New-York tribune., 1881-10-27
NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Williams, Amherst, Trinity, UnNeIsny Va WV
City of York, and Brown UmVerslty'
The total school fund of Kansas is said to De val
ned at about 1,s15,519 20. 1t is proposed that
The legislature make law for loaning the perma-
uert school fund on real estate wlthm the 0'a'o'
Afr r. Il. Gwyu, a Baltimore teacher, has resigned
hi; nositon there TO take that of Superintendent OF
Public Schools in Galveston. Texas lie VIII OF.
.apize thero system of schools after the modei Oh
those OF Baltimore
The pbiladelphia Record says that of the $4,000
urinary scholars in that city rarely 80 per cent 20
into the secondary schools Forty-two per cent OF
those who do go from the primary into the secondary
schools never get any further.
The contributions to the rebuilding fund OF
swarthmore College amount to $l3,500. The sum
required is 100000. AS soon rs the settlement
with the insurance companies is concluded, inc
work of rebuilding Will be begun
At the Spring Garden Institute, in Philadelphia
small classes have been instructed In ming ior tno
past two years and with such good results that
complete machine shop issOon to be opened wherein
every branch except casting, OF mechanlcai "oiA IA
metals and possibly IN wOod' VIII W '""s''
The presence of the women students at the ohi-
versity of California has The San Francisco bulletin
saws contributed to establish a wholesome stai,-
dord of conduct on the part of the young men.
These vonnp women have been among the cleYerest
students of the institu ion. lhey have caii!eu oh
large proportion OF the pTZeS ara hohorS anu 'i'oS
are working with great zeal
Russia and France are just now most active IN es-
tahlishing manual training schools. In the Russian
technical schools pupils pay about $40 year. TAX
inc ordinary school instruction for four and hail
bonrs day and working for five hours Austria
has eighty indu trial schools winch give lhSiItc'ion
70 about A 600 pupils. In the fFehch scHooi' AZ
ticles are manufactured for sale.
There are many American boys IN the preparatory
~. uI i'm Universities
bisher schools there were $50 American students
last year While foreign training is OF beneh' 10
,,ouno men whose characters are in a measure
forprd and whose plans are definite 1t IS quesuOh9-
be whether the ideas, the discipline ana tDe sIutl
ment of German preparatory SotoU,9 lie r,o arc IN he
impressOnal Youngsters whose tuture lives ai' W "o
spent il a republic.
Tho coarse of supplementary reading Tor the pno-
lie schools was excltedy discussed by the Boston
Common Council the other evening. proposition 10
nut the matter into the hands of the School Commit
teo instead of those of the Public Library Trustees,
and to vote 81 900 for supply to the library OF
hooks for the purposes OF tire course was ucntteu
with some acrInOny The Council adjourned without
action One of the members opposed TINS lnSlruc-
ton of public school children Ia Sood h'era'uIc'
calling it IL wild goose pah'
The Case School of Applied Science Cleveland
has now fourteen pupils The helahoratory. which has
been fitted at cost of $4,000, has just been
oncned The material was purchased IN Germany.
Candidates for admission must DC at least sixteen
wears old and must pass an examination III
English. arithmetic. algebra and geometry. Inc
course of study for the first year includes mathe-
matics. chemistry, French and German; The course
in physics, which docs not hcgn until tno second
wear is under the charge of Professor A. A. Mchel-
son of the United States Naval Academy, Ammo
lis who is now in Europe buying apparatus Tor nus
department..
Bread and butter. school boards should be re-
-I--Ha. Ia
The San Francisco Board lately decided that it
could not afford to spend $50 a month on teaching
fifty or sixty little children the kindergarten
p.an. but it found it perfectly easy at the same
meeting to ernploy drawing teacher at %l35 a
month The fifty OF sixty little Arabs consequently
drift about the streets neglected, while the costly
drawing teacher directs in the higher grades n
study of doubtful utility. Neither in this country
nor in England has drawing instruction in pnbic
elementary schools proved an uneqnlNOcal snccesS
In the course of the many years during which the
experiment has been tried there has been no evlc
dence to show that the plan was better than that OF
establishing special technical Scbools IN f eaGh cS
when school boards will recognize tins iacI ana
will realize too, that the Tree klndergarteh Whlch
brings under proper influences the rough ilttle wan
dercrs ON the city streets a school which cannot
be too carefully tended and heartily encouraged.
The free textbook plan in public schools has
proved successful and popular III several cities and
towns i'm Massachusetts and Maine. At Fall River,
The SpyiRqfeld Union says the city supplies not
only textbooks but all the materials used III the
schools and the schools free III the widest sense
free from all cost to the indvIdua! pupil The
books. etc, are purchased by the school supeln-
tendent at the lowest wholesale prices and arc con-
signed to the care of the teachers who response
bic for their use and safe keeping. They in turn
hold the pupils responsible. Successive classes use
the books until they are worn out, and the loss
which often aCcrues by changes ana advances
and the lavug aside of haf-woTn books at home Is
entirely avoided. Thus, tho aggregate amount eX-
pended for school books is very much less than un-
der the old system, averaging 10 each ehTohe Pupil
the schools larger average attendance, ana even
with this increase the cost per capita OF the ran
River schools is less than that OF almost any other
city in New England. Lowell has Just adopted this
tree-bock plan and other towns are considering IL.
A special committee education appointed by
the Chicago Citizens Association. has made report
IN which are mentioned what they consider four de-
fscts of the school system. First-The method OF
teaching is not what it should he and must III time
become Sccond--There is no attention given to Ill
rect moral or religions training. Third-Therc Is
very little attention given TO physical training.
Fourth-Thcrc is absence of practical training
the training of the hands and cycs--which would
enable those leaving the schools TO become useful
and productive Immediately in some manufacturing
or industrial art. The committee arc of the opinion
that pupils are so taught to become mere parrots,
arthmetica rues for example, being expressed often
in language unnteigible to the child and followed
by examples to which the rule is to be applied.
Grammar is taught very much the same way. The
children know the rules by rote and cannot write
ordinary sentence correctly. The report quotes a
number of rules from "Grecn's Grammar" where
the sesqupedalan language in which they arc
couchcd makes formidable cOnundrums for the
youthful head and trusts that no scholar can repeat
:. the trash two weeks after he leaves school The
time spent in committing such stuff to memory is
worse than wasted. The committee points Oit the
necessity of giving instruction in morals and recon-
1nends the use of regular instruction in ethics from
Somc good textbook, and that the children be
sfaugbf the existence of God as the Creator and