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superficial; much doing over of her untidy work will help her to mend her slipshod ways. This lassie is dreamy and poetical; she needs more mathematics than her prosaic, independent sister. Another child is lazy and needs the spur; the eager brain of her friend should have restraint; and so on through a hundred varying types. With each one the plastic minds should never be stretched to one procrustean bed of studies, but each subject should trend towards the development of the highest self.

It is said that certain native artists, when they would drill a hole in pearls, first fit them loosely in apertures bored in pieces of soft wood; then a little water is sprinkled around them which gradually penetrates the fibres, and causes the wood to swell until each little pearl is held firmly in its place as in a vice. Indeed, no vice could hold such delicate little treasures so firmly, yet without marring them and thus diminishing their value. But by this device the choicest ones are kept securely in their places without injury until the artist's work is done; then, as the water dries out, the fibres relax and the pearl is free. Thus must the teacher hold the soul-pearls by faith and sympathy until her work is done. She must know her ground thoroughly. She must feel intuitively when to trust and when irrepressible girlhood would take advantage of leniency. She must understand when to encourage and when to lash unsparingly mere laziness. Moral development along every line is her province, no less than mental. Children are at school not merely to cram Latin and mathematics down ostrich-like throats, but to learn to become loyal and true and highminded, and to strengthen characters that should grow more womanly day by day. But all this can only be accomplished by a lavish outpouring of one's very selfone's own heart's blood. We know that

nature is stern in her exchanges. We have seen that nothing for nothing is her Draconian mandate. It is, in the arena of the schoolroom, "A life for a life," in another sense than the rigorous Hebrew decree; here it is a life gained for the life that is freely given, for in no lesser, easier way can this mighty question of education, this drawing out-this leading onthis building up of our future citizensthis training of the hands that are in time. to rule the world, be accomplished. The teacher's privilege it is to inspire these eager minds with enthusiastic love for truth and high ideals. To bring before them the lofty examples of the world's heroes. To set true values before their eyes. To imbue them with deep scorn of all that is ignoble and base. To instil appreciation of the transcendent quality of the spiritual as opposed to the material side of life. To cultivate the too often neglected sense of honor and imprint upon these mobile, sensitive natures utter loathing and contempt of all falsehood and hypocrisy. She teaches them to live up to their birthright in life, and imbues them with the deepest sense of the responsibilities which that position entails— that responsibility that is in exact proportion to the blessings that have been given. She teaches them that they are infinitely more culpable for the smaller lapses from the path of right than are the children of the streets, because of the very difference in these opportunities.

Thus sympathetically, faithfully, does. she strive to lead her charges to a noble womanhood, joining with the mother in training them to "self-reverence, selfknowledge, self-control, by which alone man can approach the gods."

The world needs our daughters and we must send them out clad in the completest armor that can be forged by earnest. care, by wise instruction, by tender watching, and by human love.

Evolution of the School Board

WARREN L. KAUFFMAN, LL.B., A. M., MEMBER BOARD OF EDUCATION, YONERKS, N. Y.

THE HE Public School System, in the proper sense of the term, is a product of the nineteenth century. In colonial days, each little hamlet established its school and managed it in its own way; and the school district became the unit of the crude

educational system in vogue. As these hamlets grew in population and area, other schools were necessarily established, and each one became the nucleus of a new school district. This school district was made legal in 1789, and long continued to be an important factor in educational government, retaining some importance even to the present time in some states.

Since New England was the earliest to establish in the United States a regular system of schools, and since, with immigration westward, the early school system of New England was copied by nearly all of the western states, it may naturally be concluded that to New England we must look for the inception of school organization and supervision.

The School Board, in its present form and status, is of comparatively recent origin. Like all important institutions, it did not originate at a certain definite time and place in history, but it was generally the result of gradual evolution and growth. The germ of the Board of Education, if we may so call its earliest prototype, was the school committee of New England. Whence came this school committee?

The Puritans educated their children from the very first, but their early efforts were purely voluntary and local. As the new settlements grew in numbers and prosperity, there was doubtless some danger that material interests would crowd out intellectual and moral; to forestall

this calamity, a law was framed about the middle of the seventeenth century, making it compulsory for children to be educated to some extent, as a safeguard to the welfare of the State. The child must at least know how to read and must be made familiar with religious principles and the chief laws of the colony. This first crude law was followed by others, defining and organizing a more or less definite system. of instruction.

The ministers were almost the only university-educated men in the colony: they had the controlling influence in the government and it was therefore natural that the supervision of early education should be entrusted to them. These ministers visited the schools regularly, examined the children on some sermon recently preached, or in the Catechism or Bible, and incidentally improved the opportunity, on some occasions, to display their own erudition, to the wondering admiration of the pupils.

In 1710, five men were chosen as inspectors to visit the Boston Latin School with the ministers. This was an innovation which shocked some of the good people of the colony, who indignantly maintained that the ministers were the best people that could be found to oversee the education of the children.

Through the troubled times in England. during the seventeenth century, New England education suffered much. The convulsions attending the culmination of Stuart tyranny, together with the national agitation caused by the Puritan Revolution and the intolerant policy of the later Stuarts, were not conducive to the advancement of educational interests; but

with the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the "Glorious Revolution" had relieved England and her colonies of Stuart tyranny for all time, there came changes for the better. New towns were founded, the people became more prosperous and new schools were demanded. An era of progress began, which was interrupted by the American Revolution. With this war ended, however, and the Union established, the school system again claims attention.

In 1789, that law was passed which for the first time made legal the school district. This act also provided for the regular supervision of the schools, either by the ministers and "selectmen," or by committees chosen for that purpose. All the schools must be visited at least once in six months and the pupils examined as to general proficiency. The supervision, however, still continued to be more religious. than pedagogical. The administrative duties of this early committee were very light, being generally confined to the selection of a teacher. As a teacher's qualification too often depended upon the amount of work he could do, without much regard to quality, this duty of the committee did not require a very keen discrimination.

This act of 1789 was a step in the right direction and was soon followed by other legislation sanctioning the raising of moneys for school purposes by taxation. When the matter of education touched the purse, there came a demand for better schools; and this demand, together with the efforts of Horace Mann and other pioneers in education, led to important changes, both in the character of the schools and in their administration.

This board of selectmen came to have enlarged powers; they built the schoolhouses, examined and employed the teachers, and together with the ministers of the parish supervised the schools. In the course of time there appeared in this board a committee on schools; this committee

later became detached from the board and assumed a separate place in the government of the town. Sometimes the members were appointed by the Selectmen and sometimes elected by the Town Meeting. This early school committee was gradually superseded by the modern school board, with essentially modified form, character and functions.

For

While this process of evolution took place in many instances, there are some plans of school supervision which seem to have arisen without much precedent. example, Buffalo has no Board of Education; there, "the Superintendent is the State." He is the head of the city department of education; and all local school legislation is in the hands of the City Council. In Cleveland, Ohio, the school system is also unique. The Board of Education. consists of seven members, five of whom are elected at large and two by district vote; with the exception of appointment of teachers, this board is practically unlimited in authority, being responsible only to the people; it levies its own taxes, subject to the approval of the tax commissioners, and has sole power of expending all moneys raised for maintenance of the schools. Yonkers, N. Y., there were originally as many boards as there were school districts, each one being entirely independent of all others. As the city increased in size, there came a need of uniformity, not only for purposes of school administration but also for the adjustment of taxation. Accordingly, by an act of 1881, the various school districts were consolidated and provision was made for one Board of Education to consist of 15 members, appointed by the mayor and holding office for five years.

In

As boards of education came to be a recognized feature of educational systems, various problems arose, many of which have not yet been satisfactorily solved, nor will be for a long time to come. Among these problems is that of the proper size of a school board..

Many widely varying opinions have been expressed on this subject. It is contended that a large board is too unwieldy; that in it there must of necessity be a lack of unity and a possibility of politics or chicanery which would be well-nigh impossible in the average board of small numbers. On the other hand, objection is made to a small board, on the ground that it gives too little local representation to the community. Some say that the size of the board ought to be in proportion to the population of the city, perhaps ranging from nine members in a city of the second class to 25 in a city of the first class, or, perhaps, six members to every 200,000 inhabitants, with one member for each additional 50,000. In the Report of the Committee of Fifteen, the opinion was expressed that the number should be small; say, in cities of less than 500,000, not more than nine, and preferably not more than five, with 15 members in the very largest cities. Experience in Cleveland, Indianapolis, New Haven and several other cities, has shown the advantage of small school boards; while, on the other hand, efficient service in school administration is secured by a board of 21 members in Philadelphia, 21 in Chicago, and 33 in Providence, R. I. In the West, school boards are, as a rule, considerably smaller than in the East; and the general tendency in all parts is towards reduction in numbers. In sixteen of the principal cities of the United States, representing all sections of the country, one school board has three members, one has four, three have five, six have seven, two have nine, and but three have more than nine members. And so opinions differ, and there can never be a uniform rule, as conditions and necessities in different cities must regulate the

matter.

Another problem still unsolved is that of the best mode of selection of board members. The first boards were chosen at popular elections, and the members were ward representatives; this method is not always

a success, as local interests are often given undue attention and there is opportunity for political influence to be exerted. Three chief methods are now in vogue: appointment by the mayor or other designated authority; election by wards; and election from the city at large. Election by the people is the method used in nine of the 16 cities quoted above; appointment in seven. No one of the methods has invariably proved satisfactory; but in general there seems to be a growing tendency towards election from the city at large and without reference to politics. To "keep the schools out of politics," as the expression goes, is rightly coming to be regarded as essential to a clean and honest administration of the schools; President Eliot believes that the best way to attain this end is by the election of school boards from the city at large, one or two members at a time, each member being eligible for re-election but once.

Who should be eligible for membership on a school board? Manifestly, two of the chief qualifications should be public spirit and moral integrity. The Board of Education has a reputation which, in justice to the important work intrusted to it, should be sustained-namely, that of being, as a rule, more able, more responsible and more disinterested, than boards of aldermen and other departments of city government. Do women make successful members of school boards? Though women are, as a rule, eligible to positions on school boards in Northern and Western cities, their appointment has not yet ceased to be more or less of an experiment. In some cities where women have been board members, testimony is borne to their unquestioned efficiency; in others, the experiment has not been a success.

Some one has admirably summed up the proper qualifications for a school board member as follows: "The members need not all have the highest scholastic training, but a part of them should be required to

have had such training; not all of them need be prominent for their business capacity, but a part of them should be thus prominent." Our leading cities and towns are coming to recognize these qualifications. In the sixteen cities mentioned, about 51 per cent of the board members are business men; 43 per cent professional men; 42 per cent college-bred men.

Too much stress can hardly be placed upon qualifications for membership of school boards in view of the important functions they perform and the intimate relation they sustain to the entire social structure. In a few cities the school board has no authority save whatever the City Council chooses to delegate to it; but this is an exceptional state of affairs, as the duties of school boards in general are many and very important. They are entrusted with public funds, for the erection and maintenance of buildings, payment of teachers, and purchase of books and apparatus; the public has a right to demand an honest and economical use of funds thus appropriated. They superintend the adoption of courses of study and have general supervision over the instruction in the schools. In view of these important powers and duties, boards of education

should be composed of public-spirited men of good judgment, business ability and integrity, and appreciation of the purpose and importance of public education, and they should be kept free from political, religious, sectarian or other partisanship.

The Popular Science Monthly, about

* * *

twenty years ago, in an editorial on Science in School Management, made this statement: "It seemed at first a very simple affair to organize a common school system, and nobody anticipated that any very serious difficulties would arise in carrying it out. *** There was little trouble in finding teachers and no trouble at all in finding any number of men held abundantly qualified to be directors, trustees, managers and superintendents." That this condition has not wholly ceased to exist, is attested by the criticism of one writing on this subject as recently as 1904, who says: "Education is the only business that takes in men to conduct its affairs who are ignorant of the business and who learn at the expense of the business."

After quoting Superintendent A. B. Blodgett, of Syracuse, N. Y., as saying that it takes practically about two years to educate an average board member, a writer in the Dial of August 16, 1903, adds: "It has taken over a hundred years to bring American school boards to their present state of culture, and few have graduated summa cum laude."

However, much progress has already mitted that there is still room for improvebeen made along these lines, it must be adment in many quarters. Much more must

be accomplished before there shall be everywhere a wise, honest and capable administration of educational affairs; and the character and efficiency of school boards will improve in proportion to the growth of a healthy public sentiment demanding such administration.

O Lady Moon

CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the

east:

Shine, be increased;

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the

west:

Wane, be at rest.

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