Page images
PDF
EPUB

Lord Shelburne for his colleague, to give some new details as to the condition of the Whig party during the French Revolution, to draw a picture of the society of which Bowood was the centre during the latter part of the century, and to describe the connection of Priestley, Price, and Bentham, with Lord Shelburne.'

This is a tempting programme; and entertaining no doubt of its being faithfully and ably carried out, we anticipate, in the completed work, a most valuable and interesting contribution to our political, literary and social annals. But we hardly think that the noble and accomplished author will succeed in obtaining for his ancestor a much higher place in the temple of Fame than he has traditionally occupied, or will realise that beau ideal of the farseeing philosophic statesman with which the glowing fancy of Young England' was impressed.

.

ART. IV.-1. The Reports of the Commissioner of Education, Washington. Government Printing Office. For the Years 1868-1873. 6 vols.

2. The American Journal of Education. Published Quarterly. Edited by Henry Barnard, LL.D. 1856-1872. Hartford, Connecticut.

21 vols. 3. History of the Common-School System of the State of New York. From its Origin in 1795. By S. S. Randall, Superintendent of Public Schools in New York. New York and Chicago. 1871.

4. Public Education in the City of New York: its History, Condition, and Statistics. An Official Report to the Board of Education. By Thomas Boese, Clerk of the Board. New York, 1869.

5. Thirty-First Annual Report of the Board of Public Instruction of the City and County of New York for 1872. New York,

1873.

6. Manual of Discipline and Instruction for Primary and Grammar Schools of the City of New York. New York, 1873.

7. Nineteenth Annual Report of the State Commissioner of Common Schools to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. For the year 1872 (ending August 31). Columbus, Ohio.

8. Annual Report (Forty-first) and Handbook of the Common Schools of Cincinnati. For 1870-71. Cincinnati.

9. Annual

9. Annual Report (Forty-fourth), &c., of Cincinnati. 1873–74. Čincinnati.

For

10. Seventh Annual Report of Public Schools of the State of Missouri. Jefferson City, 1873.

11. Rules of the School Committee and Regulations of the Public Schools of the City of Boston. 1872. Boston, 1872.

12. Twelfth Annual Report of the Vermont Board of Education. With the Report of the Secretary. Made September, 1868. Burlington, 1868.

13. Thirteenth Report of the Vermont Board, &c. 1869.

14. Report of the New Haven City School District Board of Education. Made September, 1872. Newhaven, 1872. 15. The Charities of New York, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. By Henry J. Camman and Hugh N. Camp. New York, 1868.

A

MERICAN and English people have, in good part, community of race; there is also a strong resemblance, speaking generally, in their temper and characteristics as nations; and they may be fairly said to have a common literature. But in some other respects, and in respects not less important, the conditions under which the two nations respectively have come to be what they are, have been and are so strongly in contrast as to invalidate all inferences which proceed on the assumption of a general analogy, in regard to social or educational questions, between the United States and our own country. Ignorance or forgetfulness of this has led to very wide-spread misunderstanding in both countries in regard both to matters of fact and to points of theory.

The material prosperity of the people in the United States opposes great difficulties in the way of the systematic or thorough education of the people. There is no class in the States, except the coloured people and the Chinese, that takes naturally or congenially to service. Certain classes of the Irish of recent importation act as servants in the Eastern cities. But in the second generation this is at an end. In the middle and Western regions, and on the farms generally, domestic servants are almost unknown, and hired helps' are very few and very far to seek. Hence it results that the whole family, from a very early age, have to work on the farm. The labour of the lads on the land, of the girls in the house-often, indeed, also on the land, or in the farmyardis too precious during the greater part of the year to be spared. As respects vast territories, this is the case of the whole population. Under such circumstances school-attendance is scarcely possible for most of the elder children, except when farm-work is

suspended.

suspended. That is to say, they can only go to school-especially the boys-in winter. The school-term is often but four months in the year; or, if there are two terms, the summer school is for the younger children, under a summer mistress, and the winter term is for the elder children, under a superior female teacher or under a master; the two schools being quite distinct. Of course, under such circumstances the school cannot enjoy the services of a trained teacher. The teacher, throughout the States, except in a few of the largest cities, is paid by the month, and engaged by the term. A female teacher is paid on an average about thirty dollars a month, a male teacher about forty-five dollars. This could never remunerate trained teachers in a country where wages are so high, and where living is so dear as in the States.* As a matter of fact, we have it on the authority of the Federal Commissioner of Education that only three per cent. of the public school teachers in the States are trained.† The country teacher is, commonly enough, a farmer's daughter of the neighbourhood, considered to be a smart scholar, who takes the school during the term. If the teacher is a man, not seldom he is still-as in the young days of Daniel Webster, who was himself such a school-teacher-a college-student, who supports himself at college during one or two terms by what he is enabled to save from his teacher's stipend during the rest of the year; or he may be a minister who has not yet found a charge. It is still the custom in many parts of the Union-in some parts even of New England-for the school-teacher to board, month by month about, with the farmers of the neighbourhood.

It is difficult to ascertain with accuracy how many Normal Colleges, correctly so called, there are in the States, and impos

*In frugal and agricultural Maine, a State in which economy in matters of public education appears to be carried, not seldom, to the length of a public vice, the average payment of the female teacher is, or was, according to the last returns that have reached this country, $14.4. In Rhode Island, partly a manufacturing State, the average is $39-72; in Massachusetts, it rises no higher than $32.39; in Connecticut, it is nearly the same-$32-69; in Maryland, it is $45-83; in golden California, it rises to $60-69; in Iowa, it is $29-32; in Michigan, $26-75; in Minnesota, $24.57; in pleasant and careful New Hampshire, one of the old New England States, it is only $24.33; in central and prosperous Ohio, it is $29; in North Carolina, it is $20. The average payment of a male teacher in the same States is as follows:-Maine, $33-17; Rhode Island, $39-72, the same as for female teachers; Massachusetts, $85.09; Connecticut, $66-56; Maryland, $45.83, the same as for female teachers; California, $74.58; Iowa, $36-04: Michigan, $49-25; Minnesota, $37-39; New Hampshire, $37.56; Ohio, $42: North Carolina, $25 (Commissioner's Report, 1872,' pp. 608-9). The averages are not given for New York. The exchange value of the American dollar is about 38. 8d.; but its purchasing power can hardly be more than 38. in England, and is probably not so much, except in the remoter parts of the country.

[ocr errors]

t Commissioner's Report' (1872), p. xxix.

sible to arrive at any estimate as to the number of teachers in training in such colleges. Normal Colleges in cities are commonly, as in New York, High Female Schools, with a TeacherTraining Department, but a small proportion of the students generally have any thought of becoming teachers.

Besides which, many of the college-students in training as teachers in different parts of the Union only remain at the Normal College for ten or twelve weeks-one short term-while comparatively few are under training for more than six months.

We know, in general, that in proportion to the number of schools and teachers, the Normal College provision in the States for training teachers is but a minute fraction of what is provided in this country. In all but ten of the thirty-three States, however, there is at least one Normal College, and in most of the leading cities of the Union there is a City Normal Collegesuch as has just been described. In these institutions the students are not lodged or boarded; or, if some of them are, it is at their own expense.

In default of regular training, the teachers of the States commonly form themselves into Teachers' Institutes, which provide for frequent periodical branch meetings and for aggregate meetings once in the school term, in order that the teachers may compare notes, discuss methods, and hear lectures. These Institutes are, no doubt, very useful aids to earnest teachers.

The following quotation will illustrate the statements which have just been made. It is taken from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the State Commissioner of Common Schools, to the General Assembly of Ohio, for the School-year ending August 31st, 1872.' It will be noted that these passages suggest an apology, perhaps it should be said they furnish the reasons, for the very scanty provision of Normal Colleges in the United States, and, in particular, for the backwardness of the great State of Ohio, where, as yet, there is no Normal College :

'Nearly one-third of our teachers leave the profession each year to engage in other employments. Of the many thousands required to supply our schools, a few hundreds only intend to become professional teachers. The expediency of establishing special Training Schools of high grade with complete exhaustive courses of study, for the large non-professional class, may be questioned. It will be difficult to convince the tax-paying population of any State, that a

The names of the ten defaulting States are Ohio, Delaware, Kentucky Oregon, Iowa, Virginia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana.

scheme

scheme providing for the thorough professional training of even onefourth of this class, is either practicable or advisable. It will be equally difficult to demonstrate to them that the value of the product is greater than the cost of the production. They demand less expensive agencies than these; and it is the duty of statesmen to ascertain if possible, what they are, and whether they cannot be successfully employed.

The class of professional teachers in our country will long be comparatively small. The substantial prizes to be won are few. Teaching, therefore, in the near future, as in the past, will in most cases be a temporary calling engaged in by young men while "getting under way;" and by young ladies unable to find some other more attractive or more remunerative employment.'

[ocr errors]

A striking illustration of the actual state of things in the United States, as respects school-terms and school-attendance, has been afforded by the legislation of New York State during the past year. The first legislative attempt in the State of New York to carry out compulsory education' was passed into law on the 11th of last May. The provisions of the Act are remarkable, and to an English reader very instructive and suggestive. They may be commended to the particular attention of Mr. John Morley and others, who have set up the United States as an example to England in the matter of public elementary education. The following is the first section of the Act:

[ocr errors]

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. All parents, and those who have the care of children, shall instruct them, or cause them to be instructed, in spelling, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, and arithmetic. And every parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of any child between the ages of eight and fourteen years, shall cause such child to attend some public or private day-school, at least fourteen weeks in each year, eight weeks at least of which attendance shall be consecutive, or to be instructed regularly at home at least fourteen weeks in each year, in spelling, reading, &c., unless the physical or mental condition of such child is such as to render such instruction inexpedient or impracticable.'

The second section proceeds to enact that no child under fourteen shall be employed in labour or business during the school-hours of any school-day of any public school in the school-district, or the city where such child is, unless the child shall be certified by the school-teacher, or by a public school trustee, to have attended, during the fifty-two weeks preceding, a public or private school, or to have been regularly instructed at home, for at least fourteen weeks.

The

« PreviousContinue »