contend that the function of the high school is primarily to prepare youth for immediate social service boldly assert that applied chemistry and physics should be taught with constant reference to the student's entering the commercial laboratory and the shop; civics, with a view to his knowing the practical working of the local, state, and federal government; business matters, as actually employed in the business establishments of the community, with the practical adjuncts of stenography and typewriting. The movement to include these subjects grows apace even where no beginning has thus far been made. Concerning chemistry, physics, and civics it is not necessary for this paper to enter into details, but a reason should perhaps be given why the present state of business training in the high school is believed to be encouraging. The high school, the people's school for youths between the ages of approximately fourteen and eighteen, ought, it would seem, to give as useful a preparation as the "business college" and the correspondence school. The material for a suitable high-school business course is now shaping itself. In response to a series of questions, Dr. Cheesman A. Herrick, of the school of commerce of the Central High School, Philadelphia, Pa., states that he regards "a business course liberally conceived and wisely inaugurated as a legitimate part of secondary education, and deserving to rank with manual training or the classics. Its establishment is indispensable if secondary education is for the whole community." Thus the high school will not only send into the business world boys and girls equipped for work, but will send on to the university or school of technology such as develop ambition to become masters and leaders. The technical schools will perform like service for those who prefer a more distinctly technical preparation for immediate work or for advanced study. Doubtless the general character of the high school will be altered by its entrance upon the field of practical training, but it is safe to say that the traditional material of the curriculum will not be abandoned, and that the school will never become a trade school. It would be a sad day for education and for the race upon which opportunity should cease for the study of the ancient literatures by those eager and qualified, with all the helps which modern erudition and research afford. Whole spheres of æsthetic enjoyment rest upon the canons of art which we inherit from the ancients. We have in them a precious heritage which we will not throw away. It is as important that the few should devote themselves to the classics and keep alive for us the sacred fire of pure taste, as it is that the many should be fitted for some active labor. The strange increase in the number of high-school students studying Latin (34.90 per cent. in 1889-90 and 50.39 per cent. in 1898–99) will cease as the business courses absorb more pupils, but it is to be hoped that a certain proportion will always continue to study that language. Greek, with its very moderate number of students, need not perish as a high-school study, nor will it perish as long as Greek scholars are found in our corps of teachers. Those who are to be ministers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, and journalists. will often find Latin and Greek within their scheme of work. The course of the high school, having for its aim simply the education of all youth coming to it, must be elastic. At the same time there will be certain studies which will be selected as of such general value as to be required of all pupils; the universities will aid the schools in determining these. All other studies than these "constants" will be elective in the sense that combinations will be made of them to constitute a variety of courses, each with its definite purpose. Provided that the choice is carefully supervised and that all work done is thoro, systematic, and properly tested, the element of discipline of mind and character will not be wanting. It is not necessary to do more than mention the moral function of the high school. The core of sound learning, of correct manners, and of right living that vitalizes every true educational institution is as carefully preserved in the high school today as it has been in the past. It is safe to say that the teaching force of the public high schools, 30,489 in number, and guiding a host of 630,000 boys and girls, is improving in scholarship and pedagogical skill, and is maintaining its character. The excellent moral influence of the high school is recognized in every community in which such a school is found. Just criticism on this score has yet to be uttered, and the teachers jealously guard their reputation for loving care of the personal interest of even their least promising pupils. The institutions of higher education do not intend closing their doors, tho they may properly deny their degrees, to any who have the groundwork for advanced study laid in any manner requiring strenuous employment of the intellect. The ascending path of education, made broader and better adapted to the feet of those who must travel at the gait which nature made theirs, will at no point be closed to any that possess capacity and energy of any kind. But at frequent intervals there will be ready and honorable egress to the table-lands of productive toil. We shall cease to create a disappointed class. No one will be compelled to struggle in some fashion to the top or consider himself an educational failure. It is useless to deny that the practical forcing of a man or woman to continue the preparatory work of life, when the zest for learning is lacking and the longing for active work strong, often results in the adoption of a profession as a pis aller, and a lifelong attempt to fit a round peg into a square hole. The high school will not become a trade school, teaching merely some one handicraft, nor will it occupy the place of the technical school, which I Statistics of secondary schools. Additional information for 1899-1900. offers special training for the naturally inventive in matters of mechanic art; but it will prepare for active life at various points. It will not by any means abandon its office of layer of the foundation for advanced work in the subjects that come within its scope and for a general advance into a higher sphere of intellectual effort. DISCUSSION STRATTON D. BROOKS, high-school visitor, University of Illinois.—“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary"- with such words did our forefathers declare themselves free and equal. Now when I read, "Resolved, That we recommend that any piece of work comprehended within the studies included in this report that has covered at least a year of four periods a week, in a well-equipped secondary school under competent instruction, should be considered worthy to count toward admission to college," I feel that I am reading the declaration of independence of the American highschool system. It is a declaration which shadows forth the functions of the high school in new terms, and because of which we shall build up a better, stronger, more efficient system. It indicates that the academy idea and academy influence are disappearing, and that we shall soon cease to discuss the relative merits of subjects as preparation for life or preparation for college. It has been believed that preparation for life demanded less than preparation for college. Subjects which were more easily mastered or more poorly taught than the traditional college subjects have been accepted as adequate preparation for life. This resolution does not mean the lowering of requirements for admission to college. It indicates rather a belief that the non-college admission subjects have made such progress in organization of material and methods of presentation that they may safely be substituted for some of the traditional subjects. It recognizes that the problem of life and a living demands as close application and as much thought-power as does the securing of a college diploma. There will soon be no need to separate the student body into divisions to which different intellectual pabulum must be administered, but for all there will be one object or set of objects, the means only varying with the individual peculiarities of the pupils. What are these aims? In the first place it is the business of every man to earn a living. Life and the means to sustain it are the primary aims of living creatures. The men who cannot earn a living may by public or private charity be allowed to exist, but they are always debtors to civilization; hindrances, not helps; clogs on the wheels of progress, which may be endured, if not too numerous. Every man should have a vocation which will support himself and family, and the school may, therefore, have By this I do not mean that the school shall devote itself to the so-called practical subjects, or shall attempt by short-cut methods to make callow youths into experienced business-men. The school is supported by public tax, and it must deal impartially by all who contribute to its support. From the many things which it may teach it should select those which are suited to the needs of all. It is not the function of the public high school to train specialists in any line, but to teach such things as may find application in almost any vocation. What vocational aims may the high schools properly have? 1. Directly practical.-There can be no distinct line of division, but here would lie all those facts and processes which can be transferred directly to the business of life— the elementary part of mathematics, a portion of the bookkeeping work, and drill in language. This last should include, if need be, improvement in reading, in spelling, and in writing, but especially ability and facility in accurate and concise self-expression, both oral and written. As by self-expression the self is built up, the soul enlarged, we here touch also the æsthetic and ethical aims of school work; and as self-expression demands ideas and reasoning ability, the effort to be practical brings with it a supply of facts and training in logic. 2. Conventional.-There are some things worth knowing because the world knows them. The men and women with whom we meet, and with whom we must work, know things and say things and do things which may have but small bearing on practical life, but the man who is ignorant of these conventionalities finds himself at a disadvantage. The various circles of life have different sets of conventionalities. The mispronunciation of words or a lack of knowledge about Shakespeare might not affect a day laborer, but there are circles to whose inmost shrine such a sinner may not come. Because we do not know in what circles our pupils may fall, we must teach to all as much as possible of the conventional world knowledge. 3. Disciplinary.— (a) After all, the best vocational aid which the high school gives lies in the realm of work not called practical, in those things by which the pupil is taught to think. The ability to think accurately and correctly, to determine the given conditions, to draw the correct conclusions, to state them concisely, and to use them effectively— this is the essentially practical thing. Language, science, mathematics, history may, and do in this sense, become essentially practical. The boy who once told me that he was studying Cæsar in order to become a better blacksmith than his father had a better understanding of the function of the high school than many teachers I have heard. With this understanding, there is no distinction between those who are preparing for college and those who are not. They may, from choice, be found pursuing different subjects, but the function of the high school is the same for both-to teach them to think; and the measure of success will not be the facts they know, but the power of original thought they have acquired. (b) There is still another task before the high school on its vocational side — that of teaching its pupils to work. This is an age of work, and the pupils should come forth with an understanding of the dignity and necessity of daily labor. Accuracy, rapidity, neatness, and completeness are practical things, and may be taught in any subject. The boy who has learned these lessons from quantitative experimental work in physics may become, and usually will become, a better bookkeeper than most of those who claim to have passed the subject. Life and liberty are our first desires. These necessitate government. With us the power of government is vested in the people, and the schools may justly have aims looking toward the perfection, perpetuity, and vitality of the national life. What are these aims ? 1. To maintain equality.—It is one of our beliefs that every boy shall have an equal opportunity to choose his own vocation in life. The intelligent choice of a vocation demands a broader knowledge and a better understanding than is furnished by a course ending with the elementary school. Most high-school pupils do not have definite selections of vocations made, and those who have seldom follow those selected. They are in an age of changing interests, and it is the function of the high school to direct, suggest, control, and in the end leave the pupil with a general intelligent interest in the varied activities of life; to lead him as far as possible to an understanding of the conditions under which he lives, and to enable him to choose more wisely the work which he shall do and for which he is suited. The high school must stand ready to help any boy, no matter what his station in life may be, to make the most of himself, and thus prevent the establishment of a governed and a governing class. 2. To promote good citizenship.-(a) By increasing intelligence: To exercise the powers of government either as a voter or an officer demands ability to think. Intelligence is the protection of democracy against the demagog. While an elementary education may suffice for the mass of voters, a democracy always needs men of higher powers and greater ability. Many such men have been found in the past who could claim no college for their alma mater, but for the future we are looking more and more to the college-bred men for our leaders. While we are prone to say that we must do the greatest good to the greatest number, and while the pupils not going to college are numerically more important, yet we must remember that it is no less important that the high school should set before some now unpromising lad that task which shall challenge his powers, lead him to discover himself, and bring him out to be a benefactor to his race or the protector of his nation. Not knowing who he is or when or where he is to be found, it becomes necessary for all the high schools everywhere to teach all the pupils in them so that they are best fitted to go into life when need be, and so that, at the same time, they may, if they choose, go on with a college course. Nor is this impossible. We are now in a transition period. Some mechanical difficulties present themselves, but these are rapidly disappearing. The Declaration of Independence has been promulgated. We are now in the period of the Articles of Confederation, but the time of the constitution is not far distant. (b) By character building: An educated rascal is a greater menace to the community than an ignorant one. Our education should do all that it can toward the building of character. This is done by the æsthetic and ethical sides of school subjects. Sometimes these may be affected almost directly, as in art and music, but for the most part they come about quite indirectly from the daily contact with various subjects and from the personal influence of the teaching force. C. LIFE AIMS After all, the first object is to live, and this includes much more than the earning of a living. Life is more than buying and selling and toiling and planning, and we hear much of the necessity of teaching our pupils to live the best life. It seems to me, however, that, when we have done all of the things here set forth, this is the result, and the high school has performed its full function. ROUND TABLE CONFERENCES THE ENGLISH CONFERENCE LEADER- JAMES H. HARRIS, PRINCIPAL OF MILITARY ACADEMY, [SYNOPSIS OF INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE LEADER] A retrospect of the course in English during the past ten or fifteen years reveals a progress that is as revolutionary as it is encouraging. 'Tis a far throw from the narrow, scanty, circumscribed character of the work in English as it existed ten years ago in our secondary schools, to the broad, rich, generous, and vitalizing curriculum which we see today. Its growth has been essentially organic, and has followed with striking and scrupulous fidelity the general laws of organic development. From a state of almost pure potentiality we have seen it emerge into a separate and distinctive entity, gradually but steadily dissociating itself from the other subjects, and slowly but irresistibly gaining recognition for itself and for its right to a place in the hierarchy of studies. The evidences of an undeniable growth in both the social and educational interest in the subject of English are found: (1) in the enlarged amount of work required of |