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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmis en commanpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN '. Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmAs A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmA A partir de i'angie supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 s ' .1 I MINUTES /^. OF THK T\V1<:NTV. FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION Ol' THE ONTARIO TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, HELU IN IHIC PUBLIC HALL OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, TORONTO, Atigust nth, 1 2th, and ijth, i^iirfr: W. .F. HKXDllY, Toronto. POBLIC SCHOOL INSPECTORS- SECTION Vfiairnfiti SerrHarii F. L. MicHKLi,, Perth. John liRKBNKu, Sarnia. Direotonf A. Cam Ph.- H. KKAZiN. Linden Valley ; \V. .Murray, Picton. HIGH SCHOOL SECTION. SecTftaru D. C. McHenrv, Cobourg. J. E. Wrtherkm,, Strathroy. Dlrectoi'» ; H, B. SHorroN, I5ame : A. MAC^ruKcmv, Toronto; C. Fksskndkn, Napane. , and (rEORGE UiOKsoN, Hamilton. PUBLIC SCHOOL SECTION. (Jfutinrmn Serrftfiri/ F. C. PowELf., Kincardine. J. A. Brown, Whitby. Directors : W. .J. Osborne, Rossmore ; Ja.me.s Dkaoon, Woodstock: Rouert Alex.^nukh (rait; John Munro, Ottawa; H. L Strang, Goderieh. LEGISL\T1VE COMMITTEE. T;..'irvr i^^'^^m' I^'-"^^""; 1^- P- C^f^APP, Harriston: Wii.uam Mack- intosh, Via I oc ; W1LLIA.M Oliver. Brantford ; A. Purslow, Port H<.|>e ; L. E Kmbree Wh.tby; Robert W. Doan, Toronto; W. J. HeniV^ lonmto; and VViLi.rAM Rannie. Newmarket. r INDEX. Officers . . Minutes of General Association *' •• •■ ■) Minutes of High School Section Minutes of Public School Section Minutes of Inspectors' Section Treasurer's Statement . . The Historical Development of Education. David Allison, LL. D. Education in Reference to Character. V^ery Rev. C. W. E. Body. A Plea for Science in Schools. J. C. Glashan The Study and Teaching of English. William Houston, M.A. Permanency of the Teaching Profession. D. Fotheringham. Reading as Part of Elocution. Thomas Swift PAOK 3 5 12 18 22 25 26 40 46 54 70 76 I . ■ . at 7. T ^jLjfcl^jKff ii^i. I HI ^'x • ' ^""^^BJI m-wmm m . i By'!' M T MINUTES OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION or THE PAUB • 3 ■ • 5 12 • • 18 • • •22 25 :..D. 26 Ddy. 40 • • 46 .A. 54 am. 70 76 I Ontakio Teachers" Association, Held in (he Ihtblic Hall of the Education Department, Toronto, on the 11th, 12th and ISth days of An(/a>it, 1S8J. Tuesday, August 11th, 1885. The Convention met at 11.45 a.m. In the absence of the President, Dr. J. A. McLellan, the 1st Vice- President, Dr. Pui'slow, took the chair. Mr. Robt. McQueen read a portion of Scripture and enj];aged in prayer. Moved by Mr. Jaa. Duncan, seconded by Mr. A. MacMurchy, That as the Minutes of last Convention have been printed and dis- tributed, they be considered as read and adopted. — Carried. Moved by Mr. A. MacMurchy, seconded by Mr. Jas. Munro, That the Committee on the Consolidation and Amendment of the Constitution and By-laws be given leave to defer their Keport till a subsequent meeting of the Convention. — Carried. Moved by Mr. R. W. Doan, .seconded by Mr. W. J. Hendry, That Mr. G. K. Powell be appointed Minute Secretary. — Carried. The Treasurer, Mr. W, J. Hendry, presented bis Annual Report. Moved by Mr. W. J. Hendry, .seconded by Mr. J. 0. Steele, That the Report be received and referred to an Auditing Committee, to be named by the President. — Carried. The President then named Messrs. Jno. Munro, J. Dearness, F. W. Merchant, Auditing Committee. Moved by Mr. A. MacMurchy, seconded by Mr. Jno. Munro* That the Convention meet at 2 p.m. and adjourn at 5.30 p m., meet at 7.30 p.m. and adjourn at 10 p.m. — Carried. The Convention then adjourned. '^•i/.Miii^-iLtiia I « JIlNUTliS. TiJ liSDAY — Aftkhnoon Srssio.n. The OonvtMition as.seiiil)lofl at 2.1*) p.m. Dv. Purslow, First Vi»;e-Prt'si(lt'nt, iii the chair. Mr. J. C. Glashati was introduord, and read a paper on "A Plea for the Study of Science in our SchooKs." Moved l)y Mr. D. H. Hunter, seconded by Mr. E. Anderson, That the hearty tlianks of this A.s.sociation be herel)y tendered to Mr. Glashdu for his ahie and intere.stinij; ])'JL\i(n:~('arried. Mr. W. Hou.stoji wa.s then introduced, and delivered an addnss on "The Study of KnoIi.sh." An inter('.stii\<,' and pvolitahle diseUHsion followed, in which ^lessr.s. I. J. Birclu.rd, F. (!. Powell, J. .Millar, J. C. Pomeroy, T. White, A. Campbell, A. 13. Me Galium, J. W. Crowly, L. E. Embree, and H. I. Strang took part. "Moved by Mr. II. W. Doan, .seconded by Mr. Jno. Munro, That further di.scussion on Mr. Houston's address bo postponed to a future meeting. — Carried. Moved by Mr. A. Campbell, aecondt'd by Mr. A. B. McCallum, That a vote of thanks be tendered to Mr. Houston for his very interesting address. — Carried. iMr G P. Simpson then explained 'his "Tabulated Phonetic Alpha de.signed to lessen tho dilHculties in teaching cliildren to read 1 ,, *sh. The Convention then adjourned. i *■ 0t \ Tuesday — Evening Session. The Convention assembled at 7.50 p.n'. Dr. Purslow, First Vice-President, in the chair. The Minutes of the forenoon and afternoon sessions were reatl and confirmed. The following Report of the Executive Committee was then presented : — The Executive Committee beg to recommend that any educational periodicals be granted permission to publish ail the papers read during the meeting of the Association, provided that copies of the same be procured from the Secretary. Moved by Mr. R. W. Doan, seconded by Mr. A. Campbell, That the Report of the Executive Committee be adopted. — Carried. i n "A Plea iiHicrsoii, idend to 1 Aiossr.s. ^'lulo, A. and H. ro, Tliat a future .•Galium, lis very PlioiKtio :idreti to ;re n'.ml ixs then cational rs read I of the 11, That I » i n addnss | ^ i MINUTKS. The Report of the Audit OoDMnittee was then presented : — Toronto, August 11th, 1885. The xVudil (Joinmittee beg leave to report that, they have exaniiucd the Treasurer's Accounts, aud find theiu carefully and correctly kept. The Iveport wliich he presented 'j;ives a correct statement of the receipts and dishurseinents durini^ tin; past year, as showii liy the vouchers examined. All of which is respectfully submitted. .1x0. Mux no, F. W. MkiumiaXT, Jxo. Dkaiixkss, ) I Auditing (Jotuniiltpe. Moved by Mr. Jno. Munro, seconded by Mr. A. MacMurchy, That the Report of the Audio (Committee be received and adopted. — — Carried. The discussion on Mr. Houston's address was then resumed, the following gentlemen taking part in it : ^tessrs. W. J. Osborne, J. Stiddal)y, 8. Woods, [. J. Birchard, and W. llou.ston. The Hon. G. W. Ross, Minister of Kduoation, having kindly consented to occupy the time allotted to th<^ President's address, then ex[)lained the proposed new Regulations. Moved by Mr. J. 0. >[organ, seconded by Mr. C. A. Barnes, That the cordial thanks of this Association be tendered to the Honoraljle the xMinister of Education for hi.s able and lucid explana- tions of the new Regulations. — Carried. The Convention then adjourned. WeDXESDAY. — AfTEPvXOOX vSession. The Convention assembled at '1. 15 p.m. Mr. Jno. Munro in the chair. Rev. Dr. Nelles, President of Victoria University, read a portion of Scripture and engaged in prayer. Dr. Pursljw having entered took the chair. The Minutes of the last session were read and confirmed. Dr. Nelles, who Avas some years ago President of this Association, then addressed the meeting fc a short time, and informed the A.ssociation that Dr. Allison would not be able to read his paper in the evening, owing to a sudden and severe illness. He (Dr. Nelles) very kindly offered to take part during the evening in a discussion on the subject of " University Federation." 8 MINUTES. Movod by Mr. II. Alexander, sccorulcul by Mr. Jaw. Duncan, That tho Soci'otary ascertain if Provost Body will read his papcsr this evening instead of to-morrow (evening. — (Jarrlerl. Moved by Mr. A. Barber, seconded by Mr. W. .1. Hendry, That the Executive C!oniii)ittee be requestf^l to communicate with the railway authorities of this Province, to secure, if possible, tickets at reduced rutes for teachers during the holiday seasons. — Carried. Mr. I). Fother Ingham then reac^ a paper on " Permummcy of the Teaching Profession." Moved by Dr. Kelly, seconded by Mr. E. Scarlett, That tlie hearty thanks of this Association be tendered to Mr. Fotheringham for his very carefully prepared paper. — Carried. An animated discussion on Mr. Fotheringham's paper was partici- pated in ))y Dr. Kelly, Messrs. B. E. Brown, J. Dearncss, J. Moran, \V. J. Osborne, J. W. Henstridge, T. White, A. Campbell, B. W. Hicks, T. O. Steele, W. Clarke and Dr. McDiarmid. Mr. J. H. Smith then gave an address on "The School-room as a preparation for the Farm and the Workshop." He was followed V)y Mr. F. W. Merchant on the same ubiect. An interesting discussion followed, whioh was taken part in by Messrs. J. Millar, J. C. Pomeroy, R. Alexander, T. O. Steele, Dr. McDiarmid, Messrs. H. Keazin, T. R. Clipsham, W. Clarke, J. H. Smith, J. Brebner and H. I. Strang. Moved by T. O. Steele, seconded by W. Clarke,- That the thanks of this Association be tendered to Messrs. J. H. Smith and F. W. Merchant for their addresses on this subject. — Carried. Moved by Mr. S. Woods, seconded by Mr. McKee, That the President be authorized to nanu; a Committee to wait on Dr. Allison and ascertain if his address is in such a condition that it can be read by some member of the Association. — Carried. Dr. Purslow was named as Committee-man for the above-named purpose, and Mr. J. Munro, Second Vice-President, took the chair. The Convention adjourned. Wednesday — Evening Session. The Conrention assembled at 8.15 p.m. Dr. Purslow in the chair. The Minutes of the last session were read and confirmed. Dr. Purslow reported that he had waited on Dr. Allison and found that his address could not be read by any one but himself, and that he hoped to be able to address the Association to-morrow evening. Rev. Dr. Nelles then introduced the .subject of " University Federation." tl Vi ir F tl w i i I -'^ T '. the for MINUTKS. 9 Moved by Mr. J. Millar, Hecoiulod by Mr. A. li. McC'illum, That thn thanks of this Association l)e tendered to Rev. Dr. NcUt'H for his very admirable address. — Carried. A nVost interesting discussion on the subject was thfm taken part in by Messrs. .1. Millar, A. B. McUalluni, IJev. Dr. Stewart, Mr. L. K, Einbree, llov. Dr. N«dl(!s and Rev. Mr. (lonlon. Rev. Tlios. McKee tnoved, seconded by Mr. Dearness, That the time for discussion of this subject be extended so as to give all that wish to speak on this sul)j(!ct an opportunity of doing so. — Carrind. The discussion was then carried on by Mr. S. Woods and Rev. Dr. Nelles. The Convention then adjourned. I I Thursday — Aftkiwoon Session. The Convention assembled at 2.15 p.m. Mr. Jno. Munro in the chair. The Minutes of the last session were lead and conhrmed. The Executive Committee recommended the following gentlemen as officers of the Association for the ensuing year : — President, - - - Mr. S. McAllister. Recording Secretary, • Mr. RoHHiiT W. Do.\N. Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Mr. D. H. Hunter. Mr. VV. J. Hendry. Moved by Mr. F. C. Powell, seconded by Mr. W. J. Osborne, That the recommendation of the Executive Committee be adopted. — Carried. Mr. Thomas Swift, of Ottawa, then read a paper on " Reading as a part of Elocution." Moved by Mr. T. 0. Steele, seconded by IVtr. F. C. Powell, That the thanks of the Association be tendered to Mr. Swift for his excellent paper. — Carried. Dr. Allison was then introduced to the Association, and he delivered a short address. A few remarks were made on the subject of Mr.. Swift's paper by Mr. W. Houston. The following resolution of the Inspectors' Section was read by Mr. A. Campbell : — That this Section has reason to dcj^lore the loss during the past year of one of its most esteemed members, the late Robert Little, Public School Inspector for Halton. In him his fellow- workers feel that they have lost a warm, true-hearted friend, one whose ripe 10 MINUTES. exporirnce, wide attainments and sound judgment inado his counsel always valual U'. llu^ Ik art-felt sympathies of Mr. Little's late ooljeagucs are extended to his sorrowing widow. Comynittf'i 1). McKlNNON, T n M ( / . o. /. bed J. KOP.KHTSOX MiLLKli, ) I ion. Moved by Mr. Doan, seconded hy Mr. J. R. Miller, That the resolution of the Inspectors' Section be adopted l)y the Association, and that a copy of it be sent to the widow of our deceased friend. — Car rial I. The Convention then adjourned. Thursday — E^icxixd Sessiox. The Convention re-a.ssembled at 8 p.m. Mr. Jno. ^Funro in the cliair. The IMinutes of the afternoon session were read and confirmed. i\[r. Maci\[urcliy read the following report of the High School Section : — Whereas in the mysterious Providence of God it has pleased him to remove from our midst our respected friend and colleague, J. M. Buchan, Esq., ^[.A., late Principal of Upper Canada College, therefore l)e it resolved by the Teachers' Association of Ontario : That we place on record our appreciation of the many noble ([ualities of the deceased, his ardent adherence to principle, his firm and just discharge of the many duties devolving upon him in the various public ollices lield by hiui, and his upright conduct in all the relations of life ; and in common with the friends of the Educational Institutions of the country, with which he was so closely connected, and which are now deprived of his inestimable advice and influence, we deplore his early death in the midst of a career of usefnlness and honor ; while to his aged father and his bereaved widow and family we tender our sincere .sympathy in the irreparable loss sustained by tiiom in the removal of a beloverl son, a loving husband and a kind and affectionate father. That a copy of this preamble and resolution be* engrossed and signed by the Pre.sident and Secretary, and forwarded to Mr.s. Buchan, and that the resolution and the accompanying recommendation bo entered upon the Minutes and published in tlie various city papers. Arciiiuald MacMurciiy, Chaiiman Committee High School Section. Moved by Mr. MacMurchy, seconded by Mr. J. Millar, That the Report of the High School Section bo adopted. — Carried. \ m- MINUTIiSi I I ivov, Provost Body, of Trinity Caiioge, then ileliverod au addr(>ss on "Education iii relation to Character," Dr. AUisou, (!hi[ove(l l)y Mr. S. Woods, seconded by Mr. 1>. Feer, Tliat the thanks of tlie Association Ix? tendered to Rev. Provost Body ami Dr. Allison for their very eloquent aiKlresses. — Cartinent ; to the railway authorities for their reducetl rates to members in attendance here ; and to tlie reporters and pul>Iishers of the daily new> jjapers for their full and accurate reports of the meetings. — Carried. After th(i singing of the National Atith* m, the President declared the Association adjourned. Reports respecting County Associations were received during the Sessions of the General Association from — West Grey Repres-^nting 100 Members. E. H. Anderson J. E. Elliott: . John Spenc(; . . . .Ontario James Birch .... West Kent .fohn Munro .... Ottawa John C. Linklater North Huron '. R. IT. IVrcAraster. . DuiVerin Neil D. McKinnon W. Bruce William Linton . . Waterloo f S. Hastings and I \ B(;lleville. ... I James Duncan . . . N. Esse.x T.O. Steele N. Simcoe W. J. Osborne . . P. E. County J. W, Henstridge Frontenac S. McAllister . . . .Toronto JaiDes McEIroy. .Carleton Charles Ramage. .S. Grey C. H. Fuller .. ..S. Essex John R. Brovk^n | .^ i. r i . r,n ii'i •, - East Lambton 1 nomas vV hite ) R. E. Brown .... Centre PTuron Thomas McKee . .South Simcoe 1. lL'5 u u 90 (( u r)0 (( u Mi 11 (k 70 (I u 80 i( u 80 i( u 105 l( u 102 (( u 7.") (1 1 ( 90 a u 110 u u 250 u (( 120 a u 100 a (( 01 n t( 100 i( l( r)0 u l( 70 u ■M 12 MINUTES. MINUTES OF HIGH SCHOOL SECTION. August 11th, 1885. The High School Section met in the Library at 11.30 a.m. Dr. Purslow in the chair. Present : McKSsrs. Turnbull, Me Henry, Fessenden, Embree, Millar, Wetherell, Houston, Jamison, MacMurchy, Purslow, Spotton, and Merchant. The following programme was arranged for the different sessions : — WEDNESDAY. The Present aftd Possible Function of the High School Section,— Mr. J. E. Wetherell. Hish School Masters and the University Examina- tions, — Mr. William Houston. Report of High School Jlepresentation on the Univer- sity Senate. THURSDAY. Report of Committee on High School Graduation. The Pre.sent Position of the High Schools and Colle- giate Institutes in the Educational System of Ontario,^ — Mr. Wm. Oliver. The Distribution of the $10,000 High School Grant for Equipment, etc., — Mr. C. Fessenden. On motion, the Section adjourned. 9-10 a.m. 10—11 a.m. 11 — 12 a.m. 9—10 a.m. 10—11 a.m. 11—12 a.m. August 12th, 1885. The High School Section met in the Library at 9 a.m. Dr. l-'urslow in the chair. Present : Messrs. Morgan, Embree, Pomeroy, MacMurchy, Grant, Ventress, Frier, Oliver, Jamison, Weir, Birchard, Creighton, Wright, J. W. Hunter, D. H. Hunter, Wetherell, Millar, Turnbull, Dickson, Fessenden, McHenry, Seath, Briden, Purslow, Orr, Spotton, Merchant, McCallum, Deft, Strang. The Minutes of the last session were read and adopted. Mr. Wetherell read a paper on the Present and Possible Influence of the High School Section. Moved by Mr. Fessenden, seconded by Mr. Turnbull, That the Chairman be requested to name a committee to consider Mr. Wetherell's paper. — Carried. Committee appointed by Chairman : Messrs. Wetherell, Millar, Dickson. Moved by Mr. Fessenden, seconded by Mr. Pomeroy, That Mr. Embree be permitted to introduce amotion relating to Upper Canada College. — Carried. ) MINUTES. 13 Moved by Mr. Embree, seconded by Mr. Dickson, That a com- y/ mittee, consisting of Messrs. D. H. Hunter, Fessenden and the mover, be appointed to take into consideration the anomalous position of Upper Canada College in our system of education, and to report at the meeting of the Section to-morrow morning. — Carried. Mr. Houstoia addressed the Section on High School Masters and the University Examinations. The High School rei)resentatives on the University Senate gav(! a detailed account of the actions of the Senate during the year, affecting the High Schools. A discussion followed in which Messrs. Dickson, Embree, Fessenden, McHenry, Strang, Oliver, Houston, Merchant, Spotton, MacMurchy took part. On the invitation of the Chairman, jl.Ir. Wood, President of the Ottawa Ladies' College, addressed the Section on the subject of the new University curriculum. Moved by Mr. Fessenden, seconded by Mr. McHenry, That the Senate of Toronto University be urged, as soon as practicable, to make such arrangements regarding the Local Examinations as will enable it to to allow to candidates writing at such Examinations all the privileges allowed to candidates writing at Toronto. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Strang, seconded by Mr. Connor, That the Section i^^ is of the opinion, 1st, that Chaucer should be removed from the First ^^\^ Year's Examination to a later' stage in the curriculum, and be replaced by some modern author; 2nd, that English p'ose should receive due recognition in the English course of the Univer.'^ity ; 3rd, that the study of the earlier forms of the language should be provided for in the later years of the curriculum. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Orr, seconded by Mr. Oliver, That, in the opinion of this Section, equal recognition should be given in the Junior Matriculation in the mattei- of Scholarships to Modern Languages and to Classics, and that Ancient History and Geography should be annexed to Classics, and Modern History and Geography to Modern Languages. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Dickson, seconded by Mr. Spotton, That, in the opinion of this Section, such a value should be assigned to the department of science, in awarding the General Proficiency Scholar- ships at Junior Matriculation, as to encourage the teaching of .science in the High Schools. — Carried. On motion, the Section adjourned. August 13th, 1885. The High School Section met in the Library at 9 a.m. Dr. Purslow in the chair. Minutes of last session were read and adopted. Moved by Mr. Merchant, seconded by Mr. Turnbull, That this Section call the attention of the University Senate to the objection- mmmm0m^ u MINUTES. ahle cliaracter of the honor paper in P2nglish and the pass papei in History and Geography at Junior Matriculation. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Millar, seconded by Mr. Orr, That tlie University Senate be requ(\sted to allow all candidates at Junior Matriculation to take more than one sub-department of Natural Science, and that the course in Botany be more accurately defined. — Carried. Moved by Mr. McBride, seconded by Mr. McCallum, Tiiat the Section appoint a committee to wait upon the Hon. the Minister of Education, and explain to him the objectionable nature of some of the Second and Tliird Class papers set at the recent Departmental Examinations. — Carried. Moved by Mr. McBride, seconded by Mr. McCallum, That Messrs. Strang, Dickson, tht* mover and seconder, be the committee. — Carried. The committee on High School Graduation presented the follow- ing report : — Tiie committee appointed by the High School Section in August, 1884, to bring in a scheme for High School Graduation, in accordance with the general resolution then passed by this Section in favour of such a provision being made, beg leave to report as follows : — I. That the committee met on the 4th April last, and after care- fully examining a draft of scheme submitted for our consideration by the Hon. the Minister of Education, decided to recommend its adoption with a few amendments as to certain subjects in several courses. II. Your committee tind that, suV)sequent1y to their meeting, the Minister has recast the scheme for Hiiih School Graduation in bar- mony with the new course of study proposed for High Schools and Collegiate Institutes, embodying at the same time the minor changes we suggested regarding subjects. III. As thus simplified, the scheme may bo outlined as follows : — (a) Any pupil who passes the Departmental or the University Examination in any of the courses prescribed for Form II., III., or IV., in a High School or Collegiate Institute, shall be entitled to a Graduation Diploma signed by the Minister of Education and the Head Master of the High School at which such course was completed. (b) The courses above referred to are as now arranged : 1. Course of Form II., H.S., being that of Junior Matricu- lation at the University of Toronto. (Pass.) '1. Course of Form III., H.S., being that of Junior Matricu- ition with Honors. 3. Course of Form IV., H.S., being that of Senior Matricu- lation. 4. A Commercial Course, being that required of candidates , for Second Class Certificates. \ MINUTES. 15 \ (c) Those four courses, covering the ordinary work of the lligli Schools, provide for four distinct forms of Graduation Diploma, viz. : 1, Commercial Course; 2, Junior Matriculation (Pass); 3, Junior Matriculation with Honors ; 4, Senior jNIatricuhition ; tiie highest of these also reaching the upper limit of the High School course. (d) In addition to passing the prescribed examination, each candidate shall submit to the Education Department through the Head ISIaster the following documents: 1, a certilicate of having attend(;d at least one year; 2, a corbttijate of ch iracter. (e) Commencement exercises should be held inoic;h High S^hiol or Collegiate Institute at a suitable time during th j autuinu term of each year, at which the Graduation Diploniis m ly b > pressnteJ to the successful candidates. The committee believe that Ijy this simple scheme all th'^ more serious objections urged last year an; removed. It will ba observed that no separate examination is required, no extra work is imposed, nor is the ordinary course of our tea;hin2f interfered with in anv manner. The scheme, we think, possesses all the advantag 's of the more elaborate one at first proposed, without any of its incumbrances. We therefore recommend its adoption by our Section ; and, since; its acceptance by individuil schools is entirely optional, we trust that members of the Section will use their influence to make High School Graduation generally acceptable throughout the country. D. C. McHenry, Chairman of Committee. A clause was added by the Section to the effect that the Gradua- tion Diploma proposed by the Department should be one that, by its neat and attractive appearance, would render it acc^ntable to gradu- ates, and .suitable for presentation at a public meeting. Moved by Mr. McHenry, seconded by Mr. Millar, that the report as now amended be adopted. — Carried. Mr. Oliver read a paper on the present position of High Schools and Collegiate Institutes in the educational system of Ontario. The Hon. the Minister of Education addressed the Section on the Proposed Regulitions for the Distribution of the High School Grant. A discussion followed in which Messrs. Oliver, Millar, Ferier, Turn- bull, Fessenden and Strang took part. Moved by Mr. Connor, seconded by Mr. Strang, That a hearty vote of thanks be presented to the Hon. the Minister of Education for his kindness in addressing this Section, and still more for his consideration in inviting the teachers of the Province to make sug- gestions touching the proposed regulations. — Carried. Moved by Mr. MacMurchy, seconded by Mr. Turnbull, That the thanks of this Section be tendered to Messrs. Wetherell and Oliver for their able papers. — Carried. 16 MIKL'TRS, |.^^ ! On motion the Section adjourned to meet in the Library at 1.30 p.m. August 13th, 1885. The Section met in the Library at 1.30 p.m. Mr, MacMurchy in the chair. The Minutes of the previouK sfjs.sion were read und adopted. The following Officers were elected for the ensuing year : — Chairman, Secretary. - Directors, Legislative ( 'oinmittee Mr. D. C. McHenry. Mk. J. E. Wet MRU ELL. Me.s.srs. Spotton, MacMurchy, Fe.ssenden and Dicksox. Me.sshs. Oliver, Puhslow and Embree. I Moved by Mr. Connor, seconded by Mr. Millar, That a committee, consisting of Messrs. Millar, Embree and the mover, be appointed to take steps towards assimilating the entrance examinutions tor students in Medicine, Civil Engineering, Denti.stry and Pharmacy, and report their action to this Section next year. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Connor, seconded by Mr. Millar, That this meeting, when it adjourns, nhall .stand adjourned until 4 o'clock, when the new Regulations in regard to High Schools shall be con- sidered. — Carried. The committee appoint<.'d to take into consideration the status of Upper Canada College and its relation to the Provincial system of Education submitted the following report, in the form of a memorial, to be presented to the Minihter of Education : — The High School Section of the Ontario Teachers' Association would respectfully submit to the Hon. the Minister of Education that although at one time Upper Canada College was a nece.snary adjunct of the Provincial University, it is no longer in the interests of secondary education that a school of this character should be maintained from Provincial funds. In support of their contention they submit — L That the records of the matriculation examination at the; Toronto and other Universities of Ontario clearly prove that the work of preparing candidat'is for this examination is quite as well done at the County and City High Schools as at Upper Canada College. 2. That in the training of Public School teachers the High Schools do an important work in which Upper Canada College has no part. 3. That the Education Department has found it necessary to select Training Institutes from the High Schools which depend largely on local support. I .MiNnTp:s. 17 I i I They submit further that the fuuls that have been diverted to the support of Upper Canada College are urgently needed for the purposes of higher education. It is therefore the opinion of this Section that, in the general interests of education i;i the Province, Upper Canada College should hv closed, and its revi uues appropriated for other purposes. A discussion followed in which most of the members took part. Moved by Mr. Embree, seconded by Mr. Fessenden, That the report of the committee on Upper Canada College be adopted. Moved in amendment V>y Mr. Connor, seconded by Mr. McCallum, that the report be considered at the next meeting of the Association. -Original motion carried. The report of the committee on Mr. Wetherell's paper was wad and considered seriatim. The following clau.ses were adopted : — 1 . That the Executive Committee of the High School .Section V)e requested (1) to draw up a Constitution, By-laws and Rules of Order for the Section, and to report at our next annual meeting ; (2) to send at a suitable time to all High School teachers a circular pointing out the special objects of the annual meeting, and urging the attendance of the masters ; (3) to refer the question of a change of time of the annual meeting to the general Executive. Moved by Mr. Embree, seconded by Mr. Hunter, that the High School Section of the Executive Committee be recommended to make such changes in the constitution and duties of the Legislative Com- mittee that it may take the place of an advisory committee to l)e consulted by the Minister on all questions on which he may wish to consult the High School masters. On motion the Section adjourned. The Section met again at 4.30 p.m. The Hon. the Minister of Education read to the Section the pro- posed programme of studies for High Schools. A short discussion followed. A committee, consisting of Messrs. MacMurchy, Fessenden and Dickson, was appointed to devise and present to the Section a scheme for the organization of a College of Preceptors for Ontario. (Jn motion the Section adjourned. / High Mm 18 MINUTES. MINUTES OF public; SCHOOL SECTION August Uth, 1885. The tir.Ht meeting of the Public School Section of the Provincial Teachers' Association was held in the Public Hall, Education Depart- ment, beginning at 11.30 a.m. The Section was called to order by the Chairman, Mr. John Munro, of Ottawa. Mr. James Duncan, of Windsor, was appointed Secretary until the arrival of Mr. F. C. Powell. About fifty teachers were present. The Minutes, as printed, were considered read and adopted. Moved by Mr. H. Alexander, and seconded by Mr. W. J. Osborne, Thai the Public School Section discuss the new Regulations when- ever the business of the Section will permit. — '^arried. On the suggestion of Mr. A. Barber it was decided that Mr. E. Alexander should lead in the discussion. On motion of Mr. R. W. Doan, seconded by Mr. T. Wiiite, the Secretary w.is requested to procure a sufficient number of copies of the New Regulations for the use of the Section. The Section adjourned to meet at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. I Second Day. August 12th, 1885. The Section met in the Education Hall, at 9.15 a.m. About eighty teachers were in attendance. Mr. John Munro occupied the chair. The business was opened by Mr. George Lindsay reading Scrip- ture and engaging in prayer. The Minntes of the last meeting were read and continued. The Secretary read a communication from Mr. C. W. Chadwick explaining the cause of his absence and inability to take up the sub- ject assigned to him on the programme. Moved by Mr. R. W. Doan, and seconded by Mr. S. McAllister, That the explanation of Mr. C. W. Chadwick be accepted as satis- factory, and that we regret very much the cause of his absence. — Carried. After a short discussion respecting the order of subjects on the programme, Mr. John Munro called Mr. S. McAllister to the chair, and gave his paper on the High School Entrance Examination which he closed by moving, seconded by i^lr. T. White, That in the opinion of the Public School Section the High School Entrance Examination should come after the Fifth Class, instead of after the Fourth Class as at present, and that said examination should be held only once a year. I mi I I MINUTES. 19 A discusKion followed and was fui^aycd in l>v Messrs. W. (.'assidy, W. Clark, F. (J. Powell, T. O. Steele, A. IJarber, T. White, and D. II. Lent. Mr. Jno. K. Brown moved, in aniendtuont to Mr. Munro's nisolu- lution, seconded by Mr. James Duncan, That the Hi^h School Entrance E.xaniination be placed at the end of the Fourth Class, and that the examination be hold only once a year. — Carried. The discussion was resumed by INIessrs. W. T. Osborne, J. Hud daby, It. Ahixander, R. W. Doan and R. CoattNS. Mr. E. K. Anderson moved, in anwmdmijnt to Mr. Brown's amendment, seconded by W. J. O.sborne, That in the opinion of the Public School Section, the High School Entranc(! Examination sliould remain as already placed, at the end of the Fourth ('lass, and that there should be two examinations in each year as at present. The discussion was again resumed V)y Mi;ssr.s. R. McQueen, James Deacon, Sinclair, S. McAllister, R. Willis, G. A. Birch, G.-K. Powell and W. Linton. The second amendment was put and declared losf, and the first amendment carried. Moved by Mr. R. Alexander, seconded by Mr. W. J. Osborne, That Messrs. A. Barber, W. J. Osborne, S. McAllister and T. White be a committee to embody in a resolution the opinion of the Public School Section on the retention of the Fifth Class in the Public Schools. — Carried. The Section then adjourned to meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Third Day. AiHiUST Lrlth, 1885. Pursuant to adjournment the Public School Section met in the Education Hall at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Mr. John Munro, of Ottawa, occupied the chair, and called upon Mr. R. McQueen to open the business by reading Scripture and engaging in prayer. The Minutes of the session on Wednesday were read and confirmed. Moved by Mr. F. C. Powell, seconded by Mr. James Duncan» That, in the opinion of the Public School Section, the questions set in History for the late High School Entrance examination weie too abstract and comprehensive to be properly understood and intelli gently answered by boys and girls under fifteen years of age ; and that the attention of the Minister of Education be respectfully called to this fact. — Carried. ^ 20 MINUTK8. The Committee on the retention of the P^ifth Class in our Public Schools submitted the following report : — That while wo approve* of making the Public School course of studies tit into that pursued in our High Schools, w(* think that to have the Public School course end with the Fourth (jiass, or to enforce any regulations tending to discouragt* the retention of the Fifth Class in our Public Schools, would lie disastrous to the interests of Public School education. The report was adopted on motion of Mr. A. Barl)er, seconded by Mr. T. White. Mr. S. :McAllist(;r moved, siscomlcd by Mr. W. J. Hendry, That the resolution respecting High School Entrance History, and the report of the Committee on the retention of the Fifth Class in our Public Schools, be laid before the Minister of Education. — Carried. In order to give time for the full and careful discussion of the " Proposed Ptcgulations of the Eehicntion Department," Mr. H. W. Doan moved, seconded by Mr. W. Linton, That the subject "Eti- quette in Schools" be postponed until next year. — Carried. For the same reason, Mr. J. S. Deacon, moved, seconded by Mr- S. McAllister, That Mr. Deacon's paper on " Principals and Assis- tants" be laid over until next year. — Carried. The election of Officers was then proceeded with, and resulted as follows : — Chairman — F. C. Powkll, Kincardine. Secretary — J. A. Brown, W^hitby. Directors — W. J. Osborne, Rossmore ; Jas. Deacon, Woodstock ; Robert Alexander, Gait; John Munro, Ottawa; H. I. Strang, Goderich. Legislative Committee — Messrs. R. W. Doan and W. J. Hendry, Toronto ; and W. Rannie, Newmarket. The first four Directors named above were elected Ijy ballot, there being but one ballot cast, and the four candidates having the greatest number of votes being declared elected. Mr. Strang, of Goderich, was elected by acclamation. The Section, in Committee of the Whole, discussed the proposed Regulations, and resolved to recommend the following changes : — 1st. That a Regulation should be introduced requiring that the space allotted to play-grounds in cities, towns and villages bear a certain proportion to the size of the School. 2nd. That every stairway in a school-house shall be at least .six feet wide, and have no curvature — a square landing to make a turn not to be considered a curvature. 3rd. That the Regulation in reference to "area to pupil" be so amended as to read " at least twenty square feet on the floor." i i I I i i MINUTES. 21 I i I 4th. That Hogulation No. 7 hn altered to nuul as follows : "The seats should \h^ so arraii<,'ed that the pupils may sit t'aciui,' the teacher, and liave the light comiiii,' iii on their left and rear, and thcty should not seat more than two pupils." 5th. That in Regulation No. 14 the words "half-a-dozen"' be struck out. 6th. That a set of drawing models be added to the School appa- ratus. 7th. That Regulation No. 22 should end : "and a suitable supply of proper drinking vessels should be furnished by the Trustee Board." The Section adjourned to meet in the Art Room at 3.30 p.m. Pursuant to adjournment, the Section met at the time and place mentioned above. Mr. S. McAllister occupied the chair. The discussion of the proposed Regulations was resumed, and the following changes recommended :— 8th. That in First Class programme under Writing, " or paper " be added. 9th, That the Arithmetic for Third Class should be Greatest Com- mon Measure, Least Common Multiple, Reduction, Compound Rules, Vulgar Fractions and Mental Arithmetic, 10th. That the Arithmetic for th(! l^urth Class be V^ulgar Frac- tions continued, Decimal Fractions, Elementary Percentage, [nterest and Mental Arithmetic, 11th. That in Fourth Class Grammar the word "easy" be sub- stituted for the word "simple," in " simple sentences."' 12th. That the History for Fourth Class be the leading features of Canadian History and one period of English History, to bo changed from time to time. l.'kh. That in Fourth Class Geography "principal railways" be substituted for "railway systems." 14th. That after paragraph 4, Duties of Pupils, the following be inserted: "and then only with the consent of the T(!acher." 15th. That graduates, in order to qualify as Public School Inspec- tors, shall have not less than live years' experience in teaching, three of which shall have been obtained in a Public School. 16th. That presiding Examiners at Departmental Examinations and members of County Boards of Examiners, other than Inspectors, should be selected from Teachers actively engaged in the profession. The Chairman named Messrs. S. McAllister and W. J. Hendry as a committee to lay the proposed changes before the Minister of Education. The Section adjourned at 6.15 p.m. F, C„ Powell, ISecretary. John Munro, Chairman, MINUTKH. MINUTES OF Tllli: INSrEUTOHS' SECT [ON. The rnspoctors' Scotioii met on Tucsduy, 1 1th AujL:;uHt, I88r), ut 11.4') a.m. Mr. A. ('iiiiiplxill, of Iviiicardino, in the chair. After orf:;anization tho (Jhainnaii appointed a coniniittee, of M(!H.sr.-i. Dearne.s.H, Tillcy and the Chairman, to j)rocuro copioH of tlio proposed llcgulations for di.scussion in th(^ Section, in accordance witli the wi.sh of the Miiiisti'r of Education. Th(* Section then adjourned lo me(;t on Wednesday, at \) a.m. Wednesday, August 12th, 1885. Pur.su'iixt to adjournment tlie Section met in the Art Kooni of Education Department at 9 a.m. On motion of Mr. liarnes, seconded by Mr. Clapp, the Minutes of preceding year w(>re duly adopted. A circular was read respecting the regulations upon Indian SchooKs and Mr. Barnes \va.s appointed to take charge of the matter and report accordingly. Mr. Campbell then introduced his subject, "The School Pro- gramme," after which the proposed K<'gulaiions were considered. Moved by Mr. Mackintosh, seconded by Dr. McDiarmid, That supplementary reading be recommended for u.se in all classes. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Clapp, .seconded by l\[r. Johnston, and resolved, That writing on paper be added to progran)me for First Cla.ss work. Moved by Mr. Tilley, seconded by Mr. Barnes, and resolved, That easy Vulgar Fractions be added to Arithmetic (Third Class). It was recommended that Book-keeping by Single Entry form a subject of study in all Schools and that tho title " Writing" on the margin be changed to " Writing and Book-keeping." Moved, seconded, and resolved. That the (Geography for Third Class be " Definitions, Map of the World, Nortli and South America, Dominion generally and Ontario minutely," and that for Fourth Class the following be added to projjosed standard, '* Dominion, British Isles and United States to be thoroughly taught." Moved by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Morgan, That the Tonic Sol-B'a System, possessing as it does advantages as to ease of acquisi- tion and simplicity, be recommended for use at the option of the Teacher. — Carried. 4 MINUTKS. •2:\ Movrd hy I^r, Mcl^iiiriiiid, seconded l>y Mr. Scarlett, and resolved, That ('/(insi/ii'(i.U(>)i. of' H'ardu nud. Coryrrfion of Comoioti. fijrrors ^e added to Tliird Clnss (iramuiar. By motion duly made, Mr. Smitli, of Wentwortli, then introduoed thoHiiUjoct of I'own.ship In.stitutes and the manner in which lie had condnctt'd them. Tho Chairman then appointed Me.ssrH. McL('an, Mr'Kinnon and Miller a committee to prepare an ohituary notice on tin; death of the lato Mr. Little, Inspector of Tuhlic Schools, ('ounty of lEalton. MovckI l)y Mr. DeariKsss, seconded hy Mr. Till(;y, and resolved, That tho Minister la; re(juested to chan<:>e the Keijulation respecting School accommodation to read that " whore tho School population exceeds one hundred, or the average attendance e.Kceeds forty, there shall be two rooms." Moved hy Mr. Morgan, seconded l)y Mi-. Tilley, and resolved, That the Hon. the Minister of l']ducation he reijucssted to prepare a circular to County Councils res[)ecting reasonable travelling expenses. The meeting thtjn adjourned to meet on Thursday, at 9 a.m. • Thursday, August l;Uh, 1885. Pursuant to adjournment the meeting opened at 9 a.m. Mr. Campbell in the chair. The Minutes of last meeting were read and approved. Moved by Mr. Dearness, seconded by Mr. iMiller, and resolved. That, in the opinion of this Section, at least (hrtie of the Jive years required for an Inspector's Certificate under (6) should be in Public School work while holding a Provincial certitieato of qualitication. Moved by Mr. Dearness, seconded by Mr. Morgan, That it is inexpedient to aboli.sh the Departmental Examination for Fiist Class Non-professional Examinations as the (jualiticatioii for Cnspectors' Certiticates. — Canned. Moved by Mr. McKinnon, seconded by Mr. Brebner, That the first clause of Clause 2 (page 14, Regulations) ))e amended to read " To spend on an average one half-day in the visitation of each School." — CarTied. Moved by Mr. McKinnon, seconded V)y Mr. Barnes, and resolved, That a committee, consisting of Messr.s. Morgan, Brebner and Dearne.ss, be appointed to prepare an improved form for Inspectors' Reports to Trustees at the close of each visit, and to submit the same to the Minister of Education for his consideration ; also to bring in a report respecting this matter to the meeting of Public School Inspectors at next session. 24 MINUTKS. Moved by Mr. Dearness, seconded by Mr, Ballard, That the words " not longer than " be inserted after (2) in Clause 14, page 16. — Carried. The following were elected Officers for 1885-G ; — Chairman F. L. Michell Perth. Secretary John Brehner Sarnia. A. Camphell Kincardine. J. C. Morgan Barrie. Directors -, W. H. Ballard Hamilton. H. Reazin Lindsay. \ W, Murray Picton. I John Dearness London. Legislative Committee D. P. Claim* Harriston. ( Wm. Mackintosh Madoc. Moved by Mr. Dearness, seconded by Mr. McKinnon,and resolved, That this Section considers a minimum of 350 cubic feet of air capa- city per pupil be made obligatory in all schools erected after 1885. Mr. Dearness then presented the Report of the Committee ap" pointed last year to consider " School Architecture." On motion of Mr. Miller, seconded by Mr. Ballard, the Report was received and adopted, and a vote of thanks passed to the com- mittee for the trouble they had taken in the matter. The Section then proceeded to consider "Entrance Examination Regulations." Moved by Mr. Mackintosh, seconded by Mr. Dearness, That Book- keeping by single entry should foim one of the subjects of Examina- tion for Entrance to High Schools. — Carried. Moved by Mr. Miller, seconded by Mr. Brebner, That in the opinion of this Section a County Board of Examiners, composed of the Public School Inspectors and Head masters of High Schools, should read the answers of candidates for admission, and that the subjects should be so divided that all the answer papers in any sub- ject may be valued by the same examiner. — Carried. Mr. McKinnon then submitted the Obituary Report on the death of the late Inspector Little, which was received. The meeting then adjourned. F. L. Michell, Secretary. I ^u > ?€ --s^ft-' l^^li ^ ;j.ii| ! «j i ii; ii iiii i CO I 00 CO p^ 5z; 00 CO Cc3 PAPERS READ BEFORE The Ontario Teachers' Association. 1885. iJi THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION. DAVID ALLISON, LL.D., Superinfciidciit of Education for the Province of Nova Scotia. It is scarcely i;ecessary to remind such a body as the Ontario Teachers' Association that it is not my purpose to enter upon an exhaustive, closely reasoned discussion of the subject which has been announced. The discursive observations I have to otFer proceed from convictions that the importance of tlie inductive study of education has not been duly estimated even by many of those who are labouring for the elevation of educational ideals and the improvement of educa- tional methods ; and that, by simply commending it to their atten- tion, I may render a service to the younger members of your learned association. No feature of the intellectual activity which marks our age is more obvious than the disposition to trace historical growths from their " primordial germs" to their latest and corapletest develop- ments. No variety of social, political or ecclesiastical institution ; no law, custom, language or creed, escapes this careful, micrcscopic process of investigation. Darwin, in the " Development of Species," and Newman, in the " Development of Dogma," alike impressively testify to the prevailing tendency of modern thought. It is altogether vain to deride this tendency as a mere idle curio.sity, always unpro- fitable, often irreverent. Undoubtedly, a rash and restless spirit of inquiry has sometimes yielded to a temptation to transgress the legiti- mate boundaries of human knowledge ; but, on the whole, we find the impulse to historical research springing from worthy motives and permanently enriching mankind by its results. Even inquiries which, through misdirection or otherwise, have failed of their main object not unfrequently issue in incidental good of equal or greater value. In everything the present bears some relation to the past, and the more important any given thing may be, the greater need that we should know just what that relation is. To some extent the THK HISTOUIOAL DKVKLOPMKNT or KDUCATION. '>7 history of education is involved in the history of literature, in the history of science, in the history of civilization itself ; for in a broad sense each ago in its literary character, in its scientitic spirit, in its gtneral culture, is just what the methods of education in \ogue have I made it. Yet we are to remenilier that education h;is a history of its own ; that it is something distinct from lit( rature and scie.ice and civilization; that it is at once an historical entity pnd a science whose principles can he learned only hy careful research and induc- tif'U, while their application to the complex social and industrial con- ditions of nicdern life involves many difficult and as yet unsettled problems. What worthier task, therefore, can we propose to our- selves than that of tracing its development from the rude embryonic studies of primitive times down to tlie highly organized systems and artistic methods which have Ix en elaborated during the course of centuries? That word of caution, which is always necessary when a matter of historical inquiry is proposed, is neces.sary here. Indeed 'from its relation to ndigious controversies and political strifes, education is one of those subjects which men are peculiarly apt to look at throu«i;h distorting media. It can therefore claim with the strongest logical emphasis that we shall study its history with that calm dispassion.-tte loillingness to abide l>y resuHs, which is the only true spirit of .scien- tific investigation. We must learn that the sole legitimate aim of historical inquiry is a true knowledge of the real past : that he does not deserve to be called a student of history whose aim is less com- prehensive and complete than this. To attempt to elucidate con- temporary educational problems by researches conducted on the principle of seeing nothing that makes against our preconceived notions and magnifying everything that seems to sustain them, is to do violence to the hrst principles of the historical method. It is to degrade our inquisitive faculty from one of its noblest and most fruitful u.ses, and make it the instrument of a blind, .selfish and dis- honourable partisanship. To study education inductively with profit, we must have the temper of the ideal geologist, who raises his hammer to strike without knowing wlu'ther the descending blow will contirm his antecedent theory or shiver it to atoms, and without carhiy, his sole anxiety being to learn concerning the matter in hand " the truth, the whole tiuth, and nothing but the truth. ' But a mere ascertain- ment of objective fact bv no means exhausts the dutv of a student of the history of .such a subject as education. bracts require hitf.rpretfr- tion. Their true signilicance is learned only by the evolution of the motive-forces which have produced them. Events must be placed in such a relation to each other as the laws of historical perspective require. In regard to education, as in regard to everything that hfis taken shape under the free play of human motive and volition, we must struggle against and overcome the conviction (almost invincible though it be) that that which long has been is that which ouglit to be now. We must not in the servile spirit of mere imitators .search simply for models to be copied. The instruction we seek from the nmrnmammmmm^ 28 THE HKSTOHICAL DEVELOl'MKNT OF EDUCATION. past must be such as its history affords when read, studied and valued with both intelligence and honesty. Pursued in such spirit as T have thus briefly indicated, the study of educational development must be ireric in its effects. We shall learn to reverence the genius of true scholarship, wherever and by whomsoever displayed. We shall learn that the precious fruits of knowledge grow on many trees with roots in many soils. We shall learn that illustrious educators are confined to no particular school or system, and that no limitations can prevent a genuine teacher from kindling in the bosom of his pupils a sincere and ardent love of the truth. Above all, we shall learn to distinguish between the transient and the permanent in the elements and instruments of education. A recognition of the analogy between the intellectual and the spiritual development of our race will recall the language of a sacred writer : " Now this word .... signifieth the removing of things that are shaken as of things that are made, that the things lohich cannot he- shaken inay remain." But I must dismiss the general question thus opened up as includ- ing too much for satisfactory treatment in such a paper as this. Let me simply raise a few inquiries as to the light shed by the history of education on some of the debatable questions of our own day. 1. What subjects shall be (aught in our schools and colleges / This is a question of the utmost importance, yet it receives a perplexing variety of answers, a variety corresponding to the different theories that are held in respect to the true end of education. One school — ably represented by the learned essayist (Very Rev. Provost Body) who has preceded me — seeks an answer to the question asked by an analytic enquiry into the effects of education upon character. With another school, the primacy of studies is determined by the funda- mental conception of education as an agency for sharpening faculty and developing mental power in a general sort of way, for producing that nameless grace, that undefinable charm of scholarship, which for want of a better term men have to call " culture." Those who hold this to be the highest and best type of learning place their chief reliance for its production ^ n those studies which, from resting on human speech, opinion and history as their basis, are known as " the Humanities." The upholders of this theory of education refer us to illustrious lines of statesmen and jurists, of poets and philosopher.s, as at once its product nnd its vindication. But what can be more emphatic than the repudiation of this whole theory, and all that it involves, by many modern educationists'? These tell us that the true aim of education is to fit our youth directly for the practical respon- sibilities and duties of citizenship and life, and that this aim should give direction to the studies of both school and university. They represent the world we live in as quite as well worth studying as the buried nations and extinct civilizations of the past, while they reject, as founded on a monstrous misconception, the usage which limits the name of scholar to the man who has spent his lifetime in the analysis of words and the generalization of abstractions. This view of educa- m mmm TlIK HISTORIOAL DEVKf.OPMKXT OP KDUCATION. 29 lied and ;he study We shall r and by fruits of ^Ve shall ir school !her from fe of the transient ation. A spiritual 1 writer : that are annot he. is includ- lis. Let li story of es/ This jrplexing theories school — )st Body) 3d by an '. With le funda- g faculty roducing vhich for who hold leir chief psting on I as " the fer us to Dsophers, be more II that it the true 1 respon- ai should i^. They ng as the ly reject, imits the analysis of educa- tion is supported by Dr. Arnold's well-known sentiment, that " in whatever it is our duty to act, these matters also it is our duty to study," a sentiment which, after all, is but the echo of the voice of the ancient sage: " Teach your son while a l)oy what he will have to prac- tise when a man." Thes(> advocates of a practical cultus also are not afraid to appeal to fact in support of their contention, claiming that so large a percentage of the representatives of so-called "culture " fails to be of any recognizal)l(i service to the world, as to excite a sus- picion that the humanistic studies get a good deal of unde8er\('d credit through the fallacy known in logic as xon causa fro caum. Nor should we fail to note that scicMitilic and kindred studies are no longer pressed on the severely practical ground of their utility ; it is con- tended that they have proved themselves admiral>l(^ m(;ans of mental discipline, developing powers of intellect and habits of thought but partially reached by the researches of philology, the deductions of mathematics, or the speculations of philosophy. This is by no means a vivid and realistic picture of the educa- tional strife that is now in progress. Much heat has been imported into the dispute. The l)attle of opinion is a fierce one, while, to use a popular phrase, it is waged "all along the line." Then we must remember that within the generic controversy there are many minor contentions exciting almost equal interest. A large section of the friends of polite studies have abandoned, in whole or part, their reli- ance on the ancient classics, and prefer to look for literary inspira- tion to our mother-tongue and the noble literature which it enshrines. Then, too, in the wrangling of theorists, science is pitted against science, while some extremists even urge that sciences itself is vain unless we teach also the practical arts which are based upon it. Now if we ask what help to a satii^factory settlement of the questions in dispute can a study of the history of education atibrd, we must candidly reply that directly, and in regard to matters of detail, it can afford but little. The amount of truth contained in each of the con- flicting representations to which I have alluded — for that each contains a certain measure of truth is beyond all question — is a matter depending more on absolute mental laws and relations than on what men have thought and done about studies in the past. Still the law of the development of education, intelligently appre- hended, teaches an important lesson which we should be slow to forget. The great educational problem of our day may be fairly stated in general terms to refer to the relative position to be assigned to the new studies and the ohl. The voice of history may be silent as to the comparative value of the.se studies ; but it loudly proclaims the principle that no study can depend on mere prescription for a per- manent place among the educational agencies of mankind. Each age is called on to perform its own tasks, for which it must seek out its own methods, so often as traditional ones prove ineffective or inap- propriate. This law can be traced in education as clearly as in every other sphere of thought and effort. We of course recognize that principle of inertia which in mental movements always keeps effects 30 TlIK lllSToiiK Al. liK'. KLOf'MKNT OK KDl'CATION. from immediately following thffir causes ; liut, making due aliowaiic(^ for its operation, we find that the studies of any particular (spoch are irresistibly determined by the existing conditions of social, industrial and intellectual life. One glance at the history of education is enough to dispel the illusion — which, however, is a very widsspread one — that from the eailiest ages men have jogged aloii^ in one unvarying routine of studies. On the contrary, in the conflict ])etween the old and the new to which I have alluded, '-history rep(!ats itself." The history of education is the history of revolutions. If we view time as made up, not of minute fragments, Ijut of reasonably extended periods, we see that there has always ^>een an " o/(/ education" and a"ne?(' educati.-in." The advocates of the latter no doubt often display 'unnecessary aggressiveness in pushing themselves forward as the representatives of new conditions and ifleas, while the friends of the former in defending their liereditary preserves, are often tempted to make themselves the champions of the prescriptive, the traditional, and the stereotypt.'d. All the essential conditions of the great educational revolution which is going on before our own eyes were anticipated in (xreece more than two thousand year?< ago. The history of the remavkable movement to which I refer is embalmed in the page of comedy ; )mt it is none the less true and trustworthy on that account. A new era had dawned on Athens. The advance of civilization had developed new intellectual conditions. Mathematical and philosophical studi(>s were knocking at the door of the schools, and threatening the old- fashioned instruction, which in the eyes of all intelligent men l)ad become a palpable anachronism. With the conservative instincts of a poet, Aristophanes, a writer of the keenest wit and of almost unrivalled lyric genius, undertook to champion the cause of the tradi tional culture. The new studies were spoiling the manners and corrupting the morals of the youth. As compared with the olden times, boys dolTed their caps less reverentially, girls courtesied less modestly, while both alike were V>eing unfitted to continue the honest toil of their i)arents. These incoming studies were the invention of pestilent busybodies and crackbrained innovators; Athens had become great and glorious without them, and did not need them then ; the true policy was to abide by the old time-tested, time-honoured staml- ards, shunning the work of iconoclasts and impostors, and particularly avoiding the danger of over-educating the children of carpenters and cobblers. Were Aristophanes living and writing now, we should not pronounce him a very original thinker. He would assuredly be charged with plagiarizing from Richard Grant White, and might not unfairly be 8U8|)ected of stealing an idea now and then from a certain school of Canadian writers on the subject of popular education. But of what avail was even the genius of a great poet when enlisted in behalf of a lost cause ? Kidicule, however polished, and lyric fervour, however lofty, could not keep l>ack the tides of a mighty intellectual revolution. The new studies might ha travestied ; they could not be repelled. m^mm THK HISTORIC.M. OKVELOl'MUNT OF KDUCATION. 31 iliowauc(; ipoch are ndustrial lispel the from ili(.' outint! of [ and the e history as made riods, wo a ' ' 7i,ei(r \ display d as tho ds of the nipted to iditional, jvolutiou II Greece inavlcHbhi 3dy j hut new era eveloped il studies the old- men liad instincts f almost he tradi iiers and he olden sied less le honest ention of d become len ; the id stand- ticularly iters and ould not redly be light not 1 certain m. But disted in fervour, -ellectual Id not be Jn fact it may bo said that all history is a protest against the folly of assuming linalities in the instruments of education. Who, rluring the course of long centuries, would iiave been wild enough to even hint that Aristotle would ever lose his imperial sway over the human intellect and over the whole length and breadth of human h-arniiig? And yet today it would be just as possible to do any other impossible thing as to restore to his famous categories and syllogisms the supremacy they so long maintaincMl in the schools of Europe. This I say while yielding to none in profound reverence for " the strongest man of the ancients," and in true and loving regard for the " doctors angelic, doctors seraphic, doctors invincible, and doctors irrefriigaV>le," who b.ung with rapture on his minutest word, and gathered around the central points of his philosophy the N'ast and curious treasures of the scholastic literature. Let us remember, too, that Aristotle neither owed his pre-eminence originally to accident, nor retained it by the mere force of prescription. Undoubt- edly towards the end of his career in the schools men continued to itdh«;re to him when it would have been the part of wisdom to let him iio : wlien the fall of Constantinople and the dispersion of her scholars, the Crusades and the contact of European mind with Oriental learning, the dawn of the inductive philosophy and the l)irtl] of the experi- mental sciences had placed something better within their reach. But during the greater part of his long reign he sat on his throne by right. When we abuse the scholars of Western. Europe for deferring to his authority we most 'unreasonably abuse them, for they ))uilt their system on the best basis of knowledge within their reach. But when it became no longer true that Aristotle " treated every subject coming within the range of ancient thought better than any one else,'" the foundations of the great master's kingdom were shaken, and in its ultimate overthrow we have a most impressive proof of the power- lessness of mere prescriptive authority to resist the pressure of new conditions of intellectual activity. Let us glance for a moment at the history of Greek as a subject of instruction in the schools. Who in the glorious noon of the Kenais.sance could have dreamed that the day would come when a renowned writer on education would refer to the quantity of the penultimate syllable of Iphigenia as a trivial matter, when a famous graduate of Oxford would affirm the study of Greek to be defensible only on the theory that studies are valuable in proportion to their uselessness, or when an American scholar with an historical name would boldly pronounce that study to be "a college fetich'"! For my own part, 1 cherish t!ie hope that the language of Demosthenes and Piato will for many generations yet vindicate for itself a place in the recognized circle of useful studies ; but we must frankly adfiiit that we are not living in thr days of the Renaissance, and that to modern collegians Greek cannot be exactly what it was to the youth who sat at the feet of Erasmus. But its history as a study strikingly illustrates the principle which I am seeking to unfold. Whatever shall be the time or the manner of its "going out," its '• coming in " 32 TlIK HISTORICAL DKVKLOI'MKNT OP EDUOATION. was the moans of one of the most marvellous of all intellectual revo- lutions. Those who speak of Latin and Grenk as the studies over which men dozed and dreamed during " the Dark Ages " display strange ignorance of the plainest historical fact. Greek is a modern rather than an ancient study. It forced its way into the European universities, in some cases after centuries of obstinate resistance from the entrenched culture, and candourcompels the acknowledgment that its final triumph was due to practical and utilitarian reasons, rather than such as iin; now urged in favour of its retention in our .school and college programmes. These last are based on the excellent mental drill involved in the mastery of its highly philosophical syntax, on its adaptation to philological research, on the power of its literary treasures to stimulate the imagination and cultivate the taste. But such w(^re not the considerations which gained for it its original admission to the seats of learning in Europe. Greek was the practical study of tho.se time.s. It commended itself on positively utilitarian grounds. It revealed knowledge which could not be obtained from the in)perfectly Latinized Aristotle. It furnished the key to all that was best and wisest in human thought, not excepting even the words of Him *' who spake as never man spake," thus inducing men to study it just as English scholars .study German now, not so much for the sake of the language as for the sake of the treasures it unlocks. My purpo.se does not retjuire any attempt at forecasting the future of this noble language in our schools. The determining princi- ple is a plain one, and that prniciple is not prescription, but utility. Greek came in as a supplanter, because it was a i>etter instrument than the studies it displaced, and it will go out, supplanted in turn, when- ever it shall cease to answer some one of the really important ends of education better than anything else. We cannot be depended on for any length of time to lumber up our courses of study with mere fossils and mummies, or to use a poor piece of machinery when a good one is within our reach. In a recent paper, the foremost Greek scholar of America, Professor Goodwin, of Harvard, after referring to the accredited place of Greek in university courses, observes : " But neither this nor any other study can occupy this responsible position except at the price of eternal vigilance. It must be wide- awake, too, to see that its methods are not antiquated. . . . The foundations which it lays must be solid and lasting, or something better will take its place." These sagacious observations both state and illustrate the principle I have been trying to unfold. Other illustrations of changes in educational subjects and methods consequent on changes in society and advances in civilization suggest themselves beyond my power to use them. When Aquaviva, in education the great organizing genius of the Jesuit Order, was planning the policy which ultimately brought the schools of Europe under his sway, he was wise enough to see that he was living in a new age, and that the Trivium and Quadrivium of the mediaeval schools had outlived their usefulness. His ratio atque institutio studiorum was the product of a profound appreciation of the tendency m m princi- TIIE IIISTOUKJAL DliVKLOI'MKNT OF EDUCATION. 33 of events aiul the practical demands of the age, and perhaps did as much as religious zeal in extending the inlluenceof the famous Order. It would make this part of my paper disproportionately long were [ to refer, as 1 properly might do, to the recognition reluctantly accorded in modern times to .Science and iier multiform applications, fir.st, in the universities, and tlien in respect to more elenuintary principles, in the institutions for .s(!condary and primary education. Suffice it to say regarding the general subject, that I l)y no means wish to convey the meaning that historical ref(;rences will enable us to infallibly decide the claims of rival studies or rival groups of studies. By such references, however, we learn to rebuke the dog- matism which condemns a study simply because it was not to the front a century ago, or applauds another which once has answered conditions that have passed away never to return. They teach us that in the studies of the .school, as in other things, Our little syrttems have their day, They have their clay, and ceaae to be, while, in view of the almost alarming multiplication of new sciences and arts based upon them, we increasingly appreciate the knowledge of such a principle, that we may be saved from utter bewilderment and despair. Life is too short to enable us to learn all that our fore- fathers learned, and that vaster knowledge of which they knew nothing in addition. If we are sometimes led to fear that the old idea of culture in the abstract, of mental discipline and development, pure and simple, is in danger of becoming extinct, we must encourago ourselves with the conviction that studies which enrich and adorn life will also train and develop mind. 2. A closely connected inquiry and one in reference to which it would be profitable, if time permitted, to elicit the true teaching of history is : IIow shall the various branches be taught i how, in respect both of the ends aimed at, and the methods adapted to those ends 1 Though this is in fact a more important question than that which has thus far occupied us, its consideration here must be confined within narrower limits. It is impossible to compress into the few pages at my disposal the substance of the rapidly extending literature of educational science. At most, I could only hope to touch on a few leading phenomena and principles, and that in a cursory and superficial manner. The subjects taught in our schools are not only various, but to a large extent they stand related to different faculties, thus in the very nature of things rendering it impossible to discuss, under present limitations, either the underlying laws or practical methods of successful teaching with any breadth or fulness of treat- ment. We are professing, however, to view the subject in the light of historical inquiry. Well, so far as much of the past is concerned, the value of the results of such inquiry is of a purely negative character. We learn the importance of truly philosophical theories and methods of education by observing what has taken place where 3 9 34 TIIK HISTORICAL DEVKLOl'MKNT OF EDUCATION. thoy have been absent, just as we loarn tlie value of scientitiu systems of Hgricuiture by noticing; the sterility and desolation to which empirical farmiiii,' always leads. It oujL,dit, however, to be a cause of real jj;ratilication that through the slow, and often almost untraceable evolution of the a<^('K, we liavtt reached in these last days at least an approximation to a definitely formulated Science of Edl'CATION. It must be admitted that of the educating races of the world our own has had pi'rhaps the least to do with aiding this development, and is by no means among the foremost in recognizing its importance now. Many highly educatc^l Englishmen, and some liigldy educated Canadians too, I fear, an; prepared to smile incredulously when told tliat psychological research has brought to light a science of whose laws all rational mc^thods of instruction are simply the practical applica- tions. But it is obvious that unless the human mind is utterly without law in respect to the operation of its faculties, such a science must exist pofeiifiaUi/, and we have reason to l)e grateful for tlie degree of fulness and precision with which its principles have been actually flerelopid. A recent writer expresses the opinion that, " in spite of the great advances which hav«! been made of late years, the scieiice of edu- cation is still far in advance of the art ] school-masters still teaching sulijects which have been universally condemned by educational authorities for the last two hundred years, and the education of every public school being a farrago of rules, principles and customs belonging to every age of teaching,"* To this we may say that it is a great thing to have the science, even if the art yet lags so far behind. Something like this might, with some truth, be said of the relation of every art to its kindred science. But if this be specially true in respect of the science and art of education, the reasons are not far to seek. Education is young ; the sciences with which the comparison is concerned are old. The correct application of their principles has been carefully studied out by long processes of induc- tion including centuries in their sweep. Law, medicine and theology have thus been patiently investigated amid the inspirations and opportunities of famous universities. It may indeed be said that some of the particular problems connected with education excited attention even in the earliest times. So they did. The acute and perspicacious intellect of that great speculative thinker, Plato, anticipated some of the positive conclusions of modern educational science. Aristotle and Quinctilian grasped and enunciated valuable principles worthy of being incorporated in "the body of sound doctrine." But these early attempts at systematizing the principles of education were lo.st sight of during that long period of dense obscuration, when men with difficulty retained in their vision even the rudimentary shapes of learning. With reviving culture naturally the first question was, " What shall we study 1, " not " How shall we study ] " But in time the inductive spirit generated by Bacon did Ency. Brit., article on Education. imm 'lUI'; IIISTOIUCAI- I)K\ Kf.Ol'MKNT OF KDl'CATION. 35 its work. PatitMit niiiuls traced out tho idea of ('(lucatioii us some- thing having a dtjliiiablo scicatiHc basis— something itnineiisurahly transccniding routine varied only by eiiipirlc;d gropings in the dark. Unfortunately this new tlieory reeeivetl but seant countenance at the great seats of learning. Tho universities liad lost the fresh ness )f the 1{ or tne itenaissance impulse, and too generally liad given themselves up to the spirit of ease. Individual names of great eniiufnice con- secrated the nvAv science ; but the tiisk of evolving its principhis and nu'thods fell chi(!fly to the lot of a few lonely investigators, working apart and often rc^peating each other's discoveries, without, in many caso.s, proper opportunities for broad reliable inductions, and thus led to propound as educational axioms absuril paradoxes, which fuller observation would have reduced to tije limits and proportions of reason. Admitting tho thousand imperfections that still attach to the methods of our schoolrooms, who can over-estimate the importanc*! of this grand dev(>lopment i Who tloes not see that it is to the recognition of education as a science, with practical methods corre- sponding to its theoretical, principles, that we owe all that is most hopeful in our presi^nt condition and outlook, our pr(jf»!ssionally trained teachers, our kindergartens, our object lessons, our teaching of grammar by practice, and of science by observation and experi- ment, not to omit the aspirations which are cherished for some really eHective mode of intermingling in our schools the literary and industrial features of education t It is easy, and right too, to njgret that all teaching is not natural, sympathetic, eillcaoious ; that so niuch of it is mechanical, traditional, haphazard, a case of the "blind leading the blind." But a broad view inspires hopefulnes.s. P'alse and unnatural methods are at least beginning to die out. and even the fact that tlioy are rooted and grounded in tlu; tenacious soil of human inertia cannot secure their permanent vitality. 3. The last topic to which I propose to refer is the Relation of Education to the State. Dealing with this subject in its historical aspects, I am not called on to discuss the abstract principle of the obligation of a state to provide for the education of its youth — its future citizens. Whatever differences of opinion exist among those who recognize the general A'alidity of that obligation as to the pre- cise theoretical grounds on wliich it rests, and whatever diversities of practice may prevail as to the mode and limits that govern the appli- cation of the principle, this much at least is clear that the civilized nations of modern times agree to treat education as a national neces- sity. Some state systems of education are more elastic, more tolerant of agencies outside of state control, than others ; but the universal law of nations recognizes the instruction of youth as a matter within the scope of public authority, and as thus prescribing specific duties to the national understanding and conscience. Legislation ordains systematic provision for organizing and operating the forces of education, establishes regulative principles for their direction, and, in many cases, enforces by positive statute the use of the oppor- 36 Tllli IIiaTOUICAL DKVELOl'MKNT OK KDUCATION. tunitlos thus providod. My purpoao bciii;^ historical ratlior than controversial, [ content my.self with two brief ohservatioiiH. The assailants of tin* theory of a state control of e lucatiou lind them- selves confronted l>y the almost insuperable dilUculty of layit»^ down lines and principles of attack which do not virtually involve the annihilation of the (dementary ideas of national existence and autljority. To this may b(^ added a simph* statement of the fact that the forces wliich have operated in sonu^ countrii^s ai\d in certain Htates of society to retard tin* full dev.dopment of that theory are mani- festly ^[rowing weaker and weaker. The ol*vious march of events is toward the complete nationalization of (>ducation. But how does this (question stand related to history '< We are without oppor*^.unity for thorouojhly studying in their organic char- acter the eaacational instrumentalities of the ancient nations. The schools of Greece and Home, if not strictly ntatp. schools, were cer- tainly secular in the sense of providing a course of training for the general duties of citizenship, without reference to special culture for any ecclesiastical function. And being of this character, instruments designed to furnish training necessary foj* all, we naturally find no historical grounds for supposing that, in the earliest centuries of Christendom, advantage was not taken of their facilities by Christiana as well as others. The steps by which education came in after times chiefly within the control of a particular class, the clergy, I need not trace minutely. The tremendous cataclysm which swept away the Roman Empire swept with it all vestiges of an organized system of public instruction. The cause of learning had been lost but for the fidelity to its interests of those who ministered at the altar. It is not enough to say that in thovSe ages of upheaval and dis.solution, the Church was the agency best adapted to foster intellectual training. As respects many centuries, a comparative mode of speech is out of the question. There was no other agency. But for the efforts of pious churchmen society would have been absolutely overwhelmed by the deluge of barbarism. Undoubtedly their primary impulse to educational work was a moral and religious one. Conditioned to a narrow field of effort, shut up to do only a part of that which was desirable, it was natural and right that they should lay the chief emphasis on what was of the high* st import. But it would be to defame the Church of those troub'ous times to say that she had not a distinct conception of the value of education in itself and for its own sake. You search her annals in vain for any trace of sympathy with the notion which magazine writers of our own day have under- taken to sustain, that the spread of popular education tends to the increase of crime. She looked upon intellectual as the natural ally of moral culture ; and this viev/ determined her policy in dealing with the barbarous peoples for whose salvation she laboured. Her watchwords did not anticipate the modern maxim, " If you educate a man's intellect only, you but make him the greater scoundrel," a maxim capable of a true sense indeed; but too often quoted, I fear, in support of the God-dishonouring falsehood that the pursuit of 4^ THE IIIHTUKK.AL DEVKLOl'M KNT OF KUUCATIUN. 37 cr than 8. T\w i\ thein- \^ down :)lvp the ICO and the fact certain r(i niani- ) vents is Wo are lie char- 18. The /^oro cor- ; for the Iture for rumentH ■ find no urieH of liristianH ter times need not iway the ystem of t for the r. It is tion, the training, ia out of efforts of whelmed 1 pulse to ined to a hich was he chief Id be to she had nd for its ynipathy /e under- la to the ural ally dealing d. Her educate ndrel," a d, I fear, •ursuit of HO-callcd Hcculur kuowjcdj^M! has .i ;y«r.sfi tendency towards moral th-pra- vation. liut enoMiiOus conclusions must not he tlmwn from the admitted nilationsot' the Church of tlu' iMitldlc Ages to education. The efforts to wliich I have nferrnl did not proceed on the .score of a theoretical repudiation of the right of the state to interest itscOf in the Hann; subject. The (Jhurch simply rccognizijd the duty that devolved on herself, 'ind, with exceedingly limited agencies at command, discharged that duty in such a manner as to evoke the adu)iration and th(! gratitude of succfcding ages, l^ut when at tinu's the idea of nationality came forth into special promine-nce, and great ruU-rs like Alfred and Charlemagnt; had help to offer, she freely yielded to the representatives of the state the right to direct the currents of national education. There are far better liislorical grounds for regarding our noble Saxon King as the inventor of " compulsory- education " than as the originatoiof "trial by jury "or founder of the University of Oxford. As for Charl(!niagn(!, tlu; great organizing genius of the c«!ntral medijeval period, wliile many of his plans perished with himself, the schools which In; founded survived the wreck of liis injperial policy and became permanently incorporated in the general structure of European society. Much the same lesson is taught by the histories of the universi- ties of Europe, those famous institutions who.se degrees,. " the stamp and seal of profound erudition," were once in as high esteem as a patent of nobility, or even as " the Golden Rose " itself. In their earliest manifestations, as is well known, they were not the product of religious inipuLses or ecclesiastical decrees at all. They owed their origin to clearly traceable historical causes, events which filled Europe with a new race of scholars, and brought those scholars together at various points for the purjwses of mutual aid, comfort, and protec- tion. And when at a later period the universities received the patronage and came, to a greater or less extent, under the control of the Church, there was a collateral development of a relation to the state in which each institution was planted. In process of time the universities, as a rule, became distinctive national institutions ; without them the national life and activity were felt to be unorgan- ized and incomplete. Speaking generally, the national iio/.e or characteristic is retained by the univ(n-sities of Europe until this day. They are part of the organized life of the nation, and while accumulating and distributing the priceless treasures of learning, they play an important part in devi-loping the impulses of patriotism. We thus see that in the Old World the developujent of the doctrine of state interference in primary education was subsequent to a long settled practice of founding and liberally endowing institu- tions providing special culture for the few. On this continent the manner and order of evolution have, to a certain extent, been different. Here, alongside of a practically unanimous recognition of the right pf the state to direct elementary education, there has grown up a theory that beyond that sphere national interposition is uncalled- ^ 38 THK IlISTOKICAL nKVRLOPMP:\T OF KDITATIOX. for and improper. Conspicuous cases may ho ouotcd to show that this theory is not universally held either in the United States or Canada ; but that it has been d(!terminative of the educational policy of lari^'c sections of the people there can ho no douht. Is it a sounil one I Mature retlectiort has convinced me that it is not. This is assuredly a case of *' al/ or nofhinj." The regulative rii^ht which is theon'tically admitted in respect to the (education of citildri'n cannot he denietl in resp(>ct to the education of i/'>U)i(/ mm and tn,ii)if)i. Frame any tlufory you like to justify state interuosition and control in education at all, and it will logically include the whole reach and scope of education, or it will he found wanting as a theory altogether. Even assuming tliat as one who would A hair divide Betwixt tile nor' iiiid uor'-west sitle, we had found the theoretical limit of national right and responsibility, who can undertali<' to draw the line practically with any assurance of accuracy i Who, amid tht^ changing conditions of industrial and social life, can venture authoritatively to say to the state, " Thus far shalt thou come, hut no farther"? The fact that many of the high schools of to-day an> better equipped and manned than many univer- sities were fortv years ago would suggest the inference that the line between what the state may rightfully do and not do in the matter of education shifts with the progress of civilization I So much on tln^ score of theory. Those who object to my con- clusions can point to justly ilistinguished seats of learning such as McGill, or Queen's, or Victoria, built up by the purely voluntary efforts of private individuals or religious denominations. But it is quite possil)le that some or even all of tliose institutions owed their origin to tin; failure of the state to discharge its obligations in respect to higher education. If so, the fact simply increases the claim of such universities and tlieir founders on our admiration and regard. But I am prepared to contend for the general principle that it is undesirable to cut university education adrift from the corporate national life altogether ; that by doing so we needlessly sacrifice ehMuents of power which every true patriot should take into account. While admitting the impossibility of sketciiing a typical university that would suit all lands alike, and that the conditions of eajh country must largely determine tiie moulds in whicij its institutions should be cast, I venture to think that the neighbouring republic suffers greatly from the "free and easy" voluntaryism that charac- terizes its university system. An American college president, Dr. Barnard, of Columbia, after referring to the rigid control exercised l)y the governments of Europe over the ei-ection of universities, states the results as follow : " The sources of honour are so few, their characters are so high, they embody a learning so profound, their teachers are in general so celebrated and of so universally recognized authority, and, finally, all the tests to which they subject as- pirants are so rigorous, that a certificate of proficiency received low that >tates or ill policy a sound This is which is a cannot I ooutfol ■acli and iogetiior. isibilitv, ssuranco trial and Thus far th«; high V univer- ; the line le matter my con- ; such as oluntary But it is vcd their ri respect claim of I regard, that it is orporate sacrifice account, niversity of eajh titutions republic t charac- ent, Dr. rcised l>y >s, states w, their id, their cognized •ject as- received TIIK HISTORICAL DKVELOl'M KNT OF KDL'CATION*. :?9 from them has a meaning that all thr world can understand." He then adds: "All these advantages we have thrown away. We have not only multiplied almost ind"tinitely these fountains of honour, hut we have taken no care tliat, in their composition, tbt>y shall either represent learniiiij or command reverence. A village parson, a village doctor, and a village lawyer, supported l)y a banker, a shop-keeper or two, a manufacturer, and perhaps a gtuitleman farmer, constitute very commonly thetril)anal who are to disptMise the precious distinctions wlvich tlte conservative wisdom of other times entrusted only to the lionourcnl !>ands of those whom universal con- sent pronounced to be the wisest and tht> bi^st." Th(> remedy he suggests for what he calls " this miseral)le business " is an invocation of the authority of tlie state. In a })ortion of the press of my own Province^ which as you may know has live degrt-e-conferring institu- tions or universities, we nve sometimes assured that the policy of dotting the country over with small coll(»ges has worktul well in th(> LFnited States. Dr. Barnard does not seem to think so. A nu^re statement of facts almost forces on us the beliet that it must too often be accompanied by a lowering — an unspeakable lowering — of the true ideal of universitv education. Then^ are, if I recollect aright, thirtji-tiv<^ (Commissioner I'^aton's Kepoi-t gives the exact number) chartered, degree-conferring colleges or universities in the State of Ohio. Now there is not a member of your association who could not name off-hand tiie universities of the United Kingdom ; scarcely one, I think, wiio «ould not unprompted give the names of the chief universities of tiie German Kmpire. Ohio is separated from Ontario only by the narrow waters of Lake Erie, yet I pledge my word that there is not a member of your body who has ever heard of thiir of her three dozen universities ! And if now, with considerable venturesomeness for an outsider, I allude to your own magniticent Province, it is not because I suppose that any stich state of things as that which \ have Just described exists here. I know well that it iloes not. The institutions which exist side by side witii your noble Provincial University have an honourable record of self-sacriticing and successful endeavour, and the rigour with which they have maintained true university standards has long attracted my notice and my admiration. 1 venture to refer to Ontario because, more favoured than most, she seems possessed of conditions for realizing what perhaps after all is the ideal type of the university, that whicli joins to national authority, prestige and power, the free play of individual philanthropy and denominational zeal. Logical order ami completeness would recjuire me to return from .he digression into which 1 have wandered, and trace out somewhat minutely the law which has fans far guided the development of ])opular education. But I must forbear, luiving, 1 fear, already tres- passed beyond the l)Ounds of r(Mson on your patience. Let it be enough to congratulate ourselves, that though there may still be in connection with this great question some unsettled problems of no "HiwwyiW" • 40 EDUCATION IN REFERENCE TO CHARACTER. inconsiderable magnitude, history has vindicated the substantial soundness of the principles which guide our labours. No pessimistic apprehensions, no a priori ])rognostics of failure, can gainsay the great fact and lesson of human progress. The goal towards which all civilized nations are rapidly moving is the conception of organized public education, not as an economic arrangement for lessening police expenses, nor as a charitable contrivance to benefit the poor, but as a means by which free peoples, appreciating the unspeakable blessings of knowledge, have determined and decreed to make those blessings both permanent and universal. -♦•♦- EDUCATION IN KEFERENCE TO CHARACTER. VERY REV. C. W. E. BODY. Mr. President and Members of the Ontario Teachers' Asso- ciation, — I must confess to some amount of hesitation in acceptiuf* the invitation of your secretary to read a paper before this association. Whilst profoundly grateful for the honour you have thus done me, I felt strongly that one comparatively unacquainted with the details of the Ontario system of education had little right 4o read a paper before an assemblage such as this, composed of gentlemen whose whole lives are devoted to the working out and the improvement of that system. I was led therefore to select a subject bearing upon education in general, viz. : its influence upon the formation of char- acter, and I must crave your kind indulgence if, in treating of a somewhat well-worn, yet, I venture to think, most important subject, I, of necessity, suggest thoughts familiar to you in your own educa- tional experience, as also for the somewhat fragmentary way in which, from the pressure of varied engagements, I have been com- pelled to discuss the subject. According to one numerous and influential school, the office of education is not so much to develop character as to procure for it in the future an environment at least relatively favourable > that development. It has been urged that the chief dangers to the social ord''" arise from the hard pressure of poverty and want. By the difiusion of knowledge, especially of a technical or scientific character, it should be the aim of education to increase the power of the individual, and thus to raise him above the stratum of temptation in which the lot of poorly remunerative labour is inevitably cast. Now whatever partial triitii there undoubtedly is in the contention, it cannot be denied that the optimistic views founded upon it, and largely current a generation ago, as to the solvent effect of education upon crime, have not been confirmed by experience. Insten-d of melting away under the gentle influence of knowledge, cri"'{; has -M EDUCATION IN REFERENCE TO CHARACTER. 41 largely increased. If we flatter ourselves that it has at least become more refined, we are startled from time to time by the revelation of the » grossest crime rampant amongst educated men. Fraud and dishonesty threaten to invade with overwhelming force every class and every occupation ; and there seems to me no small peril that in disgust at the utter failure of unreasonable expectations education may, in the not distant future, be unduly discredited for an issue which might from the first have been clearly foreseen. The primal fallacy underlying this whole position is the assump- tion that any condition of life is comparatively free from temptation ; so that by increasing the power of an individual we enable him to rise to any great extent above its influence. On the contrary, the truth seems to be that with the increased power which education brings, as well as with that which multiplied invention, rapid communication and locomotion has supplied, temptations dangerous to society have become far more intense as the chances of success as well as the prizes to be obtained have been proportionately greater. To quote a recent writer in the Century^ " The greater temptations of the present day demand greater conscientiousness to resist them, and this greater conscientiousness is not always forthcoming." Experience is every day demonstrating with increasing force that if Education has no other ameliorating influences at her command than the mere negative one of improved material surroundings, then the outlook for society is undoubtedly dark and the results of the teacher's work hopelessly unsatisfying. It is the deep conviction of the present writer that only by recognizing and fostering the direct influence of education upon character can an adequate remedy be found — whilst from this influence rightly exercised the best results may under the Divine blessing be expected. The subject is at least a practical one, and it may be tht't the present time is not unsuitable for its discussion. A moment's reflection seems sufficient to prove that the direct influence of school life upon after character must be unquestionably great. Whether we consider the receptive nature of *"Ai" young life, or the fact that school forms a boy's first introduction t • ^ iiftt wider social life which lies outside the family circle, and that tl'-n/ore at school the foundation of those social virtues which ri p;'. iufce the intercourse of man with man will be laid, or necessarily the -Vtds of the opposite vices will be sown ; if we consider further that school introduces a boy into the conscious work of life, and that the spirit with which he addresses himself to his school work will, in the majority of cases, stick to him through life, and though little stress be laid upon the direct bearing of mental conceptions and bia upon the moral and spiritual character, it is clear that as he passes through the microcosm of school life, the boy becomes for the most part the father of the man. Regarding education then, not as the Tuere mechanical receiving ot knowledge with a view to increasing individual power for the purpose of acquiring wealth, but rather as the living development and training of the manifold faculties and powers which each man m 42 EDUCATION IN RKFEKENOK TO CHAHACTER. possesses latent within him, the studies which an^ most fruitful for this purpose are undoubtedly those which are directed towards the past, such as literary, historical, classical studies and the like, rather than those directed immediately to the needs of the present, such as technical, professional, and to a lart^e extent also, soientitic studies, although in this last case such studies as actually bring the pupil face to face with Nature, and not with mere dogmatic statements about her laws and methods, may exercise a deep and lasting intluence upon character. This distinction has been ably drawn in a paper read before the present meeting of the association, so that it is altogether unnecessary for me to further develop it. A single practical suggestion only I throw out in illustration, viz., with regard to the strengthening of the powers of observation, and therefore of the capacity for the enjoyment of Nature, and of revereni fellowship with her, which can ))e effected outside the walls of the school. A botanical excursion, or vivid explanation of the way in which geologically the various features of some landscape actually in sight have been formed, . .v/ open up in the mind new interests and ideas to be gladly followei after life. This method of teaching by occasional excursions ; -rongly recommended by Milton in iiis " Tractate on Education, and practised to a considerable extent in Germany. The successful introduction of Arbour Day, through the wise foresight of the Minister of Education, proves the possibility of such occasional lessons in Nature. To return, however ; without underrating for one moment the practical importance of modern languages, it is undoubtedly to the thought and history of the ancient world that we must turn for educational influences of the highest kind. Acquaintance with French and German literature can no more equal in educational value living contact with the thoughts and motives of the ancient world than a tour in our own fair Province can supply the advantages of extended travel. I trust that I shall not be misunderstood as detracting from the great practical utility and therefore importance of the modern languages. It is unnecessary at the present day to plead for what is universally accepted. I speak only of their value for purposes of education in the strict sense of the term. It is, of course, a truism to assert that our modern thought and existing society have been profoundly influenced in every part by the three great streams of culture we inherit from the Greek, the Roman and the Jew. To gain, however, any real insight into the nature of this influence — to see how the self-culture and analysis of the Greek, the consecration to law and the orderly discharge of the duties of citizenship which forms the distinguishing characteristic of Rome, the revelation of man's capacity for fellow- ship with God, and for co-operating with Him in the building-up on earth of a divine kingdom, which is the special dignity of the Jew, formed three indispensable factors in the necessary education of the race in its duties to self, to society and to God ; further, to gain even a faint glimpse of the way in which the mingled waters of these three streams flow on together in the Christian culture of RDUCATIOX IN RKFEIUJNOE TO CHARACTER. 43 itful for irds the , rather such as stu(li(^s, le pupil temonts iilluence a paper lat it is L single 1 regard •efore of llowahip ool. A L which in sight id ideas ihing by . in his ctent in >ugh the bility of without modern ! ancient highest can no ^hts and 'rovince I shall utility ecessary I speak sense of modern ced in rom the insight lire and orderly [uishing fellow- g-up on le Jew, II of the to gain atcrs of ture of n to-day, because they have been united and harmonized in the person !ind influence of the perfect Man, is to gain an insight into the Divine plan on which the education of the race has actually been based, the (Mlucational value of which can hardly be over-estimatt^d. I would not be supposed for one moment to undervalue the im- portance of the advance which has been made by the great improve- ment made of recent years in the various departments of professional and technical training. In this way lias been rolled back a reproach often too justly levelled against our edticational systems, tliat they failed to qualify tlieir students for the actual occupations in which they were to engage. To tit men to discharge in the best and most efficient mcnner the various duties which devolve upon them is a side of education the neglect of which brings swift retribution with it. So far from minimizing, 1 would strongly advocate the increast^ of these practical subjects of training ; such subjects as book-keeping, hygiene, and the elements of sanitary science, the practical application of chem- istry, and, for girls, domestic (K^onomy in its various departments, appear to be eminently deserving of more systematic treatment than they have yet received. I simply claim that such subjects do not exert the same influence upon character as is done by classical, historical and Scriptural studies, whose foundations li(! deep down in the past devttlopment of the race ; and that the development of character is a part of education of vital importance to the well-Vjeing of society. The true strength of a state undoubtedly lies in the character of its citizens ; or, to quote the Century once more : " The prime cause of commercial dishonesty and political corruption is a false ideal of life ; an ideal that puts the material interests of man above the spiritual, and makes riches the supreme effort of human endeavour, and the only efficient remedy is the establishment of a higher and niore spiritual ideal.' Such an ideal it is the function of education in its widest and most comprehensive sense to give, and I trust that the several types of education may be so harmoniously blended in our Ontario system that no great element may be lacking, and that we may lead the van of progress towards this great and all-important end. The treatment of my subject would hardly be complete without a few thoughts, however fragmentary, upon the direct bearing upon character for good or evil of the actual methods of imparting knowl- edge. The qualities which it is specially given to school life to develop are, 1 suppose, courtesy, fidelity and thoroughness in work, truthfulness and integrity, together with reverence for all that is really deserving of its bestowal. The grand old adage, maxima pueris debetiir reverentia, which even the most degraded of men in some sort recognize, recalls the fact that the personal character of the teacher or teachers will largely reproduce itself in such matters amongst the pupils. A thoroughly enthusiastic teacher, who is scrupu- lously conscientious about his own preparation, will become a very fountain of energy to dissipate that mental apathy of which boy- nature is often painfully conscious, and against which it often struggles manfully to but little purpose. Youth responds eagerly to 44 EDUCVriON IN REFERENCE TO CHARACTER. enthusiasm, and tho fact is worth remembering. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the >>earing upon character of thorough- ness and freshness in methods of t<'aching, together with every pre- caution for absolute integrity and impartiality in all .aatters affecting examinations, etc. Even trifling carelessness in such matters is like the opening of a sluice-gate, aiid sets free a torrent which it may be next to impossiVjle to stem. For example, the boy who crams up by rote the translation of a Oreek or Latin author, and succeeds in imposing upon an examiner thereby, has received a lesson in dishonesty which it will be well for society and himself if he does not afterwards turn to further account. One element for which sufficient allowance is perhaps not always made in regard to its tendency to foster carelessness in work is the necessary ignorance of scholars either as to the nature or the importance of the subjects which they are required to study. A short explanation with reference to these points before beginning a new subject, especially if it be well illustrated with a few striking examples, may do much gcod ; e.g., if in beginning a classical author a few extracts in some good translation illustrating the most impor- tant features in the book wfre read to the class their interest would be aroused and quickened. And again, in beginning Euclid, instead of allowing a child to flounder hoyjeie.ssly by himself amidst the maze of definitions, postulates and axioms, or to sink amid the difficulties of the pons asinorum, the attention of the class was called to 'he great practical utility of being able to construct accurately certain figures, e.g., by the aid of a pair of compasses to trace out on a board an equilateral triangle, etc., and the scholars are encouraged to attempt in vai-ious ways to solve a problem apparently so easy, an insight into the marvels of Plane Geometry will be gained, which will go far to surmount later perplexities. It is, perhaps, hardly too much to say that children should never lie sent to the dry pages of a book to make out for themselves some new object of study — the living voice of the teacher with a bright, cheery method of explana- tion being an aid to which children are really entitled in meeting new and unknown difficulties. Hunting out together in class the number of aorists, perfects, imperfects, etc., in a given passage is often a pleasant relaxation from the actual head-work of memor- izing or repetition. Irreverence or flippancy in all its forms should be strictly dis- couraged, as the uniform index of a shallow mind, and the cloak of ignorance vaunting itself beneath a fancied and fictitious superiority. The law holds good in every department of knowledge that great thinkers receive back the instinctive reverence of childhood, only deepened and intensified by the manifold experience of varied knowl- edge. Thus we are led into the development of that reverence for purity, for holiness, for God. which is the crown and stay of human character. After the brilliant and exhaustive way in which the subject was treated from the presidential chair of this association by Mr. Archibald MacMurchy some two years ago, and the emphatic ill EDUCATION IN IIEPERENCR TO CIIARACTEK. 46 au the d, only knowl- nce for human ch the tion by nphatic action taken by the association thereon, in advocating the efficient use of the Bible in sclioois, as wcill as that of sniaUer associations of teachers in various parts of the Province, it will be quite unnecessary for nie to dwell upon the supreme importance of Bible study as the best of all studies to promote the formation of a devout and noljle character. My own views on this matter have been repeatedly (expressed, and are well known both to the p\iblic and the educational authorities, I am sure that the vast, the overwhelming, majority of the pt^ople of the Province were profoundly grateful for the unmistakable testimony at that time given by this great association, that the h(!art of tiie Teachers' Association of Ontario beats sound upon this great question, and that you thoroughly endorsed the dictum then laid down, 1 think by your president, that a man who could not or would not teach the Bible was not fit to teach children at all. It may be better for me, instead of speaking further upon a suVjject upon which most happily no division of opinion in this body exists, to offer a few re-marks in reference to the volume of Biblical selections lately issued by the Minister of Education, Apart from the great advance made by the recognition of the Holy Scriptures as an integral and necessary part of our educational system, much oi the educational value of the book appears to me to lie in its character as a volume of Biblical selections. We are thus forced to recofjnize the composite character of that Librai'y of Revelation, including a literature extending over thousands of years, and the historical character of which it seems to me so important to teach. By means of this selection our scholars can hardly fail to recognize the gradual development of the Kingdom of God from the call of Abraham, as it came siiccessively in contact with the varied civilizations of Egypt, of Phoenicia, of Assyria, of Babylon, and of Persia ; how by the continuous demonstration of the inability of the chosen people to realize their destiny by themselves the way was being gradually prepared for the coming of the C^hrist, whilst the hopes and fears and the devotional aspiration of each successive crisis are enshrined in the literature of the period, of whicii the most striking passages have been selected. Thus the student is led up to behold the Person and to study the teaching of our Lord in all their magic sublimity and tenderness, yet so accurately fulfilling the hopes of the genera- tions of the past, and regenerating the future by the foundation of the Christian Church rising majestically under the work and teaching of apostolic builders. It certainly seems to me that as our youth has thus unfolded before it in ea ;h generation the grand central panorama of all history, it will be best qualified to profit by its searching analysis of human character, so pure and honest, yet withal per- meated with the quickening breath of a higher and nobler life, or to receive its more distinctly dogmatic and spiritual teachings. Such teachings must, undoubtedly, in the present circumstances of the country, be left to the authorized spiritual guides of the various religious bodies, provision for which is so carefully made in the new regulations. One suggestion I would venture to make : it would be 46 A I'LEA FOIl SCIKNCK IN SCHOOLS. a great convenience to clergy who have several schools in their parishes if provision w(!re made by authority that the same readings should be used at lIk; same time in all the schools. I see nothing whuUiver in the way of the use of a small hand- book to the *' (Selections," to be used either by the teacher alone or to be placed in the hands of the children, giving such supplementary information with regard to the several selections as may be necessary for the complete understanding of their meaning and setting from an historical point of view. Nor do I believe that if such a book ■were edited in the same spirit as the volumes of the "Cambridge Bible for Schools " series, that any difficulty would be raised to its adoption. Of one thing I feel certain, that it only needs the subject to be thoroughly understood and placed fairly before them, and that then the Christian people of this Province will not long brook any obstacle which really stands in the way of the imparting throughout our educational system of a wise and liberal but at the same time Christian education ; and that they are thoroughly in earnest in demanding that the education given to their children shall not merely tit them for the duties of this life, but shall also, as far as education can do so, mould their character for God, for righteousness, and for truth. A PLEA FOR SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS. .J. C. GLASHAN, OTTAWA. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — Three hundred years ago this v(;ry month there was sorrow in the family of Vincenzo Galilei of Florence, — Galileo, the eldest son, had returned from the Univer- sity of Pisa without having taken his degree. For four years the family had submitted to many privations in order that out of a scanty income enough might be spared to support Galileo while he studied medicine ; but a time had at length come when no more could be done for the student and he must either leave the University or obtain the Grand Duke's nomination to one of the forty free scholarships which had been founded for poor students. The father had petitioned the Grand Duke to grant his son one of these founda- tions and had been refused. Wherefore 1 The father, although poor, was a Florentine nobleman, and the son, who had been born in Pisa, had, although but twenty-one years of age, already won for himself a name as the possessor of brilliant and varied talents. These very talents were the cau.se of the refusal. At this tiuie the study of natural science meant the study of the writings of the ancient philosophy, and chiefly of Aristotle. The state of affairs may best be described in Galileo's own words : " People . think that philosophy is a kind of book like the yEneid or the A PLKA FOR SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS. 47 '4 OdyHsey, and that the trutli i.s to be sought, not in the universe, not in nature, but (I uh(j their own words) bi/ comparlny texts.'' If there arose any queHtioii respecting natural plienonu'na, it was settled bv an appeal to Aristotle, und if any fact eontnidictory of received opinions obtruded its(;lf, it was (hutinlished by a />nori reasoning even as, after the discovery of Jupiter's satellites, " the first philoso- pher of the faculty of Pisa," again to quote (Jalileo, "tried, now with logical arguments, now with magical adjurations, to tear down and argue the n(!W planets out of heaven." What, tlien, was tlic horror of these professors at the unluiard of audacity of a youu" student who, refusing unconditional surrender of his intellect and unquestioning acceptance of the dicta of the great master, Aristotle, proposed that men should search out the truth for themselves 1 What was their indignation, rising later to uncontrollable wrath, when tliis " wrangler " demanded that in (juestions concerning the facts of Nature, Nature's self should be questioned 1 And to dalileo the first warning of their wrath was this refusal to grant Iiim the boon of free instruction. But the mighty work for which Galileo's genius had been bestowed on him was not thus to be stopped. Even as Luther, nearly sixty years before, had appealed from Pope and Cardinals to God's Word, so Galileo appealed from Aristotle and the professors to God's works, and as the result of the first appeal has been an ever- increasing toleration of freedom of thought in religious matters and a strengthening of the feeling of individual responsibility with a corresponding growth of Christian charity, the only true all-brother- love, so the result of the second appeal has been a steady increase of liberty of opinion and action under the general restriction of not injuring others and an enormous advance in the niaterial prosperitv and, as a consequence, in the civilization and morality of a largo part of mankind. By sustaining Galileo's appeal, man has created science and science has created the arts and manufactures that have changed the whole face of the earth and the conditions of existimce. Science has increased almost beyond estimate the power of production and by ever more and more throwing on machinery the heavier and more exhausting kinds of toil, it has lessened the severity of manual labour and made the mechanic's life easier to him and has left him more leisure and energy for self-culture. Steam and electricity are doing much to stamp out and obliterate old sectional and national prejudices by almost annihilating time and space, thus enabling popu- lations to circulate freely and bringing men and nations closer together. By making emigration to the farthest lands a matter of a few weeks at most, by affording a ready means of rapid and certain intercourse between the most distant countries, by rendering easy the interchange of products between remotest regions, these daughters of sciei>ce are rapidly peopling and civilizing the waste and barba- rous places of the earth. They enable men to carry their knowledge and their skill to the market where it is most in demand, they save the life or soothe the suffering of the invalid by bearing him swiftly :Wif. if'^i'^ 48 A I'LliA FOR aCIKNOK IN SCHOOLS. from under rigorous skies, and thoy aro making thousands happier and better by putting it in their power to see more of the grandeur and the lovelin(?ss of earth. But why speak of wliat science is doing for mankind in general, or for the vague and indefinite "other people"'} Look around you and consider what science has done and is doing for each and all of us individually. Can any of you realize what your coiulition would have been had the state of affairs of three hundred years ago con- tinued to the pre.sent time I Can you estimate the advance that has been made materially, mentally and morally since the time when the young Galileo had no other means of testing the isochronism of the vibration of Maestro Possenti's lump than by counting the beats of his pulse, since the time when the answer could be given in an English borough ; " Sir, according to the custom of this town, a man is of age when he knows how to reckon up to twelve pence, and he shall answer in a writ of right when he is of that age " ; since the time when the Italians could burn Giordano Bruno, the Swiss could burn Servetus, and the English, to go a little further back, could burn Joan of Arc, and no man protest or even shudder at the horror 1 Now, if the study of science has done so much, if science is the foundation of all natural progress in industry, in arts, in almost everything, if a nation's welfare and advancement depends upon its science, does it not behoove us to ask ourselves what we, as teachers, are doing to fostei a love of science and to further its study ? To judge by our work, to judge by our programmes of instruction, the schoolroom might be said to be almost the only place into which science, true science, has not yet entered. Still, as in the days of Galileo, 'n the school-room, in che very place where the love of natural science should be stron^^est, is its influence least felt, and among teachers are to be found far too few of its cultivators. But here let me be clearly understood. I do not mean that in our schools, no instruction is given in the facts of science. Many of our reading-lessons and most of our lessons on geography are not/iing else but descriptions of nature and of natural phenomena and gen eralizations and reasonings based on these ; but the study of these lessons is not science-teaching, and I wonder how it would even now fare in many a ca.se with a pupil who should, like Galileo, appeal from the text-book to Nature. By the proper teaching of science, 1 mean not merely instruction in the facts and principles of science and in the laws which govern natural phenomena, but also and chiefly discipline in the methods of science. Mere head-knowiedge will do a man very little good ; it is the habit of mind, the training in method, that determines the character of the man. The facts and principles of science ought never to be presented to the young student in mere dogmatic fashion as acquired results. It is e.ssential for his true progress that he shall feel the reality of the facts and generalizations he is dealing with ; that he shall comprehend the mode in which these facts have been observed and disentangled and in which the principles derived therefrom have been arrived at, the A PLKA KOI! SCIKNCE IN KCMOOLS. 19 happier ;randeur general, unci you d all of n would ago con- that has vhen the 11 of the Vjeats of m in an n, a man , and he iince the iss could ck, could 3 horror 1 ce is the n almost upon its teachers, idy] To :;tion, the ito which the days B love of felt, and prs. But in our ny of our notning and gen of these ven now appeal ;cience, I science also and nowiedge training facts and le young essential 'acts and hend the jrled and ed at, the mode of reduning unorganized collections of ol).s(!rvatioiis to a sys- tematic arriingiiiiirut and presentation of them in a logical system exhibiting the mutual relations of the pi)enomena ; that he shall be practised until thorouyhly trained in all flic processes of observing ;ind thinking which are einploycnl in the stuily of natural st^ience, and that above all he shall b(; systematically exercised in methods of induciion. •' But," it may be answered, " Nature does all this without our aid. The very growth of th ■ faculties of a child depends on exercise on the phenomena of natun;. As soon as the child begins to see it is an observer, and as soon as it begins to move it is an experimenter^ and the range of its experiments is continually extending as the child grows and its mind develops. Each moment adds new experi- ences, new perceptions, and enlarges its knowledge of the world around it. Nature does this for all ; but the work of the teacher is to supply what Nature do(^s not and cannot give — that communion with the master-minds of (mr race which is to be got only by reading, only by tlie study of books." 1 freely acknowled're the importance of this study. I hold most strongly that the pursuit of science should never be divorced from literary culture and that the crowning examples of sci(Mititic methods of study must be sought for in the writings of a Faraday, a Young and a Nmvton ; but I deny that Nature does enough for the cultivation of the ot)serving powers ; or^ unaided, teaches us how to arrive at the truth respecting herself. In our journey through life, thousands of objects impress themselves on our outward s(!nses that are never really obs'^rved by us. Nav, they may actually in some degree reach the inner sense, yet from ignorance, fi-om candessness, or from want of skill, we may nc\'er perceive these things as they really are or as they would b;^ seen by one whosf! observing powers had be-'ii duly cultivated. And if a habit of observation be not inborn and active in us, will the discipline of literary culture engender it, will dogmatic teaching (juicken ii into life? No, rather will they fosti-r in us a tendency lo substitute reasoning for experiment in th<' study of nature, to reason from postidates based on ill-observed facts, to generalize from altog-'ther insuthcient data. This h.abit of mind was the very stumbling-block in the wav of the ancient Greeks, this was the creit obstacle to their progress in scieii(;e. On ev(M'y page which preserves the teachings of their philosophers we lind physical phenomena tak(>ii as st .rting- poinvs or used as illustrations of profound metaphysical doccnnes ; but a single misinterpretation of fact made a foiuidatioii for deduc- tion, a simple sophistry applied to an observation often led to results which appear to us in the light of modern science most absurd, most mon.strous ; but which, because no one thought of submitting these results of reasoning to the test of experiment, were then accepted unhesitatingly and, as time passed on, were held more and more firmly, until at length it required the genius of a (Jalileo to suspect that error lurked in them. And how much of error li(!s in all un- trained observation has been well demonstrated by the experiments no A PLEA KOK SCIENCK IN SfllOOLS, of Dr. I'^niilo Vun<,', who fouiul that, in more than ninety percent, of the persons he experimented on, tixpeotatioix of any pro{)OHeelief in its pen.'eption ; and it is specially note- worthy that the suhjects of his experiments whom lie found to ho accurate ol)server.s were, without exception, men trained in experi- mental science. But even if facts are ohserv(>d correctly little profj^ress will V)e made if tlie min essen- tial and the accidental is to be jt,'ained only by .systematic and properly directed training. The scientitic text-book is good in its place, but that place is at tirst oidy a secondary one. It is true that every science tends by a seemingly universal law to become more and more abstract, and in proportion as it becomes exact to become mathemat- ical ; but it is just as tru«i that all the natural sciences began by observation or experiment, and whatever they may now have developed into, it is necessary in teaching them to go l)ack to their beginnings, and to find a sure foundation for abstract notions in experience and observation. Empedocles was right when he declared that Wisdom incre.aaes to men according ♦■,0 what they experience ; and, again, was he right in a certain sen.se, though not in the sense in which he meant it, when he said : Surely by eartli we perceive earth, and man kn<.wetli water by water ; By air sees air the divine, by fire sees fire the destructive ; Yea, love comprehends love, and 'tis througli strife dismal we know .strife. If the object of education is to help people to help themselves — to teach them how to learn — then we must not merely supply our pupils with th(! materials for thought, but we must show them how to collect these materials for themselves, how best to use the.se mate- rials when collected, and how to penetrate from outward phenomena to the underlying universal laws. Let us do this — let us base our teaching on a groundwork of real knowledge, and the after progress of our pupils will rise upon a sure and stable foundation. Then will science be accorded its rightful place, and scientitic discoveries, fraught as they are with innumerable benefits to all God's creatures will raise higher and higher the .scale of civilization, and will hasten the coming of that golden age which poets dream of as !n the dim far-distant past, but which assuredly lies in the certain future. I believe the day is fast approaching when every teacher will recognize the need of a real and living knowledge of the world in which we live, and the laws of it by whicli we live, and will feel that to impart such a knowledge to his pupils is a sacred duty he owes to A I'MU FOR SCIEVCR IN SCHOOLS. f)! a tlie sense himself, to thoin, mid to (liid. To ( lod : for is it not a duty to lliui who has phvct'd us on this Ix'iuitifui earth, and h is f,'iv()n us powers to see, to understand and to <'HJoy that lurtli, is i not a iluty of reverence to use those powers to leuni uri^dit th»* lessons I [e has put liefore us? But in all this scientiti-,- training of the inttdleut is there no place for the culture of the fe(;linjr.s and the imagination, is there no room for morality and religion, methinks f liear some one ask. Theni is room in abundance ; tin're is ample scope f(jr all these. ScitMuie is l)Ut a true and full knowledg.! of nature ; and nature is all-emliracing. We count a man truly educated in proportion to the dignity of his thoughts, tint loftiness of his priuciples, the noI)ieness of his actions ; and to cultivate such diguity, loftiness and noljility there are no other means (Mpial to a study of natuns ; for it is no petty, (iuil)l)ling knowhulge that science offers us. To the student of rcceptivH and imaginative mind [ would say : (lo, learn of Dame Nature, and she will show you things mons wonderful than the wildest fancies ever dreamed, nobler than the loftiest thoughts (ner sung by poet of [[ella.s. " To tliy whoever shall find. Thus a rich lovint,'-kindness, redundantly kind, Moves all nature to j;ladiiess ami mirth ; The showers of the spring' House the birds and they sin^,' ; If the wind do liut stir for his proper delight, Each leaf, that and this, his neighbour will kiss. Each wave, one and t'other, s|)eeds after his brother, They are happy for that is their right." It has well been said by a great master ; " The habit of seeing, the habit of knowing what we see, the habit of discerning ditie."- ences and likenesses, the habit of classifying accordingly, the habi'i of searching for hypotheses which .shall connect and explain those classified facts, the habit of verifying the.se hypotheses by apply- ing them to fresh facts, the habit of throwing them away bravely if they wil'i not tit, the habit of general patience, diligence, accuracy, reverence for facts for their own sake, and love of truth for its own sake ; in one word, th(! habit of reverent and implicit obedience to the laws of nature, whatever they may be — these are not merely intellectual but also moral habits, which will stand men in practical good stead in every affair of life, and in everj- question, 52 A ,VLEA FOR SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS. fm. even the most awful, which may come before us as rational and social beings." To him who seeks to purify and ennoble his religious thoughts and feelings, 1 would say: Turn to nature and lenrr something of the true majesty, miglit and glory of Him who reveals Himself in His universe, as well in its minuteness as in its unthinkable vastness. To all men Nature freely gives the invitation she gave to Agassiz, when, " ' Come wander with irie,' she said, ' Intel regions yet nntrod, And read what is tstill unread In the manuscripts of God.' "And he wandered away and away AVith Nature, the dear old nurse, Who sauf,' to him, ui^dit and day, The rhymes of the universe. "And V henever the way seemed long, Or his heart bej^'an to fail, She would sin.t,' a more wonderful song Or tell a more marvellous tale." And truly wonderful are some of those tales. When you look u}) at the stars to-night, bethink yourselves what and where they are. The liglit which is just arriving fiom them, how long ago did it have them and what does it now tell 1 This great earth, so solid beneath our feet, .'ieems to us vast indeed, and a heart-throb lasts not a long time, yet light travels so fast that it could six times girdle this mighty orb while your h.( art beats but once. The sun, apparently so bnmll, is in truth so large, thai were our earth stopped in its annual course and hurled against it, the blow would caus(? not much more disturbance on the farther side than an earthquake in Japan would cause here. ]Iow far away must that sun be, yet it takes light but little more than eight minutes to traverse that tremendous distance. AVhat must be the speed of light ! It can travel farther in one minute than the ball as it rushes from th(^ cannon's moutl) could go in a year and a-lialf. Yet it takes light three vears and a-lialf to come from the nearest of those stars, while there are others you cpu see whose light, arriving only now, left them more than a thousand years ago. But stianyer than all this are tlie tales light tells. You know tliat the teh^phone will convey to you not merely the words but also tlie tones of a speaker's voic^. So, light, though only a rush of waves each so short that a thousand of the longest of them, one after another, would not measuro the thickness of a single s'leet of the paper T hold in my hand — that light reveals to us what the stars are made of and what state they are in. It tells us that the stars we see with tlie naked eye, and a thousand times as many that the telescope discovers to us, all belong to one system in which our sun is a small star, and that there arf» other systems as far removi'd from each other as systems as the stars are from each other nn stars. Some of these systems, when, perhaps ten thousand years ago, the light which is only now arriving with its story left them, A PLKA FOR 8CIEXCK IN SCHOOLS. 53 were mere whirling rings of gas, others wen* eomh'nsod hke our own system into separn.ve suns, each sl'.rouded like our own sun in heavy clouds of metallic vapours, and still other systems had sunk to slow- swinging clusters of fast cooling solid stars. But the story of light ends not here. Within our own syst' ^ it tells of at least one cold, dark, de^al world, the companion *. ' Jie star Algol, and it has told us of star j that have hurst forth in terrible conflagration such that were the like to happen to our ow . sui , this solid earth would almost in the twinkling of an eye retui.i to the vapour from which it cauit. Light tells us also of strange worlds wht.'re ther*^ are two suns, one blood-red, the other deepest emerald. Strange, indeed, must be the changes beheld by the dwftller on a planet of such a system as it swings slowly to and fro, his world now glowing a tiery red, anon all pale green, and then flaming yellow under the scorching glare of two suns. But not of the stars alone; are Nature's marvellous stories. She will tell of wonderful things on the earth, of the whirling dance of atoms in every leaping flame, of the clash of the grappling molecules as they build and unbuild in secret the forms of all visible things, of the fairy chains that are woven by the power that seul|)tures crystals, of the marvels of the magnet that man has taught to speak, of the stroke of the hurtling thu:idei')t)lt, of the crash of the down- rushing avalanche, of the awful flres of the; volcano, of the; mighty throes of the earthquake. She will tell how the solid rocks unfold the tale of ancient life and ho\' that same life under diflerent forms still throl)s and pulses everywh( re from the eternal snows on the highest mountain peaks and in the wastes of farthest Grreenland, from the boiling springs of New Zealand and the alkaline lakes of La Plata to the deepest depths of ocean where dwell amid darkm^ss and (>ternal silence those strange tish who never rise within a mile of the surface and to whom daylight means death. She will tell how every stagnant pool and every slimy puddle is peopled by countless myriads of living creatures to whom a water- drop is a vast donunion and a day a life-long age. She will tell how, at the bottom of the ocean, unmoved by the tiercest blasts of the tempest, unswayed by the rush of the mightiest tidal-wave, lies the oozy mother of all living th. igs, slow pulsing to and fro with earth's precession, each mighty (,hrob lasting twenty- H\7 thousand years 1 54 THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH. THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH. WILLIAM HOUSTON, M.A. As my remarks will be addressed to those who are actually engaged in the work of teaching, they will have refert.ice to the pedagogical treatment of English in schools rather than to the study of the subject as a means of self-culture. I warn you at the outset that I make no pretence to the discovery of some new method. All I am to say has been often and better said by others ; but we are none the worse for the reiteration of wholesome truths, and with respect to English in schools there is a growing desire for improvement to which I may be able in some slight degree to contribute. What experience J have had in recent years as a student of English, and as member of a body which to some extent prescribes the manner of dealing with it in schools as well as colleges, convinces me that a thorough re-examination of the old methods is urgently required. For their defects the teachers are not so much to be blamed. They have to teach with departmental and academical examinations in view, and the character of the teaching must depend very largely on the nature of the examinations. That the latter have not been always, or even generally, of the right kind I am pi'e^jared to show by an analysis of the questions ordinarily set, including many of those set by myself when it was my duty some years ago to pet os a university examiner. But there is no need that I should dwell upon this point, for the prevailing dissatisfaction amongst the teachers and the nature of the complaints they urge .show clearly enough that they have to some extent outgrown the system under which they are forced to work. This dissatisfaction I regard as one of the most hopeful signs of the times, provided onl\' chat it is rightly interpreted by the various learned bodies which hiive the power, and cannot evade the responsi- bility, of directing teachers in their work. With so much ground to go over in a short time I cannot hope to mak'' my remarks appear otherwi.se than desultory; but you will tind a cuiiuecting thread in the statement that in our schools, colleges, and universities we have been too lotixj and loo viuch engaged in teach ing about English instead of teaching English. What 1 have to say will be made up very largely of illustrations of this truth, if it be a truth ; and, however diaconn nature and laws of language by an intelligent examination uf language itself, we havt been compelling pupils and students to learn by rote the conception^ and formulas, often purely arbitrary, of the grammarians. Instead of wisely guiding them in the task of making themselves acquainted m AiHiaiiMiiaMi THE STUDY AN'D TEACHING OF EXGLISIl. 55 JSH. are actually ;rcace to the I to the study at the outset hod. Alllam B are none the ith respect to raent to which t experience 1 id as Tnember ner of dealing lat a thorough ed. For their They have to s in view, and ,n the nature of Iways, or even J an analysis of i set by myself rsity examiner. s point, for the .e nature of the have to some forced to work, ful signs of the by the various .de the responsi- cannot hope to )ut you will tind schools, colleges, n(/aged in teach- at 1 have to say truth, if it be a ny remarks may vfthand illustra- 1 of teaching the inictice, we have cmory rhetorical lire and laws of e itself, we have tlie conceptions larians. Instead selves acquainted with masterpieces of literature, we hav-> })een making them learn what other people, called thn critics, hav(3 thought about the pre- scribed authors and texts. And, instead of requiring them to devote their time and labour to tin,' prescribed t(!xts tliHinscilves, we have been compelling them to waiulur away into all sorts of sid(! reading. Every stray allusion on which, as on a peg, a question to divert the student's attention from the main purpose of literary study might be hung, has been carefully utilized for the purpose, until at last the great object for which literature should be studied seems to have been almost entirely lost sight of. The result is a " plentiful lack'" at once of correct practice in writing and speaking the English language, of knowledge of its history and growth, and of capacity to appreciate the higher productions of our great literary artists. It is not necessary that I should dwell at any length on the importance of English as a subj 'ct of study. Without going into the vexed question, whether literature or science is most worthy of atten- tion in an educational curriculum, I may safely take the ground that no man whose mother-tongue is English can be called well-educated if he is not a good English scholar, however high his scientific attain- ments may be. Foreign languag(^s, living and dead, afford an excel- hmt means of training the intellect, cultivating the taste, improving the judgment, and enlarging the mental horizon of the student ; but no one of them is in any of these respects so valuable or important as our own mother-tongu*;, partly because it is our mother-tongue, but partly also because of its intrinsic excelUmce and the intrinsic excel- hmce of the nol)le literature of which it is the vehicle. There are no dramas in any languag-^ equal to those of Shakespeare, no epic equal to that of Milton, no elegies, odes, or sonnets to surpass those of Milton, Gray, Shelh^y, Tennyson, or Wordsworth ; no lyrics either moi'o perfect in form or more expressiv< f appropriate feeling than those of a score of our great song-writ- ''roiu Shak' speare to the present day ; while our English prose is ine-nuparably and admittedly sup(;rior to that of any other language, ancient or modern. On the importance of Englisli allow me to cite the opinion of Dr. E'iot. President of Harvard Colhi^'e, and then pass on to other aspe«;ts of the subject. In his widl-known address, delivered at Johns H'jpkiiiF University nearly two years ago, he said : It cannot l)e (l(nil)te(l U>at Kiit,'lish literature is beyond all comiMiison the amplest, most various, nml \\w accomplishment, that correct speaking is still less common than correct writing, and that the number of inexcusable blundf^rs perpetrated by even good writers is astounding. A few years ago I happened to take Froude's " iSketch of Julius Caesar," then recently published, as a companion on a trip. Reading it s-omewhat leisurely 1 began to notice occasional flaws in the structure of the .sentences, and especially the frequent misplace- ment of the word " only." As I went on I perceived that the incorrect use of "only" was a habit so constant as to amount to a mannerism, and a somewhat critical examination convinced nui that in a majority of the cases in which the " only " can be misplai > d without a positiv o THE STUDY AND TEACH [N'Q OP KXGLISH. 57 and conscious oflbrt on his pari Mr. Froudo puts it where it shoukl not be. This is not his only dffoct, for lie occasionally falls into a "te taught to notice and avoid first the more glaring solecisms, and ultimately all positive errors and even mere defects. Nor can there be any doubt that if these were all banished from the school room and play-ground their hold on the present generation of elders would be sensibly weakened. It is impossible that the six thousand educated men and woman of your great fraternity should make a persistent effort to improve their own English and that of thf-ir pupils without exerting a beneficial and very perce[)tibl(; influence on the English of the people of the Province generally. Akin to the method of procedure just recommended is the selec- tion of imperfectly written sentences for discussion in class. I have given above some illustrations from Froude of commonly recurring errors. When you choose sentences for this purpose, confine your criticism at first, and in the lowf;r classes entirely, to those containing defects of somewhat obvious types. Vou will find Hodgson's "Errors in the use of Words " a uiost useful guide in your criticism ; but if you observe closely you will not need to take your examples from him. Better, far, take theui from your school readers, where they are not scarce, or from your local newspapers, where they are sure to be a plentiful as well as a perennial crop. It is sometimes urged as an objection to this practice that the pupils are as likely to be injured by bad examples as they ai-e to be Vienefited by criticism and correc- tion. I do not attach much imf>ortance to this objection. I have to this day a vivid recollection of the light thrown, just twenty years ago, on a point of construction by an incidental remark made in my hearing by the fir.st Principal of the Toronto Normal School. The defect he pointed out was a comparatively slight one — nothing more than the want of symmetry in a sentence ; but it had the effect of turning my attention to other unsymmetrical arrangements that are THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH. 59 too provalont, of putting me on my guard against all such defects, and of enabling me to show others how to avoid thorn. I can in this matter speak from experience, for, though 1 have not for many years been a teacher of English in schools, writing English compositions, and correcting the written compositions of others, was for a dozen years my employmtrnt for hours every day. And, if I may he allowed a practical suggestion based on experience, you will find that it is V)etter to get your pupils to make their own corrections in the light of your criticisms than to make them yourselves in their exercises. Head over the compositions without marking them in any way. Col- lect from them, not all the errors, but a number of the most obvious ones. Take these up one by one and discuss theii in the class. Finally, ask the pupils, not to correct the defects in UiJir es.says, but to re-write the latter, and on a comparison of the new with the old reit«;rate your criticisms and note the progress made. The ordinary metliod of correcting conipositions is drudgery for the teacher, and is of little benefit to the pupils. The true method is to make use of their errors, alike in writing and in speech, as starting-points of criticism, and as a means of incidentally and effectively expounding rhetorical laws in their application. This brings me to the subject of composition itself, probably the most important in the whole school programme, for I hold strongly to the view that the capacity to write good English prose is at once the highest accomplishment of sound scholarship, and the most indis- putable evidence of the possession of true culture. And the accomp- lishment is as rare as it is high, partly because it is rated too low by public opinion, partly because the methods of j)ractice that have been followed in the past are not the best methods. The plan too generally adopted is to tell the pupil in school what to do and then set him at doing it, to give him the rule and ask him to apply it. The same course is [)ursued in college, where a treatise on rhetoric is placed in thf; student's hand and he is expected to master the theory for pur- poses of examination, while the practice is all but ignored. Need I point out the utter absurdity of such a method 1 Nature revolts at it, and puni.shes us by dooming us to general failure. In composi- tion the practice is almost everything, the theory of very little account. I had the pleasure of conversing soH'.a weeks ago with Dr. Brown, the accomplished teacher of English in Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, about his methods with students, and on my asking him liow composition should be taught his reply was in substance : " Give the student a subject to write on, make sure that Ik; knows something about it. ask him to set down on paper what he knows, and then point out to him errors of construction and faults of diction. He may know theoretically the contents of the best treatises on rhetoric and not write English prose any the better for the knowledge." Making allowance for differences of age and mental power, this is the true method for school pupils as well as for university students. Moreover, it is Nature's method. We learn to do by doing The only way to learn to play on a musical instrument is to play on it. Mt«i MMI 60 THE 8TUDY AND TEACHING OP ENGLISH. Wo do not tell a child how to walk, and then set him on his fret and require him to act on our instructionH ; we set him on his feet first, and then content ourselves with wisely guidinfj; him. In teach- ing a l)oy to .swim we put him in the water, oidy taking care that ho does not'drown. We do not first tell him how to keep hims(!lf afloat, how to move his limb.s, how to propel him.self in any given direction ; he will learn all that hy practice under judicious guidance. .So he will learn to write prose hy writing it, and there is no other way in which he can learn how to do it. Give him a subject about which you are sure lie knows something, and lot him go ahead. Bear in mind that it is not your privilege to guide his first steps in the art of composition, fie has been practising that art ev( r since he learned to speak, putting his thoughts into words and his words hito sentences. All you can do is to take him, with his bad habits and exuberant growth, teach him by example and guidance to avoid what is in bad taste, and get him to see for himself that there are more effective ways than those he has been accustomed to of clothing his thoughts in spoken or written language. Do not let him suppose that this is some new line of work — for it is not, — and he will bo all the better for the feeling that he is simply learning to do better what he did badly before, (let him to believe also^ if you can, that his improvement is the result of his own efforts. In other words, do not correct his mistakes for him and hand him back his exercise. Without humiliating him before the class, which you must do if you treat the blunders as his, have the latter discussed as impersonal, and let each meoiber of the class make his own application in the re- writing of his composition. And, let me repeat, do not refine too much in your criticisms, corrections, or suggestions. Rather take the risk of letting your pupils acquire bad habits of a venial kind than of making them the helpless victims of an overload of unassimilated erudition. As they grow older and become more expert, take up with them more recondite defects, confining yourself chiefly, if not entirely, to those which occur in the compositions of tho pupils them- selves, or which they are in the habit of hearing or reading. Many teachers prescribe as an exercise in composition a prose paraphrase of a piece of poetry. After careful thought I feel con- strained to condemn the practice as comparatively useless for purposes of composition, while it is positively oV)jectionable on other grounds. Only good poetry will stand paraphrasing at all, and I can hardly conceive of a pupil failing to be so disgusted with his own paraphrase that the poetry will for a long time, if not for ever, have lost its charm for him. To produce this state of mind is to do him incalculable mischief, for the most important element which distin- guishes poetry from prose is its beauty, and this utterly vanishes in the paraphrase even when it is made by the most skilful hand. In short, the practice is at once V)arbarous and useless, and I earnestly hope it will be allowed to fall into disuse. This, I need hardly say, depends on the examiners. If they persist in asking for paraphrases, teachers must persist in requiring their pupils to make them; and, as J- fli«<^'"4W'f;|^^' "?^^K''*^^^^^^8^^&'" TFIK STUDY AND TEAOIIINO OF ENGLISH. CI the teacher does not know which passaj^o is to be used &n a test, \ut must r('(pire the pupil to distort and make hiilt'ous the whoh; of the prescribed text. account (JrayL _..,_ „ ..„„^, description of the village pastor and the village schoohnaster ! Take such stanzas as these : — t r('(pire the pupil to distort and make hiileous the wholt; of the cribc'd text. Just imagine a proHc; paraphrase of Scott's spirited unt of th(! combat Ijetwecn KitzjiiUK^s and Roderick Dhu, of f'n exquisite musings in his " Klegy," of (Goldsmith's inimitable The boast of horaMry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er K'lvo, Await alike the inevitable liour — The paths of ^lory lead but to the Krave. Can storied urn, or animated Itust, Back to its mansion call the fleetinf? breath ? Can honoiu'a voice provoke the nileiit ilust, Or flattery Hooth the dull, cold ear of death ? Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathouied caves of ocean bear : Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some villaye Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, The little tyrant of his fields withstood ; Some mute inglorimis Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. Far from the madiling crowd's ignoble strife, Their sol)er wishes never learned to stray ; Along the cool .se(]iiesti'red va!e of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Or such passages as these : — At church, with meek and unaffected grace. His looks adorni'd the venerable jilace ; Truth from his li[is prevailed with double sway. And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious tliougbts had rest iu heaven. As some tall clitf that lifts its awful form. Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. Or these stanzas from the High School work of this year : — Day after day, day after day. We stuck, noi' breath nor motion ; As idle as a i)aintrd ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere. And all the boards did shrink, Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot ; () Christ ! That this should ever be ! And slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea. MHHM mmm mm C2 THE 8TUDV AND TBACHINU OF EN(iLI8II. If any of you cau attempt to paraplirast; vorsc lik(! this without a sens(> of .shame and (lisi,'ii.st at your own work, y(tu an; tit ohjects of compassion, and your production will he a proof that '* a thin;; of beauty,'" in spite of Keats' famous dictum, is not necessarily " a joy forever." I need liardiy say, in concluding this part of my subject, that from the very outset the process of taking apart should accompany that of putting together. In ()th(>r words, thc^ analysis of sentences and of continued discourse should l)e part of the pupil's work ecpialiy with the practice of composition. But do not let tlie analysis be too elal)orate. Let it be logical and rhetorical rather tlian gram- matical, and do not strain after minute; .syntactical parsing. The object of all analysis should be to enable the pupil to thoroughly comprehend the meaning of the passages under dissection. To mako hiui practise it for the sole object of becoming expert at it is to elevate tlie means into an end. It would be ijuite as .sensiltle for a blacksmith, who has plenty of legitimate work at his anvil, to swing his sledge-hammt^r V)y the hour for the purpose of exercising his mu.scles. 'The exci^ssively minute parsing so commonly jjracti.sed in schools, mainly because it is so persistcnxtly used as a test at examinations, is of little value at any stage of the student's course ; in the Public School it is a waste of time and in oth(;r ways posi- tively mischievous. It creates in the pupil's mind the feeling that every word is capable of being par.sed if he only knew how to parse it, and 1 have fretpiently seen teachers in a states of despair simply because some inquisitive boy had asked the parsing of a word that could not be parsed according to any rule given by any grammarian. The writers of grammars, like the compilers of lexicons, have much to answer for. II. — THE CAPACITY TO APPKECIATK LITERATURE. Not all that is written is worthy of the name of literature. It is hard to say detinitely, and impossible to say briefly, either what literature is, or what it is not. I shall, therefore, refrain from detinition and description, and content myself with the statement that, as a piece of literature is a real work of art, it is necessary to its appreciation that one should not merely comprehend its meaning, but enter into its spirit, and enjoy its bosauty. The study of literature is calculated to give pleasure as well as proHt, to entertain no less than to improve the earnest and intelligent student. This is true of pro.se as well as of poetry, though the former is generally less capable? of pleasing by its outward form. There is a real and perceptilih; difference between the two kinds of composition, a something which in the last analysis is apt to escape him who attempts to precisely define it, but the presence of which is felt by all. I shall, however, for the present confine my remarks to poetical litesrature, not so much because prose is less worthy of attention, as because prose works are now prescribed in the High School course for rhetorical use, and it is THE STUDY AND TKACHINO OF EN(if,I.SM. 63 impoHHihlo for a pupil to Imvo used them intt'llii^cntly for rhetorical purposes without liaviiii;, at least iiioideiitally, learnetl to appreciato them from a literary and artistie point of view. The study of literature, like the practice of eomposition, is l)(>gun at a v(;ry early a<;e — geiu'rally lou^,' Itefore tlu^ child enters a scliool at all. The infantile^ mind is charmed with the heauty of poetry that is suited to its compniliension, and the infantile ear pleased with the indetinal)le melody of rhythmical cadence. There are ft-w children who hav(^ not, Ix-fore leaving thr nursery, committed to memory simple rhynies, wej)t with emotion at the recital of sonwi pathetic story in verse, or laui,died in childish ylee over some humorous inci- dent done up in the same attract! vi- t;arl>. The teacher of literature finds that he has beeix anticipated Uy the mother, liy the nursery maid, hy the Sunday school infant-class teacher, l)y tlu^ kiriderijaertner. What is learned in those early days is marvellously persistent, and keeps possession of tin; memory long after the pieces learned in later years have vanislie(| from its lahlets. The lesson for the teacher is obvious. The study of lit«iratur(! in the pupil's earlier stages should consist very largely in memorizing selected poems, including not merely or chiefly those found in the reading hooks, hut others of e(|ual or greater merit found in al)undance elsewhere. The teacher who is instrumental in rtoring a pupil's meniory with beautiful thoughts embodied in beautiful language has conferred upon him an untold benefit, and stands an excellent chance of being remembered with feelings of gratitude long after the teacher who aimed only at systematic intellectual and moral training has been forgotten. Nor is such a result either unn itural or unjust. Nature has implanted in the child's mind a love of wliat is beautiful, and the teacher who cannot gratify and educate the young pupil's icsthetic faculty by teaching him to appreciate the l>eautiful in literature has mistaken his calling. 1 do not believe that it is possible for any one at any stage of development to explain fully why he is atfected by poetry which pleases him. Even Wordsworth, deeply as he penetrated into this great mystery, confesses himself at fault here. Poetry in order to stir deeply the feelings of the reader must have stirred deeply the feelings of the writer, and if he who saw, as few have seen, The lij,'l>t that nevor war*, on sea or land, could not fully comprehend the sight, it is vain for those to whom he has afforded a glimpse of it to hope to do so. Nevertheless, even at an early age it is possible to get the pupil to understand some of the qualities of poetry which make it a source of plea.sure — such as rhythmical structure, melodious rhymes, figurative language, intensity of feeling, graphic de.scription, wit, humour, pathos. This must, however, be done incidentaily, and only after the pupil has been allowed an opportunity of familiarizing him.self with the beauties which you want him to see. I cannot think of any more profitless task than that of going over a literaiy composition and pointing out f)4 TIIK STUDY AND TEACITlNtJ OF RNULIHII. to unapprftiutiv(i lia*.(«n«'rn wlmt tlicv ou^'ht to fidniiro. Tho t»!achftr who foUowH this method i.s not a |t('(|jifjn;,'iu' hut a jx'dant. Ko ordinary roadiii{» h-sson, wliich adiiiitH of inoidtMital tn-atinoiit as a picco of literature, whoidd he hft uiuitil'/.ed ; hut 1 must hero express my regnt that so much time is still devoted in the Puhiic Schools to the study of literature in scraps and shreds. For entrance to the lliijh Schools the Enf^liisli literature is taken from the Fourth Header, and is made; up of pieces nuiiiy of which are mere excerpts from larj?er works. To this there are several ohjections, not the least of whicli is that, th(^ field of selection heiuij; limited, teachers and pupils are compelled to travel year after year round tlie same narrow enclosure', while the wlioh? vast expanse of English literature lies invitingly outside. To add to the ohjectionableness of the system, the examiners soon exhaust the liht of fair ([uestions that can \)0 asked, and they must then arred from iti Company your popl ion and condition at the end of ten years' treadmill work on your present course of scrap-book reading with what your position and condition would be at the end of ten years' study of texts changed every year. The one course of work will leave you practi- cally where you are in the matter of culture ; the other would carry you far on the road to a general knowledge of English literature, and, what is of unspeakably greater importance, give you facility in "reading," using the term "reading" in Uarlyle's large sense of it. You are often advised, by well-meaning persons who have never taught, to devote your spare time to reading English literature. I know from experience what it is to feel, after the day's work in school and out of school is done, so utterly fatigued in body and mind as to have little taste for reading even the most attractive literature. But make such reading a part of the regular school course and you at once lighten the teacln^'s toil and compel hiiu to acquire a measure of literary culture while he is trying to impart it to others. The scrap-book Fourth Reader must go, and it should stand not on the order of its going, but go at once. Tho new Fourth Reader should never have been compiled. With a view to making an illustrative application, however imperfect, of the principles I have been laying down, allow me to describe briefly the manner in which a piece of literature should be 5 • f-.;i-j3t ii'l '" " ■«> », 66 THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF ENGLISH. dealt with, say for the Entrance Examination. For this purpose I select Longfellow's " Evangeline," whieh is well adapted to the capacity of Fourth Class pupil.s. The various steps in its treat- ment may be thus described : — 1. The poem should be read through by the pupils without any explanations Vty th(^ teacher, except in answer to recjuests for infor- mation. Jt should be read aloud and in full, as continuously, and with as much attention to elocution as time and circumstances will permit, in order that it may be vicved as a whole, and the reading should be done over and over again, until the pupils have had a fair chance to gain a clear idea of the plan of the work, to form some theory as to the object of the author, to di.scern its beauties, and to notice its more interesting passages. 2. After this opportunity has been given r*"?m, it should be read again for the purpose of enal)ling the teacher to a.scertain by judicious questioning whether the pupils fully understand the text, including references to names, plac< s and events with re.spect to which the poem is not self-explanatory, care being taken not to convert it into a mere occasion for a lesson in history, or geography, or antiquities. The same reailing will serve for such elucidation as may be neces- sary — the less the better, as a rule — of peculiar constructions, of instances of poetical license, and of philological points, care again being taken to do only so much of this side work as may be necessary to make the meaning of th»! text perfectly clear. 3. Jt is now tiuH^ to ascertain what theory the pupils hav'e formed as to the auth„. 's aim in writing the poem, and to correct erroneous views on this point ; as, for instance, that it was designed to condemn the expatriation of the Acadians. In the light of this general view some passages will hav<> accjuired a new beauty ixv.d force, and an ertbrt may be made to a.scertain what parts of tlu* poem have produced the deepest impressions, and why ; also to lead them to notice otaer passages which they may have overlookeil. 'I'Ik^ same readiiig may bt! utilized for the purpose of calling attention t(> other beauties of form — cadence, rhyme, adaptation of sound to sense, allitera^.ion, figures of spe((ch, — cai'e being taken to iiitlict on the pi.pils as little as possible in the way of dcu'inition, mid in the case of rhetorical figures to confine the attention to those that are most obvious and most frecjuent. 4. Comparison may now be made of "Evangeline" with Park- man's narrative in his recently nublisiied work on " Montcalm and Wolfe." The pupils may in this way be taugtit to distinguish between poetical truth and historical truth. They can learn to understand that the English Uo-.ernment may ha.\^ been justified in sending the Acadians frjni their hemes, and that at th(; same time this very justi- fiable measure may have been productive of great and undeserved injury to innocent individuals in a spot far away from the settle menl • tliat were constantly haras.sed by the Indians at the instiga- tion of the Fr«'nch TUK STUDY AND TEACHING OP ENGLISH. 67^ irpose I to the s treat- out any )r infor- sly, and ices will reading id a fair m some , and to be read udicious nclnding hich the "t it into tiquities. )e neces- tions, of ,re again \ecessary formed erroneous condtimn al view and an produced ice ot'iier ig may auties of tra'iion, an little ictorical lous and Lh Park aim and »etwecn JerHtand ding the •ry justi deserved » settle! instiga- Ei 5. Even with Fourth Class pupils it may be a profitable exercise in prosody to compare " Evangeline" in point of form with some of Longfellow's other poems — witli " Miles 8tandish," which resembles it in its hexameter structure ; with " Hiawatha," which rescnnbles it in the absence of rhymes, but the verse of which is trochaic and octo- syllabic ; and with some of the best of his minor poems, which may witl) pleasure and profit be committed to memory. 6. Lastly, some attention, but not too minutely, may now be given to Longfellow's personal history, to his peculiar preparation for his work, to the general features of his poems, and to his position amongst the poets of his own generation in America and England, the utmost care being again taken to keep all this subordinate to the main object of studying litei-ature — that is, the thorough appreciation of the text itself. One poet dealt with each year in some such way as 1 have described, and one prose work utilized with similar cure, as a basis of exercises in composition, would furnish the teacher with a much- ncJided means of self-culture, and the pupil with a method of reading literature such as he can never acquire by the most extended study of detached excerpts. III.-GRAMMAU, LOCilC AND KIIETOIUC. These sciences collectively have for their subject-matter the formal laws of thought and of the expression of thought by means of language. They are, of course, separaltlc from each other in treat- ment ; but it is convenient for my {)urpose to group them, sincfr i^'rammar has to deal mon^ or less with the laws of thought, and it V oil Id be better if the grammarians would revert to them more fretjuently than they do, and attach less importance to what may be called historical accidents. In other words, if grammatical analysis were made more logical than it usually is, there would be less reason to complain of its prevalent use. Take, for instance, the .sentence, "The cat jumped from under the table." It is impossible to parse the word " from " according to the usual definition of a preposition, except by treating " under-tlu^tablc " as a noun of place, which- logically it is. Why should any more minute analysis be required, when it is not merely a waste oi time and ell'ort, hut tends to hinder the pupil from getting what you most want him to get in this direction, a clear view of t) .; nature and functions of words] Home- times apparent or real incoi.sistencies are explicable by a knowledge of word history, as, for instanci', in tht^se uses of " worth " : — Woe w' .rth the ohase ! Woe worth the day ! The horse was worth two liundred dollars. Or in these uses of *' wont," both of which are justified by usage, and therefore correct : — Some of our English poets have been wout t / make their homes in Italy. Can this \w he wlio wont to stray A pilgrim on the world's highway ? ;-*^ F-4-4 .»*«» tiLMitvxesr.''XrKA 08 THE STUDY AND TEACIIINO OF ENGLISH. What I wish to insist on c;hi«;tly with respect to formal grammar, howovei-, is that it should not bn taken up systematically at an early stage of the pupil's progress — not until he luih left the Fourth Class either to enter the Fifth or to pass into the Higii School. Even in these T see little use for it, as it is properly rather a university than a school subject. Do not suppose that this is e(iuivalent to saying you should not teach grammar. That you cannot avoid doing from the moment the pupil comes within the sound of your voice and tho circle of your influence, for grammar is not merely " the science of language," but the " art of speaking and writing it correctly." The most effective method of teaching grammar to children is to teach it practically and incidentally ; and I believe this to Vje the best way of teaching it even to university students. 1 attach little importance to a knowledgf^ of books like Earle's " Philology." If a man wants to know Englisli grammar liistoricallyhe sliould make himself acquainted with the literature produced in the various stages and dialects of the language. It will do him little good to memorize what others have written about changes in the forms of words and inflections. By following the methods I have described above in training his pupils in the correct use of the language, and in capacity to appreciate literature, th«^ teacher will have made tiuun, by tiie time they reach the High School entrance period, excellent practical grammarians, and this is of more importance than to have them able to analyze and parse difficult expressions. I could parse at twelve years of age, and correctly according to th(^ rules of the grammarians, expressions which today I would not tliink of trying to parse at all, simply because 1 regard them as anomalous. Are they, therefore, illegiti- mate ■? Not at all, if they are justified by usage. What you should do about such expressions is to see that your pi'pils learn to use them as educated nien and women do, and, if the examiners will only permit you, to tell the V)oys and girls, frankly, that you do not always feel competent to explain what is arbitiary, that language is conventional and capricious, and that the great (jnd of words is to be used and not to be parsed. I am fully persuaded that by making grammar in this way more practical, keeping the word " grammar ' itself out of sight, and leaving the formal sciei.- ^e of language to l)e taken up at a much later stage, we would be aUlc to show better results. IV. — PHILOLOGY. Much the same line of remark applies to philology, including under this term the history and derivation of words. In school n great deal of time is often wasted by asking the jiupil to commit ld memory long lists of roots, prefixes, and affixes, and to practise what is called " word-building." This is a very unpractical and, therefoie, indefensible way of teaching philology. The history and derivation of words should be dealt with in the lower classes only in so far as they can be made useful in getting at th( ir true meaning, and thus aiding in a more thorough comprehension of literary texts. There THE STUDY A\0 TEACUINQ OF ENGLISH. 60 should be no leftrnin end of any given time th(^>- may know by heart fewer root-words and appendages ; but they will have a more intelligent knowledge of philology and be posses.sed of a method which is the instrument, the organon, of all progress in the so-called inductive .science.s. Do not think that I disparage the science of philology by asking to have it dealt with in this way. It happens that it is oiu^ of the subjects of which I am exceptionally fond, and I would not think of depriving your pupils of the pleasure to be derived from such a widening of their horizon as only philology can give. There is no reason why th(>y should not gradually and profitably be made acy the decay of the Latin, the Latin itself, the (Jreek and the Sanskrit of India, form with the Teutonic languages a still larger group known as I ndo European or Fndo- (Jermanic; and that all these are comprised under the common name HMiiUNMMM^^ >;t.';in ■zki.-j^v-ti-^ai^ 70 PERMANENCY OF THK TEAOIIING PUOFKSSION. Aryan, to distinsiiish tluin from another large group called Semitic, wliich in( ludrs the Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, and from a third group described as Monosyllabic, of which Cbinese is the most familiar <'xaniple. The process by whidi all these relationships have been determined is strictly analogous to the process by which the past liistory of tlie earth's crust has been reconstructed by the geologists, and it constitutes one of the most perfect specimens of inductive reasoning afi'oided liy the whole circle of tlie sciences. By treating philology in school as strictly subordinate and subservient to the obtaining of a clearer comprehension of the meaning of words, and by training the pupil gradually and incidentally to look upon appar- ently isolated and capricious etymological facts as parts of one great system of development, controlled by laws as uniform in their opera- tion as those which govern the formation of the stratified rocks and the order of succession of animal life on the earth's surface, you will make the subject attractive instead of repulsive ; and it will remain with him, whether his knowledge of it be much or little, a matter of deep scientific interest through life, just as literature properly treated will remain a perennial source of lesthetic and intellectual enjoyment. PERMANENCY OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION. D. FOTllERINGIIAM. The subject of this paper is more important than attractive. Its right treatment demands more time and space — not to say ability — than at my disposal. I shall hope, however, to enlist your sympathy and develop profitable discussion. Where thoroughly qualified persons are employed continuously in any calling, the results should be more satisfactory to themselves and to their employers. (.)n all hands it is adnutted that better work and better returns are secured when skilled workmen perform the same duties in the same office year after year. Change of otlice or ofiicer of necessity implies iuitiatioii into the peculiarities and specialties of the new office or officer, with corresponding loss of time, efficiency and progress. Change, of necessity, implies a pei-iod of disquietude and friction, of anxiety, if not mortification, to employer and employed ; and these disadrantag(!s are intensified as the nature of the work involves more of the intellectual and moral, and less of the merely mechanical. It is not risking much to affirm that in no occupation are the evil effects of change more likely to be serious than in teaching. The tiiaterial with which the teacher has to deal is the most precious and PERMANKNCY OP TUB TFIACHINO IMIOFKSSION. 71 enduring oi which the earth has knowledge, and its essential nature is 80 delicate and full of far-rcachitig possihilitics that to transfer its management from hand to hand, year i)y year, in its plastic condition, makes it certain that great loss must follow. A plant cannot thus he transfernnl from soil to soil and climate to climate without a serious dwarfing of its powers. Neither can the young mind, learu- ing to observe, reason, act, to know and love truth and beauty and power, after the training and individuality of one teacher, in the atmosphere and soil of which he is the sun, be transferred to the hands of another without serious loss. Even in a pecuniary aspect, fnM^uent change involves no small loss. Under tavourab'e circumstances, the; new teacher cannot read- just the mental and administrative machinery of a school and have the whole moving on harmoniously from th(^ point his pred"cessor left it at, in less than two months— -not always so soon. It may Ije allowed that, in ordinary circumstances, three months are nearly lost to a school. When the change is a bail one, which too often is the case, a year and more with all its outlay, is lost. It is frequently atlinned and univt-rsally believed that, in Ontario, much is lost through lacic of permanency in the profession to which we belong. To reach, as i.^ai'ly as may be, the actual state of the case, I have grouped statistics bearing on this point as I could gather them from othcial returns. These cover thirteen years, begiimijig with 1871 and ending with 1881), the last that has been fully reported. If all the generalizations reached are not ab.solutely correct, they are at least approximately so. In 1871, 5,036 teachers were employed in Ontario, and '2,^2'^Q certificates (including three hundred and ninety interim) were Issued by the Education Department and County Boards. That is, forty two new teachers for each hundred employed were licensetl in lH71. lu 1872, 2,560 (including five hundred and seventy-eight interim) certifi- cates were granted. That was at th(^ rate of forty-six to the hundred. In 1877, 2,269 (including four hundred and sixty-four interim) certi- ficates were sent out, making thirty five new to each Imndred. Fn 1881, if I have been able to get the correct figures, only twenty to the hundred were granted. In 188.'^, thirty four to the one hundred were given. During the thirteen years, the Department and the County Hoards had issued two hundred and sixty First Class, ;},i)8r) Second (Mass, 16,r)7U Third Class, and 7,2r)6 Interim or other certifi- cates — 28,071 in all. To maintain an average stall of 6. 257 teachers in active service for thirteen years, 28,000 certificates were issue(l, or an average of 2,15!). Putting this in other words, the new i.ssues, one year with another, were thirty-four per cent, of those in actual use. This would not necessarily show that thirty-four per ce!\t. of the teachers were raw recruits, 'i'he average issue of Class I, was twenty, of (Jlass [I., three huntlred and six; of Class III., 1,274; and of Interim and other Special Certiticat(\s, five hundreil and fifty-eight. Now, all Class I. and 1 1, teachers must hav(' had employment before securing tlieir certificates, while some "Thirds" were given a second s-aa-iWffiHsmft'-- 72 PERMANENCY OF TUE TEACHING PROFESSION. time, on due examination ; and a considf^rable number of *' Specials " werrs it without intuitive insight into or love of childhood, a greater mistake was never made. When one enters it who does not daily feel need of fresh inspiration and new resources, no greater mistake could be made. Yet these mistak«'S occur and recur with painful frequency ; and every faithful inspector has had the painful duty of advising one and another to seek a different calling. Defective} administration of the school law has had much to do with change in our profession. This is often defectivi;, feeble, fickle. School boards are unnecessarily nunjerous and mutable ; often unedu- cated, sometnnes biassed by local prejudices and jealousies ; do not always recognize the efficient ; often appreciates the cheap anov(f petty ends and ways, the nearer will -ye (ret to the ideal of a »^'\tclier of the youu^'. Day by day will we tol! to acMjuin^ worthiness for our work and its reward, the love and admiration of our pupils and their p:irents, because we are their best IxMiefactors. Wluin these come perman- ency will soon follow. Salaries should be larij;ely incrt;ased ; but how this can be done is a problem that few are al)le to slIvc. TliaL salaries are improving is evident, the cause bein^^ found clu»'lly in the l)etter appreciation of trained and experienced teachers. Even boards of trustees learn liy their experiences that trainini; and exoeritiuce are worth more than inexperience and clieapness. With thi.: view befon^ us, it would seem that the remedy of low salary is at least partly in the hands of the profession itself. Let teachers never rest satisfied till they are near the head of the profession in legal (lualilication and al.so in practical etticiency. If teacliers remained for lif(! in this calling, no doubt greater etHciency would be reach<'d, and fewer inexperienced could enter to work for. less, as they are nially entitled to less. 80 that in reality permanency in the work and more remuneration would become mutually helpful. Loyalty to tin; profession should lead all who enter it to observe the golden rule towards each other. I hope it never occurs in a section or county represented here, but it has been charged that teachers sometimes so far forget their self- respect, and the reputation of the profession, as to underbid their rivals for a school. It thus happens that lack of self-respect and lack of professional honour have come in along unfortunately with a proportion of drones to keep down the reputation and pay of th(^ profession. These evils let us trust, as many f»!el sure, are lessening and will soon disappear. Mc^antime let us not claim that legal assistance is all we need to raist; our pay till we have exhausted our resourceM in ridding the pi'oftvssion of those who have hitherto only lessened its efficiency, its reputation and its remuneration, aiid till we bring the highest attainabl<» (lualitications to our work. On the other hand we hav(i the right to expect that those who hold the power to legislate anrl administer will look above and beyond conflicting interests of the present to the unchanging principles that underlie the full development of .social, intellectual and moral forces ; that they make ample and far seeing provision for the education of .J^j^^^tSilMiiS^ iiiiiiia 76 KKA(HX(i AS PART OF KLOCL'TlON. the younir, inoludin:^ t,h(> unliiimint'llcd aiixperience as a teacher in the public and high schools, a.s well as in county and provincial model schools, has forced me to the r URADINU AS I'ART OK ELOOUTION. 77 IJHcharge adt-quate v«ll to-do icy moro. iH is done teaching? 1 incomes «'xp«oted vision be all go to ul to the ^nce from id higher would be nd ample us for tlu' is worried ^ schools, » and self- hy should y contain- f the most If riodical 1 important place and ich I have ity at my given may ccuse me of est of our reading." M.C Lilian's gh, coming )r judging, schools, as n\e to the conclusion that the abovt? (juoted words w«ire not uncalled for. It is, however, true that of late more attention has been paid to this very important subject, though much yet remains to be done. It is a remarkabh' fact that this sulti<'ct, the lirst to Ix- taken up in our public schools and prosecuted day after day for a numl)t*r of years, is the one in which our pupils are, as a rule, the h'ast proHcieut. In all other subjects they ari! able to reach a liigh degree of profi- ciency ; in reading they do not seem to be abU- to rise above a standard which can only Ix; considered mediocre. 'I'licre must be a reason for this condition of things, and though I shall not take upon myself to say vhat actually is the cause, I will umhirtakc to hazard an opinion. It is this. The fault lies, for the most part, not with the pupils but with the teachers. 1 say for the most part, for cer tain dirticulties present tlKMn.selves which even tlu! best teacher will tind hard to surmount. The.se are due to home iutluences. Iliading is an art, and as an art has to be ac(juired by diligent study aiul practice, antl the ac(|uirement of this art is not gainiid in a ilay or in a short course of spasmodic and desult»)ry training, as experience too truly shows. In the public schools it has not met with that atten tion and systematic .^reatment whicli its importance dtMuands, whilst in the high schools and collegiate instit\ites until the last two or three years it was almost entirely neglected or ignored, for what were deemed, though erroneously, more important sultjects. ( 'onsecjuently, candidates for teachers' certificates came, and still come, to the county model schools and the normal schools with little or no ac(|uirement of this art beyond fair intelligence and fluency which they have obtained they scarcely know how, through the labour of years. At these insti- tutions thevare wwt with a variety of work and study deemed neces- sary for their equipment as teachers, and rightly too, and the con.se- (juence is that under even the; most skilful teachers of reading, the time and attention that can be devoted to this pursuit is all too little. And thus lightly equipped in this respect they an; drafted oil" into our schools to become in their turn the teachers ami trainers of the rising generation. Again 1 shall not take upon myself to say how this condition of things can be improved, but [ may take tin; liberty to otfer a suggestion. First, th(!n, niore stress mig!it bo laiil on the subject at the various teachers' examinations, and a higher standard exacted. It should no longer be looked upon, or at all events pas.sed over, as of little moment. Secondly, a more extended cour.s(i '.n this branch at the normal schools. Thirdly, a special recognition by the Education Department of excellence in this art, or if not in this art alone, in a certain group of subjects of which it is one. Then? are certain aciiuirements which are looked upon rather as accomplishmtints than as essentials of a public school teacher. Such are music, drawing and pennmnship, and I may put in this class also the art of reading in that degree of perfection in which a teacher should possess it. 78 KKAIUNC. AS I'AIIT OF KLOrUTION. The coiiKidrration of tlu' iiu'thrlH «'inplov<'(l in trachinjj; ItcfriniuTH (loos not fall within thf piovineo of this papfr. It will not he out of my way, however, to lall your attj-ntion to the fact that the reading reform now in pro<;r(SH has l)e<,'un at tlu; ri^'ht point, nanjely, at tho heginnin;,'. In the normal and model hcIioo'h no Huhjeet, I Ixdieve, receives more can- and attention than the method of teaching tho first leading le.ssouH. TIuh is us it slioidd be, and the work done — and done in sui-h a tliorougldy souiul and ellifieiit manner -in the lower classes, will advance most materially I lie higluT grade of read- ing wliich should he taught in the advanced classc^H of the public Hchools as well as in all the de|>artmentH of the high schools and col- legiate institutes. I now come to the consideration of the standard in leading which we should aim at in our teaching. If reading is to be worthy of the name it must involve the prin- ciples of elocution, but to what extent I shall leaving accepted by you, because they may be wrong, but simply liecau.se they seem to me to be right. In a few words, the reading which we should aim at should have three (jiialities : — It should be i)ifrfli(/cn(. It should l)e intelliyihle. It should be f.x/)reasive. And the asiiount of elocution whii-h should be introduced into our teaching should be sulHoicnt tt> luring al»out reading possessing these three <|iialitie«. The question hen; naturally presents it.self, what system of elocu- tion suitable to our classes shall we adopt? There are .syst«Mns and systems. Most systems consist of a bundle of rules, so coniplex in character and so terrifying in number, that even the anxious, enthu- siastic student feels inclined to close the book with a bang, and give the mutter up in sheer despair. Such systcm.s, it seems to me, can- not l)e too strongly condemned. We do not sp<'ak liy rule, why should we read by rule 1 Why, the very rules tln'^mselves are obtainfid from natural sourc(\s and common usage. And if we have natuH! and u.sage to draw upon, why perplex and distract the mind by rules ( Let us for a moment examine the information a pupil occasionally receives by learning a rule. ILLU8TKATI0N. Rule I. — *' Questions end with the rising inflection " : Was John fhere i What time is it ( What time is it ? Was John there ? KUADIX; AH I'AKT OF KLOCIJTION. 79 Rul(^ 11.— " N«<«ativ»' HonUMicj's hav<' a rininy iiill.i'tion in th«' part (li'iiifd " : It is not my fduH. It JH not niji f'linll. It is not my fault. IiiHliort, th(!n, however vuluiiWU' hucIi HyHt»'ins may Ix- in tli(M'y«H of the anthors of thnin, they can Im* of l)ut little aHsiHtunoe to tho coMiinon teacher, who has not time, even it" he had tlie patience, to reduce these unruly rules to order. .Moreover, it is plain that a system of this kind is liaMe t(^ heeome, in tlic hands of an unskilful ti'ucher, highly injurious to the advancement of his class. liut why should we go to the troul)lH of carrying; water to our pupils, when they can just as easily drink at th*; spring; its«>lf \ Why give them dry rules when tliey can more easilv have recourse to nature and custom, from whieh these rules themselves imvo heon ol)tained ] Wiiatehiy, in a chapter on elocution, says v(»ry pertin«Mitly : *'Suppos(* it could Ix' compl(!tely indicatcMl to tin; eye in what tone eairh word and .sentence should i)e pronounced, according to x\\i\ several occasions, the h^arner miglit ask : [iut inhi/ should this tone suit the awful, tliis the pathetic, this the narrative style I Why is this mode of delivery iidopted for a command, this for an exhortation, this for a supplication \ (^tc. 'I'he only answer that could lie given is, that these tones, (Mnpha.ses, etc., ar ; apart of the language ; that nature, or custom, which is a second nature, suggests spontaneously these ditrerent modes of giving expression to the ditfei-ent thoughts, feelings and designs which are present to tin; mind of any on<^ who, without study, is spi-aking in earnest his own sentiments. Then, if this he the case, why not l«;ave nature to do her own work '( Impress hut the n\ind fully with tin; sentiments, etc., to l»(t uttered, withdraw the attention from the sound and tix it on tin- .sense, and nature or h:il)it will spontaneously suggest the proper delivery." Here, then, 1 will give th*' basis of the; system of elocution which appears to me th(; hest, the most ellVctive and th»' easiest, hecause the simplest, that can be (Mnploved by scliool-teachers. "First, lead the pupil to get at the sense of the passage ; th(m lead him to tind the proper and natural way of expressing the thoughts and sentiments whii'h he has almost ma mh-r years makes known his wants, he lias ids attention riveted on th(! matter, not on the form ; \n^ thinks o)i\y oi ids wi'.nts, not of the words or the mode of uttering them. TijOfeO tilings arrj of htvcnat^ry ifiportance, and lie leave.?jt nviding is imnossible. From tiiis we are led to infer that the pupil, before att'Uipting to read, should be ai)l<^ to pronounce ('vtry word easily and at siglit, and should have a full knowledgt^ of their meaning in tl.e context. Then he must be trained to n-ad with his thoughts and att(!!ition fixed on the sense to the neglect of words, intiectioiuj, empiiasis, etc. Many little ways of securing this result will doubt- less present themselves to your minds after a little reflection. I have bandy time to makt; even a suggestion. ILLU.STllATiONS. I. Wrong inllection — *' ISIother, may 1 go on the hill with my handsh igli 1 " II. Wrong emphasis — "Oh, luothf^r ! )ni/ map was the nicest of all." The teacluir, by pndiminary (|uestioiiing on the substance of the lesson, can do a great deal towards directing the attention of the class to the sense as weLI as to the spirit of the piece. HKAUINC AS I'ART 01' I'.lJ )('! TloN. 81 u'ce 13 sHtirily to liis in the ition of ctTtrtin I iniiuls results 'se pas- d with teniu!^, us ina- i;h tliat lt.i.ll way in is atten- adinj; is htifore (1 easily lining in Lhoughth llectioniJ, I (loul)t- liion. I Ivith my \v nicest pc of the the class I shall pass on now to the second (luaiity of e altle to direct the pupil. I have found, however, that where there is actu- ally no physical impediment, imitation is most etlective, the teacher iirticulating, tiie pupil imitating. Therc^ i.s a common tendency to pass over prepositions of one syllal)le and unai-cented syllables in long words. Pupils should be tr.ught to give due promiiK^nce to these. It is good practice, therefore, fretpiently to drill individually and siiiiiiltans are generally irnMuediable. II. lie acted ci, vtrary t(t the peremptory instructions given. III. It is a truly rural spit. Anotli(^r error of freijuent occuiTenc(^ in this respect is the run- ning of one word into another: example" wood ami gro^•e '' enun- ciated " wooden grove.' 1 shall pass over the subject of pronunciation with this remark, that tut, to keep this paper within due limits and not to wearj' you, I shall endeavour to be brief. Heading may be both intelligent and intelligible without being e.vpr<'.ssive ; wherea.s, expressiv*^ r(>ading must lia\(' these two (juali- ties, "and something more ' ; and to me it seems that this "some- thing more," whicli w<' call expression, is especially wanting in our schools. It is wanting, 1 su{>pose, beeause it is thought ditlicult of attainment and ditlicult to t(>ach. N(>vertheless, it should be the crowning eilbrt of the teacher to perfect and polish his work. Intel- ligence and intelligil)ility are more easily and naturally actiuired than *<» r 't S2 i;KAT>IN(i AS I'AIIT OF K»,()( I TION. I fxproasivonoss. It is in cxprcssivo nadiiii,' that we iiitrodurc :irt. "What ihcii may cxpn^s.-ivc nailing' licT' say y..u. " Keadiiig," says C'urric, "is oxpressivr when i\w tones of th(i voicr an- so adapted to the sense as to briiiy it out with a stronj,' etrcct." It lays Vx'fon- the audience not merely tlie thought )»ut also the emotion of the thought. ILUJSTIiATIONS. I. \\v\u\ Otliello's speech intelliifntly and intellijrilily. II, Read Othello's speech with expression as it niiLjht ])e tauy which we appri'ciate what is licuiliful in naluie and in art." And althoui^di tliis d(!tinilion does not ijuite correspond to my idea of what taste really is — for it .seems to me to he rather the product of the cuUi\a tion of several faculties than a faculty itself ii will answer my purpose h<'r(>. The same authority ,i,'f)es on to say : — "The \<>\i' of (he heautiful is part of human nature, and one of the e\ idr it is natural that we slwuild strive to imitatt! in our c)wn arrangements the (pialities we adnure in what we see around us." Of the iiilluences at 'lie teacher's conjtnand for oultivatintr and refinim; the taste, " next in power to his icferences in conversation and oral descriptions, sliould Im- reckoned the inlluence that nniv lie exerted by the pupil's cading-hooks, " if the hooks ai'e worthy of tln' naine. jiut the same authority slates again that, " whilst readini; hooks properly constructntents, they will still n>ore reline the taste df him who i.s taught to read with iliosi qualities of elocution which constitute exjtn usive reading." I claim, then, for t'Xpressixc reading a foremost, place a,s an inlluence fni retining and cultivating the taste. I claim also that, as an etlucativ force, expri'ssive reading ranks very high--so high that a man of HKADINd AS TAUT OF KI.OfTTroM. 8:i frodiiff iirt. " lU'adiiig," o'u:r ar«' so t." It lays miotiou of faste, hearing a roadcr rciidjT in an intnlligont hut inexpressive in;in- mra passage whicli dinnaiuls great expression, is remindtid of VVords- it.V. .i„ • i.; e u .i..._ ij.ii . worth's description of poor P(itor Bell t, })(' i aught dse. 1 shall iit ion ; l>ut, our schools, in languag*', n the liiauti- hiiik that all (licticisni is a loulil lie culLi • Taste," says Ity whirh we ^ud althouiiii of what lastf f th(! cuU.i\a- l answer niv liic heautiful ilignity. It \ating that Wliere av easily '"' •fulness, lidi •ith the oulti to imitate in what wo see iltivating and conversation tliat nnvy I"' worthy of the hilst reading iht pupil vvlio [Ikv will still int how to get at tliem ! Hoys ami girls, ami even men and women, are ni some respects like sensiti\(' plants, fnil Itreatiie on them and they elose up. Altliougli we do often .see people of their own accoril make fools of them.seive.s, ro use a lomninn expression, yet it se«;ms toleraldy certain that there is in human nature a strong dislike to appear ridiculous. Now there i.s no study that reipiirt's a i^nMiter forgetfulnos of .self than rxpri ss- ivc nading. .And when tlie teacher has suc<'eed( d in hreaking down this liarriei' of self ami ri'Sfi-\t' which stands between him ami his pupils, he liiiH accomplished a great deal, and .satisfactory results of his teaching will speedil , appear. To do tiiis, gnat ta* t and skill in ■one tahily obtained by those desiring to be niformed. fn Kngland, of lute years, a good deal of care and labour has bc^en de\oted to this [iiirsuit ; l)Ut it is in the I'nited States liiat it recr>ives tlie attention which it deserves. jlefore undertaking to practise on tkf- voice*' of others, the teacher should himself have some sound ki'wjv/led^e on tlie sultject of voice culture, as a wrong course may do mvre harm ilian {^ood, Htill, there are many exerci.ses which every Ujacher could di UEADIN(! AS I'ART OK ELOCUTlO>f. safely employ, well adapted to stri!n<;thon the voice, and to increase its tlexibility and purity — such as simple exercises on i)itch, tone, inflection, force and stress, which may l)e used also to vary the mon- otony of the ordinary reading lesson, and to impart additional interest to the teaching of reading. Now, it is n ally l«y imitation that a child learns to speak, and imitation is an all-important factor in the process of learning to read with expression. Hence the necessity of cultivating the ear and of training it to detect the diti'erenco of tones, stress, etc. Now, the ear is cultivated by the excTcises used for the culture of the voice ; and thus, with voice and ear trained, a student's possibilities of acquiring expressiveness are greatly increased. With the power of imitating comes the necessity for good models, and these .'t is the duty of the teacher to furnish. Teachers of reading, therefore, should them- selves bo able to read with expre.ssion. The fact that reading, and e.specially this higher class of n^ading, is an art, and must be taught as an art, should never be lost sight of by the teacher. In the teach- ing of an art, as a means of accjuiring, practice ranka first. The power to do is best streiigthcnied and increased by practice. It is not sufiicient to instruct by word of mouth, not sulKcient to supply a good model. No ! the hardest though most prod table part of the lesson remains yet to be taught, namely, the doing of the work by the pupils themselves. It is on this that the teacher must lavishly spend his t^nergy, his tact, his skill, his patience, and by dint of examples, by instruction, by illustration, by repetition, by di-ill, oy imbuing the minds of his pupils vvith tlui spirit of the i)as8age, lead them into rendering it, not merely with intelligence, but with all that expression of voice, tone, etc., which imparts a natural music to the words, and forms a most pleasing accompaninn>nt to the sense. Finally, due attention must be paid to the cultivation of taste in the delivery. The sense, the thoughts and feelings of the writer should be closely analyzed with a view to interpr(!ting them truly to tin; minds :)f others. The moving power of the human voice over the human heart is marvellous. A cry, a sob, a groan, an exclama- tion of horror or delight, .\'l mere etlbrts of the voice, are more pow- erful than words ; and why I Because they are the natural expres- sion oi the deepest fe(;lings. Here, then, is the key to good taste in reading. The voict;, the tones, the stress, the inflections, the time and pauses should be natural. Nature should be followed as closely as possible. In connection with this i may remark that readers are almost as liable to err by over-stepping the l)Ounds of nature as by not rising to the natuial. Hence, not unfrequently, arises a false taste, an exaggerated, would-be impressive style of reading, which is commonly called afl'ected. This is always otfensive, and when it inopportunely and unnaturally assumes the grandiose, it is called bombastic, and becomes positively ludicrous. Shakespear(>, the grand exponent of humanity in all its phases of weakness and of strength, that sublime teacher of language and RRAPINO AS PAKT OP ELOOUTIOV. 85 elo(iuence, who has done more to advance good reading and (^locution than any other writer of ancient or modfirn times, lias, in llaialel's famous advice to the players, indicated liie qualities of tustt; in deliv(!ry, in terms beside wliich mine would but b(;tray their own insufficiency. He says to the players : *' Speak the speech, I pr.iy you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue," etc., etc. Kr)TTCA.TT()^r no( )!<:«. ROWSELL & HUTCHISON I Invo now a very full stock of tho BOOKS REQUIRED FOR THE UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. Catolognea soct to applicnnta. R. & H. have- LONGMANS' edition of "WARREN HASTINGS," By Lord M.\(At;iiAY, With Introduction and Notes by S. HALES. Price 50 cents. ROW SELL & HUTCHISON, 76 King Street, East Toronto. R W. D()U(;LAS k CO. 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