been their own school master, have developed so much power and ability among men. They were not spoiled in the making. In the main, teachers are dealing with mediocre minds. Such minds do not have the native power of resistance against the effect of wrong or wasteful methods.

We are sadly in need of a new branch of study in economics-educational economics. There is great waste going on here. At the bottom, this is one powerful reason why the plain people have so little faith in schools. They can not see how abstractional study is going to confer power to deal with concrete things. When your idea, that mental discipline can be gained just as well in the study of the law of concrete action; that mental discipline which involves a loss of mental power is a grevious sin against mentality, then perhaps, the thinker and the worker will get nearer together, and the teacher come into possession of his best estate."

GIVE-AND-TAKE IN THE CLASS ROOM.

One may

In some of the universities of the old world the instructors do not attempt to have any vital giveand-take relations with their undergraduate students. They deliver more or less formal lectures, as much for the purpose of noting how they sound before they are printed, as for making them effective in the thought and conduct of those who are supposed to be instructed by them. listen to a university professor read a manuscript for an hour without his ever once looking at his class; and in his intonations and other expressions he indicates that he is reading to himself rather than to the class. At intervals he may pause for a minute to correct some error he has detected, but otherwise he moves straight on, utterly oblivious of the reactions of his students. In such classes the majority of the auditors are always in a static attitude; they do not expect to make any response on this occasion, and perhaps not at all until their entire course is completed. Even then the only reaction they are required to make is a verbal one in a formal examination. Under these conditions the relation between an instructor and a student is entirely mechanical; neither is in an attitude of give-and-take.

A school man in our state said recently to the writer of this note that in the high schools under his care one of the serious problems he had to deal with was the tendency for some of his teach

ers to assume this formal, remote attitude toward their students. They thought it the proper caper to hand out more or less dull facts for forty-five minute periods, and then get a reaction from the class at the end of the week in a written test. Heaven knows this sort of teaching is bad enough in a college; but it is deadly in a high school. It is a primary law of mental development that an individual grows only in the measure that he reacts while he is attempting to learn. Simply sitting in the attitude of attention before an instructor does not imply that the student is profiting in the smallest degree by the instruction which is offered. When twenty-five high school pupils file into a class, knowing that no reaction will be required of them on that day, they are utterly incapaciated as a whole to profit by that hour's work.

DYNAMIC VS. STATIC ATTITUDES.

It is certainly reasonable to say that he alone is a successful teacher who knows how to produce appropriate reactions right along from those he is instructing. This does not mean that the whole of any hour must be devoted to give-and-take between teacher and pupils, when once the latter are in a reactive attitude. The instructor may be able with profit to take the reins in his own hands for a good part of the hour; but the moment the class comes to realize that he is certain to hold the boards for the entire hour, so that they can lie back and let him work, at that very moment he ought to cease giving, and get his class into an active attitude.

This can be put down as a primary law of teaching: there can be no effective learning in any class where the pupils are not in a dynamic attitude toward the thing which is being presented; and they can not be dynamic for any considerable period at a stretch unless they are self-active in or

ganizing and setting forth in some way,—linguistically, laboratorially, representatively, or otherwise the material which they are endeavoring to assimilate. When a teacher has had a group of pupils for one month, say, a visitor can tell in five minutes whether or not he has developed in that class the fundamental attitudes essential to effective learning.

APPROPRIATE REACTION IS THE THING.

It really is not of so much importance whether a teacher asks a question that can be answered by

yes or no, the bete noire of pedagogy, provided his method as a whole will cause his class to react vitally in the appropriation of what is offered. Some of the more widely exploited rules of pedagogy relate to the mere external, artificial, and superficial aspects of teaching. One might ignore every one of these popular and much lauded rules, and still be a great teacher. Of course, he would be a better teacher if he violated no sensible rules, whether they are of fundamental or only of secondary importance. But no matter how many rules he learns for asking questions and organizing and managing a class, he will be a dead failure if he does not keep his class in a constant dynamic relation toward the subject he is teaching. The writer once saw a teacher of geology who was a crude looking man, and who was conducting a class in his shirt sleeves. His hands looked as though he had been out gathering specimens recently. These specimens were arranged around the sides of the room in which he was teaching. He had all kinds of charts and other apparatus for illustrating the principles of geology. He murdered some of the popular rules for asking questions and the like, but he was conducting one of the best classes the writer has ever observed. The pupils were learning geology that was geology, and not mere words. Any kind of method that will secure results of this sort is sound.

MENTAL DISCIPLINE.

At the convention of superintendents in Madison on Friday, October first, the subject of "Mental Discipline" was discussed at some length. On that date, Ex-Governor W. D. Hoard published in the Jefferson County Union an editorial relating to this subject, which we can not do better than reproduce here. Most of those who are endeavoring to study education in an expert way have reached the conclusion that many grievous sins have been committed in the name of "mental discipline;" and when a shrewd observer of men and things reaches the same conclusion as those who approach the subject from a different standpoint, it gives assurance that the conclusion is a Here is what Mr. Hoard says in his

sound one.

editorial regarding the subject of discipline:

"Teachers have a great responsibility placed before them, for theirs is the task, not only of building up the human mind, but also of saving it from the appalling fate of a life of misdirected effort. We do not believe in much of the criticism that is

showered upon teachers, for it is manifestly narrow, unphilosophical and unjust, and for these reasons, is worse in its unreasonableness than the teacher. But we do think that about all of this talk that teachers indulge in concerning the pursuit of any study for the sake of "mental discipline" is without merit. It is about as reasonable as would be the idea of loading down a horse and cart with a useless burden for the sake of the animal and vehicle. Teachers should be well versed in the physiology of the mind they deal with. They ought to know that there is such a thing as the "wear and tear" of study, which is always increased greatly, in proportion as there is less appetite for the contemplation of such subjects. It costs the student, who is forced into certain studies for the sake of mental discipline, vastly more of mental effort, often amounting to the reaction of hate, than it does him to whom the study is a pleasure. The assimilation of food by the stomach and brain is almost parallel in its methods of action. In the former there is such a thing as the influence of the nerves of taste which are a powerful aid to digestion. No one advises the eating of a lot of distasteful food for the sake of increasing the strength of the stomach. Why should this be insisted upon in the use of food for the brain?"

NOT IN THE CURRICULUM.

In the smaller towns and villages, as well as in the cities of Wisconsin, school children support the five cent theaters which, on the whole, minister to what is low and vulgar in human nature. Why is it that our schools are unable to develop interests in the young which will protect them against malign influences of this sort? Could the school take the bull by the horns, and offer attrac tions of a wholesome character which would gratify the impulses which are indulged in these low-grade theaters? In some parts of the country the movement to establish children's theaters is making genuine progress, but thus far it has not gained much headway in towns and villages; but the town and the small city are the very places where a children's theater would prove of greatest service. One can go through these communities, and see how the nickel theaters are making a deep impression, mostly for evil, upon the lives of the young. These institutions are always brilliantly lighted at night, and their wretched megaphonic music fills the air, and attracts all the young in their direction. What a gain it would. be for moral and intellectual training if the school could draw people to itself as these nickelodeons do. We have hardly yet begun to realize what can be done in this respect. We scarcely appreciate, some of us, that the school should not only direct the pupil in his hours of effort, but it should attract him when he is at leisure, and seeks enjoyment and relaxation. Plato long ago saw that

education meant a great deal more than the acquisition of a definite body of facts. It meant the control of the impulses, and the nourishment of the emotional life; for after all, one's course in this vale of tears is determined more by the influences that prey upon him when he is at leisure, than those which affect him when he is at work. Here is an opportunity for men and women of parts to work out practically a great extension of educational influence and advantage.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

In the teachers' institutes in Indiana, one is struck with the large number of normal-school and college graduates. The tone of these institutes is distinctly higher than in those states in which the teachers of rural schools are not expected to be anything more than high-school graduates at best. The minimum wage law in Indiana has resulted in elevating the character of rural school teaching above that of most states. Many strong men and women prefer to go into the country schools, especially when they can live in the towns or cities, and go out to their schools by trolley. A vast number of suggestions have been made of late regarding the betterment of the rural school; but no substantial improvement can ever be secured until teaching therein can be made attractive to competently trained and personally capable men and women.

One of the foremost city superintendents in this country, in discussing recently with the writer the subject of increasing teachers' wages, said that in several cities he knew a considerable increase had recently been effected by placing a greater number of children under one teacher. He said that in the city in which he lived, by increasing the number of pupils in any room by three, he could save tens of thousands of dollars with which to increase the salaries of the teachers; but he asserted with the greatest emphasis that he would resist doing a thing of this sort to the bitter end. Under no conditions would he consent to putting more than forty-five pupils as a maximum under one teacher. In the little city in which the writer lives there are a number of schoolrooms in which there are

THAT HAT the special committee on education of the legislature appointed to investigate the state's systems of administration of school affairs has not been derelict in the performance of its duties, is strongly evidenced in the tentative report given to the public last month in which it is proposed to abolish the present normal and university boards of regents and the mining school board. and substitute therefor a commission or state board of education. The provisions of the bill as now drafted are as follows:

THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. A state board of education is created to be composed of five members, the state superintendent of public instruction being ex-officio a member. The governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, is to appoint four members, each member to receive an annual salary of $5,000. The term of one member is to terminate on the first Monday in February, 1913, and the term of the others in 1915, 1917, and 1919. In January, 1913, and biennially thereafter, one member is to be appointed for a term of eight years. Vacancies are to be filled by appointment by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate.

The governor may at any time remove any member for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, after furnishing him a copy of the charges and fixing a time when he can be heard in his own defense.

No member of the board shall hold any other office or position of profit or engage in any other business or vocation, or serve on or under any committee of any political party, but shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office. Not more than two of the appointive members of the board of education shall be members of the same political party.

This board shall constitute a body corporate by the name of "state board of education," shall possess all the powers necessary or convenient to accomplish the objects and perform the duties prescribed by law, and shall have custody of the books, records, buildings, and all other property

of the state university, of the state normal schools and of the Wisconsin mining school.

The board is to elect a president and a secretary, who shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by the board, each of whom shall serve for two years. The secretary may be some person not a member of such state board of education, and the state treasurer is to be treasurer of the board.

In addition to the salary provided for by law each member of the state board of education shall receive the actual amount of his expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of duty. Accounts for such expenses duly authenticated shall be audited by the board and be paid on their order by the treasurer, one-half out of the university fund income and one-half out of the normal school fund income.

The board of regents of the state university and the body corporate known by the name of "the regents of normal schools" and the "mining school board" shall cease to exist after the state board of education has been organized.

In addition to the powers, rights, privileges and duties conferred and imposed upon the state board of education it shall co-operate in every way with the state superintendent of public instruction in his duties relating to the supervision of the common, graded and high schools of the state. It is required to file with the governor a biennial report covering the work of the state board of education, with recommendations for legislation necessary and helpful to the cause of education.

REASONS FOR THE CHANGE.

The reasons back of this proposed change and as set forth by its advocates may be enumerated as follows:

1. Divided Authority. To distribute the responsibility for the management of these ten institutions, very similar in their purposes, among twenty-eight men and women from all over the state, is a scattering and waste of energy not found in the executive affairs of any wisely governed institutions or establishments.