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Convention Thoughts Worth While

"The schoolmaster's influence depends more upon what he is than upon what he knows."-William Schuyler, St. Louis High School.

"It is not so much the subject as the teacher that causes the pupils to lose interest and withdraw from school."— Principal R. Post Halleck of the Louisville High School.

"The intelligent use of a library has become essential to general culture and good scholarship."-Miss Florence M. Hopkins, librarian Detroit Central High School.

"Educators must watch out lest, as the story goes, they aim too high, waste their powder, miss their aim, and break the gun."-President Charles D. McIver of the State Normal and Industrial College of North Carolina.

will insure

"Practical child-study child-study stronger pupils and aid in eliminating waste and indefiniteness in school work." -Frank Webster Smith, University of Nebraska.

"The predominance of women among high school teachers is harmful simply and solely on the ground of sex, harmful to the girls, and absolutely disastrous to the boys."-Principal Isaac Thomas of the Burlington (Vt.) High School.

"The duty of the hour is to educate public opinion in and out of the college, so that it will despise the doctrine of victory at any price."--Professor C. Alphonso Smith of the University of California.

"If we want the youth of the land to be taught by the noblest and best of the land, then the salaries of teachers in the future must bear some relation to the services rendered to the public."—John W. Carr of Anderson, Ind.

"From the point of view of individual. interests, aptitudes, and needs, there is no ground during the high school period

for the separation of boys and girls."Katharine E. Dopp of the University of Chicago.

"Drawing teachers must know much more than how to draw and to criticize drawings; they must know children and know how to learn from them how to teach."-Director Emma Church of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

"Secret fraternities are especially condemned in public schools, which are essentially democratic, and should not be breeding places for social differentiation."-Principal Gilbert B. Morrison of the St. Louis High School.

"If the teacher, with his experience, is to be retained in the profession, he must receive a sufficient remuneration for the necessary expenses of living, not for five or six months, but for the entire year."Report of the Committee on Salaries.

"Manual training calls for just the organized thinking needed for the practical purposes in life. It is a mental activity out of which grows skill in doing, and skill in doing as a result of intelligent thinking should be one of the chief purposes of education."--L. D. Harvey, superintendent of Schools of Menominee, Wis.

"We are never to forget that the schools are not only to educate people in order that they may be educated, but to educate them in order that they may do things. They are to be trained for labor and effectiveness."-State Commissioner of Education Draper of New York.

"The study of local industry is necessary in the commercial course in order that the boy may be given that survey of the industrial world; that understanding of industrial processes which the boy of the small town absorbs from his earliest years."-John L. Tildsley of the New York High School of Commerce.

"There is no more pitiable sight in our great cities than the boys and girls whose playtime has been cut short by the necessity for work in office, factory, or shop, there to become a cog in the machinery of modern specialization in labor. This is a class in as great need of physical training activities as the student class."-E. B. De Groot, director of physical training of Chicago.

"The schoolyards should be placed at the disposition of the children after school hours. They are much more useful than large playgrounds in remote parks. They are more accessible, espccially to younger children, and to poorer ones who have not the means of transportation to parks."-President E. H. Arnold of the Physical Education Depart

ment.

"I have had an unusual opportunity to study the underlying causes of the economic success of Germany, and I am firmly convinced that the explanation of that progress can be encompassed in a single word-the schoolmaster. He is the great cornerstone of Germany's remarkable commercial and industrial success."-From the address of Frank A. Vanderlip, vice-president of the New York National City Bank.

"The public schools must be made good enough for all, but even at their best they are insufficient. The five school years (average) of the American child constitutes a very narrow portal through which to enter upon the privileges and duties of life. The public library stands as a satisfactory supplement and complement for the public school. Hence, these two must go hand in hand."-Dr. J. H. Canfield of Columbia University, in his report on instruction in library work for normal schools.

"Instead of great force and latent energy without control; instead of quiet gentleness without restriction, or of power of control without vigor to be con

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"Caterpillars are common, and some species, like those on cabbage, illustrate protective resemblance and protection by threatening processes. No caterpillars bite, and the more formidable they look the more safely they may be handled. Some spiny forms may cause a nettling sensation, and the branched hair of others may cause irritation when rubbed into a sensitive skin. Such kinds as spin cocoons illustrate the method in which silk is produced, and teach the importance of the silk worm in the social economy. Every mile of fiber costs the life of a caterpillar."-Professor John B. Smith, New Jersey Agricultural College Experiment Station.

"It is often said that an entrance examination is a cruel strain, an unnecessary hardship put upon immature and growing youths. The answer to this is that young men old enough for college are old enough to undertake serious risks, to assume some responsibility. An examination for admission to college is something more than a test of a student's knowledge. It is a test of his self-control, his judgment, his power to meet a critical hour in his life with a steady nerve and a clear head. The training for such a crisis, and the experience obtained in meeting the crisis, make for self-poise, for self-respect, and for virility."-E. J. Goodwin, Second Assistant Commissioner of Education, New York.

Editorials

AT the opening of school teachers. should not forget that a well-planned program is one of the first essentials for a successful school.

* * *

ONE of the most common errors of school principals is the withholding of authority from subordinate teachers. Discipline is almost impossible without authority.

WE have featured the N. E. A. in the September number, so that all our readers who were unable to attend the convention may have the benefit of the principal addresses presented by some of the leading educators of the country, and so that those who did attend may have a concise report with which to refresh the memory, should they wish to speak at teachers' meetings on any of the subjects discussed at Asbury.

* * *

COOPERATION is the word that should stand as the motto for all school administration and school work. Cooperation of school boards and principals, cooperation of principals and teachers, and cooperation of teachers and pupils, will make the school a harmonious institution. How to work together in perfect. unison is the moral lesson that is needed above all others in business and in social relations. Let the school teach this lesson, both by example and precept.

WE take pleasure in announcing that the Bailey Outlines of English Masterpieces will be continued this year. The first one to be published will be "The Vision of Sir Launfal" in October and "The Sir Roger De Coverley Papers" in November. We have other good things

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THE University Convocation of the State of New York was noteworthy this year because all the speeches and addresses converged about the one general topic of education for industrial and commercial efficiency. The general subject was discussed under the three subdivisions, viz.: Education for Commerce, Education for the Trades and other Industries, and Education for Agriculture. As the speakers were chosen for their special knowledge of the topics assigned them, the session proved remarkably interesting and profitable. The keynote of the meeting was the thought expressed by President James of the University of Illinois in the opening address, when he said that every child was entitled to special training for the work in which he was to earn his living.

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CERTAINLY no greater opportunity was ever offered to the teachers of this country than the one we present in this number of the magazine. Every teacher needs. a first-class pedagogical library, and it gives us considerable pride as well as pleasure to announce that we have been able to make arrangements with THE MACMILLAN COMPANY so that we offer this superb set of 16 volumes on an easy payment plan in connection with a

Books are the

year's subscription to AMERICAN EDUCATION. A pedagogical library and a good educational magazine are needed by the teacher as much as a chest of tools is needed by a carpenter. tools of the teachers' profession, and therefore only the best books should be purchased. Every book in this set is worth its weight in gold. Yet the price of the library is so reasonable that even the rural teacher can afford to buy it. Read carefully the advertisement in this number, particularly the names of the authors and the titles of the books and we are sure that you will be convinced that you cannot afford to be without this treasure house. If you wish to know more about the books we will send at your request an illustrated pamphlet. Order now so that you may have the books and magazine to use at the beginning of the school year.

TEACHERS AS PUBLIC SPEAKERS

TEACHERS as a rule are not good public speakers. This fact is only too apparent in great gatherings like the N. E. A., where well-written articles fall flat because of poor presentation, and where large halls are emptied during the progress of a meeting because the speaker cannot be heard. Some speakers seem to think the writing of an address is all that is necessary, and give no time whatever to preparation for its delivery; others do not even take time to carefully prepare an address, but merely hunt. up a few leading ideas and trust to the inspiration of the moment for the details; others have never received any training in public speaking, and make poor work no matter how hard they may try.

While teachers do not have as good an opportunity for public speaking as ministers or lawyers, every principal speaks frequently to large bodies of pupils, and is called upon for public ad

dresses with more or less frequency. He at least should have a trained voice and should give enough attention to oratory to be able to speak with telling effect whenever he appears before an audience. Teachers who speak cannot afford to do so in a slipshod way, and they who listen certainly cannot afford to have their time wasted by a speaker who is unprepared or indifferent to his task.

THE N. E. A.

THE 1905 Convention of the National Educational Association has passed into history. Although the attendance was not as large as at some previous meetings, taken altogether, the convention was a decided success. Asbury Park proved to be an ideal spot for such a gathering. The thirty thousand strangers who came during convention week were taken in by the numerous hotels and boarding houses with but little inconvenience. It is doubtful if any other town of the same size in the whole country could have accommodated the crowds. so easily. The beach and the board walk were thoroughly enjoyed by the teachers from the inland towns, while the cool ocean breezes brought comfort to all. The high moral tone of Asbury Park and Ocean Grove was the subject of much comment. There was certainly no vice to flaunt itself in the face of the passer-by and no evidence of depraved humanity on the streets. The only function of the few policemen was to point out the way to strangers.

The vast auditorium at Ocean Grove had its capacity taxed on only one occasion, that of the address of President Roosevelt. The auditorium, however, proved too large for most of the speakers who addressed the general sessions. Only a few of the speakers could be heard by over half of the audience, and it is

doubtful if over one hundred persons heard the thoughtful but remarkably remarkably quiet address of Commissioner Harris.

When arranging for future meetings it will be well for the program committee to remember that if the general sessions are to be profitable, the speakers must have voice as well as brain power.

The addresses given at the general sessions were of high quality, and those that could be heard were received with enthusiasın. Commissioner Draper and Superintendent Maxwell gave the leading educational addresses. Mayor McClellan was welcomed cordially, although he disappointed his hearers by talking education instead of municipal reform. President Roosevelt received an ovation from the great crowd that had gathered to hear him. His address was principally on the ideals that should be presented by the teacher.

The section meetings as a rule were full of life and interest. In some instances, however, the speakers had made but little preparation for the work assigned them, and many of those who had accepted a place on the program were absent when their names were called. In the general discussions the time was largely taken up by speakers who had no well-digested thought to offer on the subject.

Among the notable addresses at the section meetings were the one by Reuben Post Halleck on "Why So Many Pupils

Leave the High School in the First Year," delivered before the department of secondary education, and that of John Brisben Walker on "The Essentials of a Proper Education for the Average Business Man," before the department of business education.

The topic of teachers' salaries came up three times, once before the general session, once before the department of school administration, and once before the national council. The consensus of opinion, as evidenced by the discussions, was that teachers as a class are underpaid, and that every effort should be made to raise the standard of the profession.

The future organization of the Association was the subject of a heated discussion at the business meeting of the active members. As the charter of the Association will expire next February, the trustees had been authorized at the St. Louis meeting of last year to take the necessary steps for the continuance of the Association as a corporate body. They reported in favor of securing from Congress a special act incorporating the National Education Association. The report was strenuously opposed by Miss Margaret Haley, who voiced the sentiment of a large number of women teachers from the west. The report prevailed, however, and Congress will be asked to pass the necessary legislation for the incorporation of the Association.

You render to the Republic, the prime, the vital service of

amalgamating into one homogeneous body the children alike of those who are born here and of those who come here from so many different lands abroad. You furnish a common training and common ideals for the children of all the mixed peoples who are here being fused into one nationality. It is in no small degree due to you and your efforts that we are one people instead of a group of jarring peoples.-President Roosevelt.

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