said that the completion of a commercial education can be obtained only in connection with a business establishment, and that the primary function of schools is to prepare students to take the advantage of the experience of the commercial world and to give them the ability to acquire thru this experience complete mastery of the particular field which is to constitute the work of their lives. Business experience, however, is necessary to the commercial teacher, because he must know precisely what the problems of business life are, in order that he may teach the subjects which constitute the curriculum of the commercial school in such a way as to give the student the requisite preparation. One may teach the subjects of commercial geography or economic history or commercial law or bookkeeping or insurance in such a way as to make them practically useless for the purposes of the business-man; or they may be taught in such a way as to give young men the precise preparation needed for the solution of the actual problems of business life as they arise.

4. Some knowledge of the science of education is as much needed by the commercial teacher as by any other member of the teaching profession. Precisely how this training can best be obtained is a topic for specialists in this field, and cannot be discussed here.

I am willing to admit that occasional examples of self-made teachers are found, but they are so rare and unusual that their consideration will not assist us in laying down rules for the guidance of the generality of persons. Any man who is familiar with educational work and with the real meaning of the qualifications which I have indicated as essential will not hesitate to declare that the education needed by a commercial teacher cannot be secured outside of the colleges and universities of our country. The general all-around training which gives a person command of all his powers and equips him with the tools for independent investigation cannot be acquired by a person who stops with the secondary school. It is a rare thing, indeed, to find a student prepared for college who has acquired the power of concentration and of clear thinking, to say nothing of the special equipment for independent investigation of which I have spoken. Indeed, college teachers will agree that at least the first two years of a college course are necessary to give the student command of his own powers, and it is rarely found profitable to begin his training in the line of independent investigation before that stage has been reached. The experience of educators everywhere indicates that a long period of careful, systematic, specially directed training is necessary to acquire the sort of power that I have indicated.

Until the present year much of the technical training necessary for a commercial teacher could not be obtained even in the colleges and universities of our country. Fortunately during the last twelve months several of our universities have made special provision for this branch of

instruction. The Universities of California, Pennsylvania, the City of New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin have established special schools of commerce, or commercial courses, designed to furnish precisely the sort of training which is here under consideration. The curriculum of some of these institutions is very far from complete. Most of them, in fact, have done little more than make a beginning; but all expect in the very near future to complete their equipment along this line. The University of Wisconsin has at the present time a completely rounded four-years' course, with graduate courses for those who desire them. Candidates for positions as commercial teachers, therefore, no longer have the excuse of not being able to obtain the special technical training which they desire. It can now be furnished in the institutions mentioned, and one and all are cordially invited to take advantage of the opportunities which now exist.

The acquisition of the business experience necessary for the commercial teacher could, in my opinion, be obtained during the years of one's college or post-graduate course. None of our higher institutions of learning continue in session during more than nine months of the year. Three months are, therefore, left available to the student for other forms of activity. It would be entirely possible, in my opinion, and highly desirable, for young men who are preparing themselves for the work of teaching, to avail themselves of the annual three months' vacation for the acquisition of business experience. Positions of various sorts could be obtained and a considerable variety of experience could be acquired during the four vacations, the whole period aggregating one year of business training.

I am well aware that the standard which I have set up is a very high one, and that comparatively few of the commercial teachers of our country will be able to measure up to it. It is eminently desirable, however, that a proper standard should be placed before us, and that each one of us should comprehend the requirements of the profession in which he is engaged. Summer sessions of the universities are now common. The University of Wisconsin is this year holding a summer session of its school of commerce, and will doubtless continue to do so in succeeding years. Is is entirely possible, therefore, for persons already engaged in the work of teaching to supplement their training and approach the ideal without dropping their positions or depriving themselves of their present means of livelihood. No teacher can afford in this day and age of the world to stand still. Each one of us must constantly increase and improve his equipment, and, however far short of the ideal our attainments at the present time may be, we should not be discouraged, but, on the contrary, determine constantly to improve and enlarge our equipment until we have made such an approximation to our ideal as is possible.

DISCUSSION

PARKE SCHOCH, director, Department of Commerce and Finance, Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.- I purpose limiting my discussion to the education and training of commercial teachers for public high schools, because I believe that is the field of education in which commercial teachers are most needed today. I shall discuss the subject under five sub-topics.

1. The condition of commercial education in the United States today as a gauge for the need of specially trained teachers.

If we were to determine upon a definite time to mark the beginning of a universal interest in commercial education in this country, we should say that it dates no farther back than three years ago, and that it is closely associated with the Spanish-American war. It was that war which first revealed to us our larger position politically among the nations of the world, and it was the rapid growth and expansion of our trade following the war that impressed us as a nation with the importance of so fortifying ourselves educationally that we might win commercial supremacy as the only sure foundation for gaining political pre-eminence. I do not mean by this that prior to 1898 commercial education, in some form or other, was entirely wanting in the United States, for I am not unmindful of the existence before then of private schools of business, and of commercial courses in a few high schools and academies. I mean, rather, that the general awakening of the people to the desirability and necessity of commercial instruction as a feature of the public-school system has come within this brief period. Indeed, today there is scarcely a city of importance in the United States that has not in operation, or in process of formation, either a commercial department in the regular high school or a separate institution known as a commercial high school, with a course of study covering two, three, or four years. In addition, we must note the growing favor constantly shown by academies, colleges, and universities to commercial education. The tendency here to make way for the new training is scarcely less marked than among the high schools. Therefore, we cannot but agree that already sufficient emphasis has been given to the commercial idea in education to demonstrate the need of good teaching ability.

2. To what extent has this need been met, and thru what channels?

So far as the more specialized forms of business training are concerned, such as bookkeeping and stenography, the demand for teachers in the public schools has been supplied by the business colleges, and on the whole; no doubt, satisfactorily; but wherever there has been need for a teacher to organize and direct a full commercial course there has been found a scarcity of men and women capable of filling the position. The intellectual equipment for teaching of this kind should embrace a knowledge of commercial geography, commercial law, banking, finance, etc., as well as the more practical subjects already mentioned. Positions of this broad nature have been given largely to experienced business-school instructors who, by lifelong contact with this specialized form of education and by patient personal effort, have fitted themselves to formulate and conduct such courses as the times demand; still they are generally lacking in that liberal education and in that knowledge of pedagogics so necessary to the equipment of every teacher who is to be of greatest service to his school. One other source has partly met this call, namely, the public school itself, from which teachers, with the normal training already in hand, have gone out to pursue courses in the commercial subjects, and then have returned, sometimes, to the same school, to engage in the newer work.

Up to the present time, then, there has been no systematic training for commercial teachers, and the high schools have been obliged to accept what the teaching market offered, or to release their own instructors long enough to enable them to acquire a knowledge of the new subjects.

3. What constitutes an adequate education and training for the commercial teacher?

In considering this question, two kinds of teachers suggest themselves: first, the organizer and director of commercial courses or departments; second, the specialist whose object it is to fit himself to teach one, or at most two, of the commercial subjects. At this early stage of development the former is possibly more in demand than the latter. Schools that are passing thru the experimental period in dealing with commercial instruction are naturally careful not to give undue emphasis to the practical side of their courses, and hence ask for teachers who can engage, to a limited extent, in giving instruction in all the commercial branches to be taught. The best preparation for positions of such general usefulness should have at its base a college education, the education afforded by the classical or scientific courses of our colleges and universities. Upon this the aspirant to teach should build, as a superstructure, his commercial education. This should embrace a knowledge of economics, commercial and industrial geography, history of commerce, commercial law, questions of finance, mechanism of commerce-by which I mean banking, transportation, stock and produce exchanges, etc.—commercial arithmetic, bookkeeping, business customs, commercial correspondence, and stenography. While he will not be called upon to teach every subject here named, he himself needs to have the advantage that the training in them gives, and he must have a sufficient teaching acquaintance with each to know its needs in its relations to all the others. The languages French, German, and Spanish-o -one or two of which he should know, he will have gotten in his college course, or they can be provided for in his commercial training. He should also be informed upon the history of education, upon methods of teaching, and upon educational organization in general.

4. What kinds of institutions are best equipped to furnish this training, and what suggestions can be made for an enlargement and betterment of the facilities?

As our educational institutions are constituted today, the coming teacher has not much choice in his efforts to secure the preparation just laid down for him. After completing his college course, or laying an equally good foundation in some other way, he must turn for his special training either to the old-line business school or to the newer schools of commerce as they at present exist in such universities as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The former, by reason of their well-known limitations, can at best give but a fragmentary training, wholly inadequate for the requirements of positions that presuppose administrative as well as teaching ability. While they can well equip the teacher in the more practical lines of commercial arithmetic, bookkeeping, and stenography, they fall far short in their instruc tion in commercial law, commercial geography, and economics. On the other hand, the universities pay little or no attention to the first group of studies, but furnish admirable training in the last. Neither class of schools, therefore, can give just what is wanted, and neither has yet promised a course exactly adapted to the needs of the teacher. To supply this want, the Drexel Institute established three years ago what it calls a Commercial Course for Teachers, in which great pains were taken to include every technical subject that would likely enter into the organization of a commercial department in a public high school.

I believe the state owes much to the public along this line. If we are to have commercial education under the auspices of the state, we can rightly look to it to make provisions for the training of its teachers. There ought to be a reorganization of the state normal school, as it now exists, so that those looking to the profession of teaching can receive just as good preparation in bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial geography, and commercial law as can now be had in English language, mathematics, history, and literature. In fact, I regard it the duty of the state to create and maintain normal commercial courses, and think it the only way to solve systematically and comprehensively the growing question of commercial education in the public schools.

5. What are the opportunities and rewards which commercial teaching holds out to those who contemplate entering upon this field of educational work?

Commercial education, once held in disparagement by the general public and by the

institutions of so-called higher learning, has won its way into the esteem of the people, and is rapidly breaking down the barriers maintained against it by the college and university, and receiving from them equal recognition with the education in the arts and sciences. This of itself makes the new work attractive. Again, we are now pre-eminently a commercial nation, and, as events today presage our early commercial supremacy over the rest of the world, there will be steadily increasing interest in, and attention to, the education that alone can keep us in the van; and thus will the opportunities for professional growth be annually enlarged to those who have early fitted themselves to take advantage of them.

In a material sense, the present condition and future outlook are no less promising. Many are the applications for teachers that have come to my notice during recent years, the salary attached, in each case, being from a third to a half more than is paid to teachers of equal rank in other lines. This fact has attracted instructors of from two to fifteen years' experience in general school work out of their positions, in order to fit themselves for the more remunerative places in the commercial courses.

THE DUTY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM WITH RESPECT TO BUSINESS TRAINING

MYRON T. SCUDDER, PRINCIPAL OF STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, NEW PALTZ, N. Y. A few days ago I glanced thru the "Help Wanted" columns of the New York Herald of June 23, for the purpose of noting what qualifications were sought for by business-men in the boys they wish to employ. Here are some of the expressions used under the heading "Boy Wanted," all found in two columns: "Not afraid of work;""quick and accurate at figures;" "thoroughly reliable;" "willing to work hard;" "must write a good hand, be correct at figures, and neat in appearance. Application must be in his own handwriting; ""must be neat and bright;" "must be neat and a good penman;""must write a good hand; must address in his own handwriting;" "must be a good penman, accurate, and intelligent;""must be good writer;" "bring specimen of handwriting; ""must be industrious and come well recommended, write a good hand, and be accurate at figures;" "plain writer wanted;""must write legibly;" "one who can write a good hand and willing to work conscientiously;""must be correct in figures, write plainly and rapidly; " "must write a good hand and be correct at figures; ""active young man, good penman, not afraid to help around;""must be good penman, and quick and accurate at figures;" and so on; an almost endless repetition, you see, of the demand for good penmanship, accuracy in figures, neatness in appearance, willingness to work, and general reliability- nothing more. Advertisements of the same nature, seen elsewhere, call for "temperate," "industrious" boys, and declare that "those who use tobacco need not apply."

Now, here we have a very brief, simple list of qualities apparently