New-York tribune., 1884-02-28
NOTES ON EDUCATION.

"A newspaper in Iowa. The Independent Amer1ea"
suggests that the pupils Of the public schools DE
,sucht reading from a weekly newspaper OF
magazine To be published by the state ana that ~
take the place of tne readers winch a1e i'O"
generally used.
Al the annual oratorical contest OF trh'V
College on last Monday evening Charles ncie"n
Andrews and f. :. Van Zile were aWaroeu ie-
spectiyely the first and second przes'
The oaucatjon of women is in backward cen
si,;on in India. In the report Of the Indian
rducation Comniss which has just been pub
lsoed il is shown that ont, OF total female popala-
tjon of 99.476.4Il. only l26,349 are at school,
being a percentage of .13 of the female population
of school going age, while the percentage OF males
is162s. The report assigns several reasons for
,his state of thlncs-thc indifference OF the East
India Company; the social customs in regard TO
child-marriagc, which cuts short the schooi-going
noe of girls: the want of funds of female teachers
and inspectors and of suitable textbooks. The
commission propose that certain specified share OF
pnblic funds should be assigned 10 femai ie educa-
fion that scholarships should be established so as
70 extend if possible the school-gong age that te
erant-in-ad rules TO female schools should be
relaxed; that female teaChers-taken as lar as as
possible from the class of Hindu wldoWs--shonlu
gradually be substituted for male teachers; tnat
suitable textbooks should be prepared; ana thd'
aid and encouragement should be given by Govern
meDt TO zanaua agencies
The percentage of iliteracy in Connecticut IS very
small II the Federal Government should dls'rlou'e
S5O,O0OO00 among the States on INC uasls Vi
illiteraey. Connecticut would get only SsO,COO
The number of children of school age now IN The
State is 1896 OF these 121, ,i92 were registered
in some school during the last year. or about 90 per
cent of the whole number Tie law prohibiting
the employment of children in factories ana shops
during certain portion Oh the SchOOI year HAS Detu
generally well observed
A e4oteS hot ticallV in The (IfTcGud
Leader that overwork in school is not the only
cause of the prostration OF pupils When children
of foreign-bOm parents" he says and those OF
American paTontage are brought together the young
Americans are frequently obliged to leave school
for the day account of not feeling we'll 1hls
is especially the of those children whose parents
occnpy such a social position Il at they entertain
more or less. Such children, instead OF gong 10
bed early as they should are frequently kept up late
on account of these entertainments. The crime Is
laid entirely to the schools and while the children
are probably compelled to do more than they
shouid there vet this particular phase OF the ques
tion seems TO be entirely overlooked"
The mammal training school of Toledo, Ohio will
soon be an accomplished fact and The Bldde of that
city suggests that department for instruction in
cooking be opened in it. Such instruction vould
certainly seem TO be I'D line Win lAe luea Ol
manual training school.
A school.boy in London committed suicide the
and for many months before had been overworked
and cruelly punished in school. His teacher states
that be was not a bright lad" and il was no
doubt the absence of this brightness" that caused
him to lag in the educational race that was set
before him. The wise COroner's jury brought in a
simple verdict of suicide" Perhaps a verdict OF
killed by a false and vicious system Of educdton,
would have been truer TO the facts
The eighth annual report of the president of johns
Hopkins University shows that this excellent
institution is in a prosperous condition. At the
Commemoration Day exercises a few days ago,
President Eliot of Harvard University delivered an
excellent address on the Importance Of a liberal
education, from which the following passage is
taken Liberal education is not safe and strong in
q country in which the great majority of the men
who belong to the intellectual professions not
literally educated Now, that is just the case in
this country. The great majority of the men who
are engaged in tue practice of law and medicine, in
journalism, the public service and the scientific
professions and in industrial leadership are not
bachelors of arts. Indeed. the only learned profes
sion which contains to-day a large proportion of
bachelors of arts is the ministry. This sorry con-
ditlon of things is doubtless due in part to what
may be called the pioneer condition of American
society but think it is also due to the antiquated
state Of the common college curriculum and the
course of preparatory study at school, For twenty
wears past signs have not been wanting OF dlsSats-
faction at the narrowness of the course of study
laid down in orr schools and colleges The execr-
tion of the principles which have dvOcated would
involve considerable changes in the order of school
and college studies. Thus science teaching should
begin early in the school course English should
be studied from the beginning of school life TO the
end of college life, and the order in which the
foreign languages taken up should be for many
bows essentially changed We should IN VAIN expect
such changes 10 be made suddenly. They must be
gradually be brought about by the pressure of
public opinion by the public opinion of the
educated classes taking a gradual effect through
educational instrumentaties Reforms IN educa-
ton always advance slowly but many of you viii
1--we 10 see this reform accomplished.