. In some instances, the
departments of Greek, modern languages, chemistry, and the
biological sciences, or any one or more of them, may be
added to the list. In other cases, the visitor from the
department of English, for example, may, by special arrange-
ment, examine the school for the Latin department ; and
other economical combinations are made from time to time.
1 6 7] SECONDARY EDUCATION 2 7
The heads of departments visit many schools in person ;
university instructors of various subordinate grades share in
this labor; but so far as possible the assignment to such
duty is limited to persons of considerable scholastic experi-
ence, and experience as a teacher in secondary schools is
regarded as a qualification of no small importance. The
men who go out for the purpose of such visitation are at
the time engaged in ordinary university instruction. The
loss to their classes from the interruptions to continuous
work which their occasional absence must cause, is mini-
mized by various devices. The expense of the visitation is
borne by the university. A school may be "accredited"
without a favorable report in all subjects, but the report
must be favorable in a sufficient number of lines to indicate
that the school is a real educational institution. Superior
excellence in a single isolated department is not regarded
as constituting a claim to a place on the university list.
The purpose of a well-considered accrediting system is not
primarily to provide a means whereby applicants for admis-
sion to college may escape a dreaded examination. It is
rather to encourage and build up strong and efficient
schools of secondary grade. This result the system has
undoubtedly tended to bring about. It has drawn our sec-
ondary and higher grades of instruction into closer articu-
lation and sympathy one with the other. It has tended to
release the teachers in secondary schools from the domina-
tion of merely formal examination requirements, and has
turned their attention to vital matters in the domain of
education.
On the other hand, the system has had and still has
serious disadvantages. It tends to foster a too prevalent
disposition to dispense with or evade all tests of accurate
scholarship in the shape of definite examinations. It
entails a heavy burden upon the higher institution ; it
demands large expenditures of money and of the time of
university instructors. In the University of California, the
actual cost in money for the traveling expenses of the inspec-
28 SECONDARY EDUCATION [l68
tors is about equal to the salary of an assistant professor.
The aggregate of the time required each year by all depart-
ments for the purposes of the examination of schools is not
far from three full academic years. Counting the average
salary of the inspectors as that of an associate professor, we
have here an approximate total cost for services and travel-
ing expenses of between $8,000 and $9,000 annually. It is,
moreover, impossible so to conduct the inspection that all
departments of all schools shall be tried by uniform or even
consistent standards of excellence. Nor does the accrediting
system wholly obviate the evil of subjecting the secondary
schools to tests and influences somewhat foreign to the real
purposes of secondary education. It cannot be regarded
and is not generally regarded as a final solution of the prob-
lem with which it deals. But it marks a very great advance
toward that end ; and it is safe to say that its present advan-
tages greatly outweigh its obvious disadvantages.
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONS
Parallel with the later development of the accrediting sys-
tem, there have grown up important voluntary associations
of instructors, in which representatives of the colleges meet
with representatives of the secondary schools for the discus-
sion of topics of common interest. The parent society of
this sort is the New England association of colleges and
preparatory schools, organized at Boston in 1885. The
object of this association was declared to be, " The estab-
lishment of mutually sympathetic and helpful relations
between the faculties of the colleges represented and the
teachers of the preparatory schools, and the suggestion to
that end of practical measures and methods of work which
shall strengthen both classes of institutions by bringing
them into effective harmony."
This organization grew out of a previously existing state
association of secondary school teachers in Massachusetts.
It in turn prompted the establishment of the commission of
colleges in New England on admission examinations. This
169] SECONDARY EDUCATION 29
commission, formed by agreement among the several New
England colleges, and possessing no authority, has by its
recommendations done much to unify the requirements for
college matriculation. Its most notable achievement has
been the mapping out of requirements in the English lan-
guage and literature. It has made important recommenda-
tions also with reference to courses in the ancient classics
and the modern languages.
The example of New England has been followed by other
sections of the country. The association of colleges and
preparatory schools in the middle states and Maryland came
into existence in 1892, growing out of the college association
of Pennsylvania, established five years earlier. The north
central association of colleges and secondary schools was
formed at Evanston, Illinois, in 1895 ; and the association of
colleges and preparatory schools of the southern states, at
Atlanta, Georgia, later in the same year. State organiza-
tions somewhat similar in character are found in a number
of the states, as in New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado,
Michigan, and both Dakotas.
These various societies, through their discussions and rec-
ommendations, have exercised a vast influence upon the
development of our secondary education.
THE COMMITTEE OF TEN ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDIES
But the chief landmark in the recent history of this grade
of school is the work of the committee on secondary school
studies, appointed by the National educational association
in 1892, and commonly known as the "committee of ten."
This committee was the outcome of a movement within the
national association in the direction of uniformity of col-
lege entrance requirements. Its chairman was the president
of Harvard university. In its membership were included
the United States commissioner of education and some of
the foremost representatives of both secondary and higher
education in America. Not limiting itself to the mechanical
adjustment of relations between the high school and the col-
3O SECONDARY EDUCATION [170
lege, this committee proceeded to consider the problem of sec-
ondary education from an educational point of view. Nine
sub-committees of ten members each, were appointed to pre-
pare reports on the several ordinary departments of sec-
ondary school instruction, viz., Latin, Greek, English, other
modern languages, mathematics, physics (with astronomy
and chemistry), natural history (biology, including botany,
zoology, and physiology), history (with civil government and
political economy), and geography (physical geography,
geology, and meteorology).
The committee of ten, having secured carefully prepared
reports from its sub-committees, and having examined a large
number of the courses in actual use in secondary schools,
drew up a report which was published by the United States
government in December, 1893, together with the reports of
the several sub-committees. The contents of this document
may be briefly summarized as follows :
In all of these discussions, the distribution of the years of
school life now generally followed in the educational admin-
istration of the American states is assumed as a datum. The
demand for an earlier introduction of secondary school studies
is, however, reiterated by several of the sub-committees. They
call attention to the disadvantage to students pursuing, for
instance, the study of Latin, which results from postponing
the beginnings of that study to the ninth year of the school
course, when the student has already passed the most favor-
able time for memorizing paradigms and a strange vocabu-
lary. The committee of ten, while approving strongly of
these recommendations, confine their proposals to improve-
ments in the ordinary four-year secondary course.
After discussing the principles which should guide in the
framing of courses of study, the committee present four
sample courses, which may be taken as illustrations of the
application of those principles. These sample courses are,
however, generally regarded as the least successful and sig-
nificant outcome of the committee's labors. The portions
of the report which represent the most mature deliberation
SECONDARY EDUCATION 31
are those which propose general principles for guidance in
the making of such courses.
The committee lay great stress on the correlation of
studies in secondary schools : the unifying of many subjects
into a well-knit course of instruction, through the recognition
of their numerous inter-relations. They endorse the unani-
mous recommendation of the sub-committees that the instruc-
tion in any given subject shall not be different for a student
preparing to enter a higher institution from that for students
who go no further than the high school. They make an
urgent plea for more highly trained teachers. They declare
against a multiplicity of " short information courses," such as
have been given in many high schools in times past : a dip
into one science followed by a dip into another, and no deep
draught from any. Instead, they recommend that such sub-
jects as are studied be pursued consecutively enough and
extensively enough to yield that training which each is best
fitted to yield. They would have continuous instruction
in the four main lines of language, mathematics, history, and
natural science. In particular, they recommend that in the
first two years of a four-year course, each student should
enter all of the principal fields of knowledge, in order that
he may fairly " exhibit his quality and discover his tastes."
They recommend the postponement of the beginning of
Greek to the third year, in order that the student may not
find himself at the bifurcation of the course into classical and
Latin-scientific courses, before he is ready, or his advisers suffi-
ciently informed as to his capabilities, to make an intelligent
choice. The committee would require in each course a
maximum of twenty recitation periods a week ; but they
would have five of these periods devoted to unprepared
work ; and would reserve double periods for laboratory exer-
cises whenever possible.
Within the limitations indicated above, as to continuity
and extensiveness of studies in each of the broad divisions
of knowledge, the committee would leave to the individual
student and his advisers the largest possible freedom in the
32 SECONDARY EDUCATION [l/2
choice of studies. With reference to requirements lor admis-
sion to college, the committee recommend " that the colleges
and scientific schools of the country should accept for admis-
sion to appropriate courses of their instruction the attain-
ments of any youth who has passed creditably through a
good secondary school course, no matter to what group of
subjects he may have mainly devoted himself in the second-
ary school." Describing more exactly what might be con-
sidered " a good secondary school course " for this purpose,
they propose that it shall consist of any group of studies
from those considered by the sub-committees, " provided
that the sum of the studies in each of the four years amounts
to sixteen, or eighteen, or twenty periods a week, as may
be thought best, and provided, further, that in each year
at least four of the subjects presented shall have been pur-
sued at least three periods a week, and that at least three of
the subjects shall have been pursued three years or more."
This report called forth a very active discussion, which has
not yet come to an end. The definite courses of study
which it suggested have not been widely adopted ; nor have
college admission requirements been made uniform in the
manner which it proposed. But its influence has been far-
reaching and, in the main, highly beneficial.
THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM
Since the early days of the academies, it has been cus-
tomary in many schools to offer alternative courses ; one of
them classical, the other " modern." Other options have
been added from time to time, so that now a large school
commonly offers several parallel courses. But especially
within the last twenty years, there has appeared a strong
demand that instead of a choice of courses the students be
offered a wide range of choice in particular subjects.
Several influences have combined to bring about this
demand. The general adoption of an elective system in
the colleges may be mentioned. Teachers have objected to
close prescription in high schools when freedom is increasing
173] SECONDARY EDUCATION 33
in the higher institutions. The conviction that the secondary
schools should not be merely tributary to the colleges is gain-
ing ground. What is good education in the high school, it is
maintained, is good preparation for the higher schools. The
independence of the secondary school carries with it inde-
pendent responsibility for the supply of the actual educa-
tional needs of the youth attending such a school. And the
students in the high schools are thought to have reached the
stage of differentiation of educational needs. The need of
the state, moreover, which education must satisfy, is the
need of full spiritual unity underlying the utmost diversity
of talent and culture. The elementary schools, with their
single course of study, are conservators of spiritual unity.
The secondary schools can and ought to serve a different
purpose. Their instruction should be adapted to the culti-
vation of the diverse talents of the youth enrolled in them.
No two students have exactly the same aptitudes ; so far as
possible, every student should pursue a different course of
instruction from every other student.
It will be seen that one tendency of this doctrine is to
substitute a quantitative for a qualitative consideration of
the curriculum. The most diverse subjects are held to be
equivalent for the purposes of general culture, if pursued for
equal periods of time under equally favorable conditions. A
high school curriculum, under this system, would consist of a
fixed number of units of study, to be chosen at will from the
whole number of studies taught in the school. Certain utter-
ances of the committee of ten have tended to strengthen
this quantitative view of the curriculum. It has received
reinforcement, also, from some prominent institutions of
higher instruction, as the Indiana and the Leland Stan-
ford Junior universities, which have stated their admission
requirements for the most part in quantitative terms.
In the attempt to reduce this doctrine to practice, cer-
tain modifications necessarily enter. The choice of studies
cannot be left simply to the immature pupil. He must have
the advice of parents or guardians, and particularly the
34 SECONDARY EDUCATION [174
advice of the principal of the school. Even if other sub-
jects may be given over to absolute freedom of election,
studies in English are found to be indispensable in every
course. Little by little, other subjects are acknowledged to
be essential ; until it appears that there is little difference in
practical working between a system of parallel courses ren-
dered flexible by the allowing of occasional substitutions, and
an adequately supervised elective system. The committee
of ten enunciated an important regulative principle in pro-
posing that each secondary school curriculum should provide
an outlook into the several domains of language, mathematics,
history, and natural science. From whichever side the prob-
lem of the course of study is approached, the discussions seem
to tend toward a requirement in each of several broad fields
of knowledge, together with large freedom in the choice of
particular subjects within those fields.
COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
The latest attempt at an adjustment of the relations of
secondary schools and colleges, to the educational advantage
of both, is contained in the report of the committee on col-
lege entrance requirements. It seems not unlikely that this
report may be more fruitful of tangible results than any of the
papers relating to the same subject which have preceded it.
In 1 895, the National educational association, through its
departments of secondary education and higher education,
appointed a committee to consider the specific question of
the unification of college entrance requirements. This com-
mittee, as finally constituted, consisted of fourteen members,
representing the high schools and universities of different
sections of the country, under the chairmanship of the
superintendent of high schools of the city of Chicago. The
first important service rendered by the committee was the
preparation and publication of a table showing the actual
entrance requirements of sixty-seven representative colleges,
universities, and higher technical schools in the United
States.
1 75] SECONDARY EDUCATION 35
The committee's final report was presented at the meet-
ing of the National educational association in July, 1899.
This report is mainly devoted to the attempt to establish
" national units, or norms," in the several subjects taught in
the secondary schools as preparatory to the college course.
The fundamental problem, in the language of the committee,
" is to formulate courses of study in each of the several sub-
jects of the curriculum which shall be substantially equal in
value, the measure of value being both quantity and quality
of work done. It is not to be expected, nor is it desired, that
all colleges should make the same entrance requirements,
nor is it to be expected that all schools will have the same
program of studies. What is to be desired, and what the
committee hopes may become true, is that the colleges will
state their entrance requirements in terms of national units,
or norms, and that the schools will build up their program of
studies out of the units furnished by these separate courses
of study." This hope is reinforced by experience with col-
lege entrance requirements in English, which have within
the past few years become nearly uniform throughout
the country, on the basis of the recommendations of the
commission of colleges in New England on admission
examinations.
In the determination of these norms, the committee
received assistance from several bodies of expert scholars
in the several branches of instruction. The American
philological association proposed courses of study in Latin
and Greek. The modern language association of America
rendered a like service with reference to the French and
German languages. The American historical association and
the Chicago section of the American mathematical society
reported on courses in history and mathematics. And the
department of natural-science instruction of the national edu-
cational association presented recommendations relating to
physical geography, chemistry, botany, zoology, and physics.
These several supplemental papers are published in connec-
tion with the committee's report. The committee express
36 SECONDARY EDUCATION C 1 ?^
general approval of the courses recommended in these
papers, suggest some slight modifications, and offer an
independent report on the subject of English. Their
further recommendations are summed up in fourteen reso-
lutions, of which the following seem to be of the greatest
general significance :
I. That the principle of election be recognized in second-
ary schools.
IV. That we favor a unified six-year high school course
of study beginning with the seventh grade.
VI. That while the committee recognizes as suitable for
recommendation by the colleges for admission the several
studies enumerated in this report, and while it also recog-
nizes the principle of large liberty to the students in second-
ary schools, it does not believe in unlimited election, but
especially emphasizes the importance of a certain number of
constants in all secondary schools and in all requirements
for admission to college.
That the committee recommends that the number of con-
stants be recognized in the following proportion, namely :
four units in foreign languages (no language accepted in less
than two units), two units in mathematics, two in English,
one in history, and one in science.
XII. That we recommend that any piece of work com-
prehended within the studies included in this report that has
covered at least one year of four periods a week in a well-
equipped secondary school, under competent instruction,
should be considered worthy to count toward admission to
college.
The committee disclaim any implication that different
subjects may be regarded as educationally equivalent. " This
proposition" [resolution XII], they say, "does not involve
of itself, necessarily, the idea that all subjects are of equal
cultural or disciplinary value, * * * yet the advantages
to our educational system of the adoption of this principle
will be so great as far to outweigh any incidental disadvan-
tage which may accrue from accepting as of equal value for
177] SECONDARY EDUCATION 37
college purposes the more or less unequal values represented
by these studies."
COURSES OF STUDY
The actual courses of study in our secondary schools show
great diversity. There is here, as in other portions of the
American educational system, no semblance of national con-
trol. There are but few states if any where the course of
study is prescribed by state authority. This matter is gen-
erally left to the discretion of municipal or district boards of
education. Yet the differences between neighboring schools,
or between the schools of different sections of the country, are
not so great as one might suppose. Owing to the extensive
circulation of all sorts of educational publications, and the
frequent meeting of teachers one with another in educa-
tional conventions, there is a surprising approach toward
uniformity in the educational provisions found in all parts of
the country. Even the poorer and more backward sections
are often found striving conscientiously and earnestly after
the ideals proposed by more favored districts. High schools
may be found having courses ranging all the way from one
to six years in length ; but the four-year course is the gen-
erally recognized standard. Twenty years ago, it was com-
mon to find courses weighed down with a large number of
subjects, many of them pursued for only a fraction of a year.
This was notably true of subjects in natural science ; but it
is true to a much less extent at the present day. In spite of
all assaults made upon the classical studies, they are appa-
rently growing in favor. It would perhaps be fair to say
that in many of the better schools, public as well as private,
the classical course is commonly regarded as the standard,
from which the other courses pursued in the same school are
looked upon as variants. But the classical course now com-
monly includes one or two years of natural science.
The courses given below represent three different types
of school :
i. Courses in Phillips academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
an incorporated and endowed boarding school for boys.
SECONDARY EDUCATION
[I 7 8
[The figures in the columns indicate the number of recitation periods a week
devoted to the several subjects. Figures in parentheses indicate that the subjects
for which they stand are alternative with others in the same column.]
CLASSICAL COURSE
SCIENTIFIC COURSE
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