Lyon of Providence, R. I., Prof. Albert Harkness of Brown University, and Mr. Mowry of Rhode Island, and the resolution was adopted.

After a short recess, in the absence of Prof. Green of Brown University, who was announced to lecture at eleven o'clock, Hon. George F. Edmunds, United States Senator from Vermont, delivered an address on "Learning the Principal Safeguard of Liberty and Order."

In the afternoon letters were received and read from Rev. Dr. McCosh, of Queen's College, Belfast, Ireland; Señor Sarmiento, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic; Nathan Hedges, Esq., of Newark, N. J., and others. The following officers for the ensuing year were unanimously elected:

Vice-Presidents-William Russell, Lancaster, Mass.; Henry Barnard, Hartford, Conn.; Samuel S. Greene, Providence, R.I.; Ariel Parish, New Haven, Conn.; Geo. B. Emerson, Boston, Mass.; Nathan Hedges, Newark, N. J.; Zalmon Richards, Washington, D.C.; John W. Bulkley, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Thos. Sherwin, Boston, Mass.; David N. Camp, New Britain, Conn.; John D. Philbrick, Boston, Mass.; Alpheus Crosby, Salem, Mass.; Ebenezer Hervey, New Bedford, Mass.; Henry E. Sawyer, Middletown, Conn.; E. P. Weston, Farmington, Me.; Emery F. Strong, Bridgeport, Conn.; D. B. Hagar, Salem, Mass.; A. P. Stone, Portland, Me.; Charles Northend, New Britain, Conn.; B. G Northrop, Saxonville, Mass.; John Kneeland, Roxbury, Mass.; T. W. Valentine, Brooklyn, N. Y.; J. E. Littlefield, Bangor, Me.; Joseph White, Williamstown, Mass.; Charles Hammond, Monson, Mass.; Abner J. Phipps, Lowell, Mass.; John. W. DickinWestfield, Mass.; Merrick Lyon, Providence, R. I.; Elbridge Smith, Dorchester, Mass.; Samuel M. Perkins, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Saml. W. Mason, Boston, Mass.; A. A. Miner, Boston, Mass.; Albert Harkness, Providence, R. I.; M. H. Buckham, Burlington, Vt.; D. W. Stevens, Fall River, Mass.; David Crosby, Nashua, N. H.; William P. Atkinson, Cambridge, Mass.

son,

Recording Secretary-Charles A. Morrill, Boston, Mass.

Assistant Recording Secretary-George T. Littlefield, Somerville, Mass. Corresponding Secretaries—T. D. Adams, Newton, Mass.; J. J. Ladd, Providence, R. I.

Treasurer Granville B. Putnam, Boston, Mass.

Curators-J. E. Horr, Brookline, Mass.; Samuel Swan, Boston, Mass.; Henry C. Hardon, Boston, Mass.

Censors-James A. Page, Boston, Mass.; C. Goodwin Clark, Boston, Mass.; Edward Stickney, Newton, Mass.

Counsellors - Charles Hutchins, Boston, Mass.; George N. Bigelow, Framingham, Mass.; Wm. T. Adams, Boston, Mass.; A. G. Boyden, Bridgewater, Mass.; W. A. Mowry, Providence, R. I.; N. A. Calkins, New York City; J. W. Webster, Boston, Mass.; D. W. Jones, Roxbury, Mass.; J. A. Bartlett, New Britain, Conn.; A. S. Higgins, Brooklyn, N. Y.; I. N. Camp, Burlington, Vt.; D. W. Hoyt, Providence, R. I.

Mr. Claflin of Worcester offered resolutions on the death of James S. Eaton of Andover, Wm. J. Adams and Wm. B. Fowle of Boston. The discussion on the subject of "The Place of the Sciences and the Classics in a Liberal Education" ensued, the speakers being Prof. Harkness of Brown University, and Prof. Atkinson of the Mass. Institute of Technology. The remaining hours of the afternoon session were devoted to illustrations of the system of "object teaching." The evening session was taken up by speakers representing fifteen states and

cities and the British Provinces, who spoke briefly on general subjects, and after passing a resolution of thanks to the citizens of Burlington for their hospitality extended to the very large number of ladies in attendance, and singing “Old Hundred," the Institute adjourned.

MEETING AT THE EDUCATIONAL ROOM.

JAMES A. PAGE, Esq., of Boston (Dwight School), in the Chair.

In compliance with the unanimous request of the meeting, Mr. JOHN D. PHILBRICK gave the following most interesting account of the results of his observation during a recent visit, in company with members of the Boston School Committee, to the schools of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington:

Mr. PHILBRICK began by saying that in Massachusetts, and particularly in Boston, we were apt to assume that our school system was in all respects superior to that of other places. We are, therefore, less inclined to examine other systems. In other places, on the contrary, a great desire is manifested to know what is doing here. They study our schools, take their best points, and try to improve upon them. The result is, that we find them gradually adopting, with still further improvements, the chief excellences of our system. New York and Boston are the two cities which are considered most worthy of imitation in school matters. There are decided indications that the main features of the schoolsystems of these two places are being gradually incorporated into those of other localities.

Mr. PHILBRICK then proceeded to speak of the schools of New York. The system there, he said, is more fully developed, and more thoroughly carried out than in any other city. It assumed such vast proportions, and was so perfect in all its parts, that he was inclined to call it an Imperial System. They spend annually two million dollars, employ between two and three thousand teachers, and have under instruction about two hundred thousand different pupils. Their system differs in some important respects from ours. First, their method of control and supervision is peculiar. They have a grand central Board of Control, which possesses almost unlimited power. It consists of twenty-one members, one being elected annually from each of the seven districts, and serving for three years. They had full power to legislate in all matters pertaining to the schools, subject only to the legislature of the State. They fix, within certain very liberal limits, the amount of money to be raised for educational purposes; and whatever they call for, the assessors must levy. They are not obliged, as here, to have the concurrence of the Common Council. They are also empowered to expend the money as they see fit. They have, in short, more power than any similar board in the country. There is another board of officers, consisting of an equal number, and styled the Board of Inspectors. They are charged with the duty of examining teachers, and act also as an Auditing Committee.

There is still another grade, called the Board of Trustees. It consists of five members from each ward, and acts as a Local Committee. They nominate teach

ers, who, however, are subject to rejection by the Board of Control. They also determine the salaries within certain fixed limits. The Superintendent of Schools performs most of the actual labor of examining teachers. He holds weekly examinations, at which he examines all applicants. To those who pass through it satisfactorily, he gives a certificate, without which no teacher is ever employed. The law requires that at least two members of the Board of Inspectors shall be present during the examination. This is for the sake both of the Superintendent and candidates. As, however, the Committee are elected mainly for business purposes, it is hardly to be expected that all its members will be competent to examine teachers. The main responsibility, therefore, rests with the Superintendent. He with his assistants is also, for the same reason, the real examiner of the schools, although part of the work is done by the Committee. A standard is fixed to which teachers are required to attain. If they fall below this standard more than once they are liable to be dismissed from the service. If the standard is a fair one, and the examination properly conducted, this is an excellent plan, as it places before the teacher a definite mark at which to aim.

There is also a Superintendent of Buildings, who, with his corps of assistants, has charge of the construction of all school-edifices. He has under his control workshops and all necessary appliances. With such an arrangement, provided the Superintendent be competent, great progress will inevitably be made in the art of construction. This result is very noticeable in New York. In one direction this progress has been very marked, namely, that of economy. In the art of getting much for little money, New York certainly far surpasses all other cities. There was another officer whose duty consisted in inspecting and regulating the heating and ventilation of the school-rooms. Then there is a clerk with fifteen assistants and a salary of $5,000, who attends to the financial business, pays the teachers, keeps the accounts, and also keeps a record of all laws relating to educational matters that are passed by the legislature. There is one striking difference, in regard to school-legislation, between New York and Massachusetts, Here, there is a strong sentiment against making laws solely for the benefit of cities, while there the feeling is exactly the reverse, and laws are enacted with reference only to the convenience of cities. It is in a great measure owing to this that they are able to bring their school-system to such perfection. — Books and stationery are furnished entirely by the city. An estimate is made of the probable needs of the various schools, in this respect, even down to the smallest articles as pencils, rubber, etc. This is called a tariff of supplies. The common schools are divided into three grades, Primary, Grammar and Evening. The teachers are classed as Principals, Vice-Principals and Assistants. The Principal is not required to teach, but merely acts as Superintendent, and divides his time among the different rooms according to his own judgment. This feature is as yet peculiar to New York, although some elements of it exist in Cincinnati. It is a great element of power. A capable man or woman has thus nothing to do but carry out the system. They must have better teaching than if the master were tied down to his own class. Teaching is, and must be done, to a great extent, by females who remain in school but a short time, and consequently

acquire but little experience. There is nothing which does so much to compensate for this, as to have a teacher of skill and long experience constantly at hand

to direct them.

The school buildings are in some respects peculiar. They have three departments; one story is occupied by primary scholars, one by female, and another by male grammar scholars. The "halls" are wholly unsurpassed in size, beauty of construction, and elegance of adornment. In fact, the whole building seems to be constructed with reference to the hall. Some of them are of sufficient size to contain from eight hundred to one thousand pupils. Their class-rooms, however, are too small, and are not well arranged. The children sit on benches instead of chairs. With halls such as theirs, and class-rooms like those of Boston, a school building would, he thought, be nearly perfect. One good result of small class-rooms, however, is that only a few scholars - not more than thirty or forty - are placed under one teacher, who is thus enabled to give more personal attention to the different members of his class. The studying is all done out of school. The teacher therefore is required to labor constantly with the scholars during all the time that they are in school. They are forbidden, moreover, to give lessons which it requires more than two hours to commit, and also to give any that have not been thoroughly explained to the scholars. No lesson at all, either in grammar or arithmetic, must be given till scholars are in the first class. All the teaching in these branches previous to this must be oral. This plan corrects the tendency which always exists in schools that are very thoroughly graded, to devote too much time to committing lessons to memory. The results obtained by it are very satisfactory. If a teacher is detected in violating any of these rules, he is liable to be deprived of his certificate.— Another peculiarity of these schools is that the programme does not prescribe the text-books, but only the branches to be taught. This emancipates the teacher from the slavish devotion to the text-book which prevails in some localities, and which forces scholars to learn so much that is useless. Those who teach in this way are not, of course, examined from the book. Mr. Philbrick thought this an excellent method and well deserving of imitation. Mr. Wells, in his “Graded Schools," had advocated this system, and had done great service by giving there a list of subjects to be taught, which had been extensively copied by teachers. To apply this method successfully, it is of course necessary that the schools should be very thoroughly graded. The main requisite, however, is skilful teachers. It is useless to attempt to make good schools by means of rules and regulations. He believed in securing good teachers, and then allowing them a great deal of liberty.

He believed oral teaching to be far superior to that done by assigning lessons for the scholars to commit; especially is this true of arithmetic. Formerly the principal care of the teacher of arithmetic was to ascertain if the answers were correct, and to prevent the scholars from consulting the key. Skilful teachers had often of late remarked to him that they cared not how much their pupils saw the key. It was of no service to them, as they taught, to be able merely to give the correct figures. The regulations of the Board of Control require also that teachers shall have weekly reviews, to be conducted wholly without the use

of books. This is a good, as well as unique plan. Altogether, the speaker thought that more harmony existed in the theoretical arrangement of the school system of New York than in that of any other city.

Mr. P. then proceeded to speak of the Free Academy. The liberality and munificence with which this institution is endowed, is wholly without parallel. The annual expense is nearly $100,000. The Principal receives a salary of $4.750; the Professors $3,750, and the subordinate teachers $2,500 each. The course of study includes all the branches pursued at college. Most of the studying is done at home, and there seems to be much hard work accomplished. He had never seen such fine specimens of drawing as were exhibited here. An accomplished German Professor of drawing is employed, and all the pupils draw at least one hour each day. None, however, but those meaning to be engineers, go through the entire course in this department.

There are five grades of primary and five of grammar schools. There are no high schools except those maintained by the different wards. There is, in these, a supplementary grade where the higher branches are taught, and through which it takes two years to pass. Some of the higher branches are also allowed to be taught in the grammar schools.

In regard to the system of discipline pursued in New York, the speaker stated that corporal punishment was forbidden to be inflicted except by the Principal, and he was required to report each case to the Superintendent. This arrangement, together with the constant supervision which the master is able to exercise, makes the discipline very easy for the lady teachers. The order in the schools was uniformly most excellent. Nearly all the cases of discipline arise from the crowded condition of the scholars while at play in the yard. The ease with which order is maintained in the school-room is also owing, in a great measure, to the fact that the teachers teach all the time, and consequently have the scholars constantly under their eye, and always employed. The rules for their behavior while in the hall are very strict. The filing-in, rising, sitting, and in fact every motion are performed with the utmost precision, and at signals so slight as often to be wholly unnoticed by the spectator. This strictness of order in the halls seems actually to be kept up by the momentum which the children have acquired in the school-room. One who addresses them is very much gratified by the close attention paid to him. Every eye seems to be constantly fixed upon him. He (Mr. P.) tried, on one occasion, to divert the attention of some little girls who were sitting near him. He found it, however, nearly impossible. He did not say that such precision should be attempted by every one. however, very pleasing to the eye. The politeness and attention with which visitors are treated, is to them, at least, not the least pleasing feature of the New York system of management.

It was,

The great criterion of success in the grammar schools is the number of scholars that are fitted for the Academy. Some schools acquire great celebrity for this, and the result is that, there being no territorial limits for each school, they are constantly overcrowded. There are other schools which pride themselves upon their success in fitting scholars for the common duties of life.