ENGLISH ideals of school differ very materially from those prevalent among us. Many Americans will read with surprise the statement made in the Educational Review by Mr. William Cunningham, of Trinity College, Cambridge: "The whole of the English school system and the whole of the college system really turn on this extraordinary conception that neither a school nor college is primarily concerned with teaching." He defines the English conception of their duty to a boy to be to make a man of him." This he resolves into two elements, the boy must learn to do what he does not like, and he must learn

to take responsibility. The first is taught him by compulsory requirements which take no account of his likes and dislikes, and include Greek and Latin on one hand, and football on the other; to develop the second "the boys have a great deal of supervision of one another, and learn never to shirk responsibility, and especially, what seems an element of it, not to care a rap what anybody says of him, so long as he feels he is right himself. Those are the things that a boy is sent to school for." This effective presentation of the case may perhaps be toned down a little in the interest of exact statement, but what it brings to the fore deserves attention here. To convert the schools into mere scholarship mills is certainly a great mistake. Our ideal, to prepare for life, is only too apt to let "making a scholar of him" crowd out "making a man of him."

PREPARATION for citizenship consists first in learning self-government and second in learning the principles and forms by which our people accomplish self-government in state and nation. That the first is learned slowly and learned best by trial under continually lessening external direction is a familiar truth, and yet we have been slow to apply it in our schools. The abolition of corporal punishment, and the removal of principals and teachers who develop too much friction in their management are the sub-conscious ways of bringing about this discipline that forms for freedom. Last month we gave two accounts of experiments towards the conscious realization of this sort of discipline in our schools. They seem to have awakened a good deal of interest. Following Principal O'Hanlon's letter we published part of a circular setting forth the principles of these experiments, a considerable part of which should have been credited to the author of the other article, Prin. John T. Ray, in whose paper on "Democratic Government in the Schools," published in Home and School Education for Jan

uary, they originally appeared. Principal Ray's deduction from the experiment is that pupils soon learn to identify themselves with the government instead of being indifferent or hostile to it, and this of course is the vital matter in preparation for citizenship.

NEW EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION.

Probably the most salient fact in regard to educational legislation in the late session is the failure of the so-called Harvey bill for the revision of our plan of school supervision. After considerable interchange of views in

regard to it, and repeated modification of details in order to meet as fully as possible prominent objections to it, the bill was suffered to die in committee since there was no prospect of its passage. It is not difficult to see the reasons for this; they may be summed up in the statement that the measure was felt to be a radical one, and many feared that public sentiment was not ready for so strong a movement. The agitation of the reform was very useful; it has called public attention to the inadequacy of present plans of supervision, to the undesirable influences which surround the superintendency, and to the unsatisfactory conditions of our rural schools under it, and such an agitation is never without its value. The work of the superintendents will be more carefully watched than hitherto, and they will themselves realize more fully the possibilities of their office. It is not at all improbable that this effort initiates a movement which will ultimately bring about most of the results which that measure sought to attain. The legislature certainly cannot be said to have been indifferent to education; for in addition to providing liberally for the maintenance of our educational institutions, it passed a series of important measures for the further development of our school system.

Among these we must give a prominent place to the doubling of the fund in aid of our free high schools. The yearly appropriation for this object is now one hundred thousand dollars, and the aid to each school will now be about four hundred and eighty dollars. It is impossible to escape the conviction that the time has come for a general strengthening of these institutions. More thoroughly prepared teachers are now available for conducting them; we must seek more intelligent and specially trained supervisors for them; and fuller equipment may be reasonably exacted in the laboratories and libraries. This increase of state aid ought to be the occasion of elevation of work and ideals. The increase of the fund in aid of manual training, doubling the

amount and the number of schools which may share it, ought to give impetus to the movement already so well initiated. Two other acts deserve mention, one permitting school boards in cities to add one mill to the school tax, and one permitting districts in a town or city to unite in maintaining a common high school.

The law increasing the minimum period during which a school must be maintained in order to participate in the distribution of the state school fund from six to seven months, must be accounted of a good deal of importance in the development of our rural schools. The addition of a month considerably increases the importance of the school and its power to contribute to the intellectual growth of the children. In line with this is the provision for beginning the establishment of county normal training schools. Two only are contemplated at present, and the bill provides state aid to the amount of $1250 to each provided suitable accommodations are afforded and the school with properly qualified teachers is maintained not less than ten months each year. As is well known, movements looking to the establishment of such schools have already been made in two counties, and it seems reasonable to anticipate that they will now be realized; while success with two would doubtless bring aid for others as they are demanded. The addition of four thousand dollars to the state institute fund means added efficiency in this kind of training, already considerably strengthened by the creating of the county institute fund four years ago.

One or two other measures must be briefly mentioned. School districts are now authorized to borrow from the trust funds of the state, not only for new buildings but also for refunding indebtedness, and the rate of interest is reduced from four to three and a half per cent. The provisions of the township library law are now made applicable to villages and to cities of ten thousand inhabitants and under. S.

CONVEYANCE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN.

The last Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1897-8, is just received, and among its interesting papers presents a careful study of the conveyance of children to school in that state. This has been really a growth, and until late years not a rapid growth. The conservatism of the people is shown by the -cautious manner in which they have felt their way to this great reform. The original law authorizing any town to make provision for

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the conveyance of children to and from school was passed in 1869. The secretary of the Board of Education at that time said: "This act was introduced into the legislature thru the efforts of a practical man from one of our rural towns of large territory and sparse population." The first general statement of the results of the law was made in a pamphlet prepared in 1893 for the Massachusetts public school report at the World's Columbian Exposition. Sup't Eaton, of Concord, was chosen to prepare this, because the consolidation in the schools of Concord was probably more complete than in any other town in the state. He said: "At first the authority was used mainly to convey pupils to the high school. Within a few years, however, many communities have used this authority to increase the educational advantages of the children, constantly decreasing in numbers, who live in districts at a distance from the center of population. This has been accomplished by closing many district schools and transporting, at public expense, their pupils to the neighboring public schools or to the village.' course all sorts of objections were put up against the plan, and numerous supposed dangers dwelt upon, long, cold rides, contagion in public conveyances, cold dinners to impair digestion, long absence from home, and so on. These imaginary evils had to be proved illusory by slow experience before the plan could become general; the advantages in larger and better equipped schools, with better organization and better teachers had also to be made evident by trial; and that the actual expense of using better schools was less than half that of the old small district schools, had to come to light slowly in town after town before the public would credit the statements. The statistics show that since 1888 the money expended for conveyance has about doubled every five years. Thus the scheme has passed from its experimental stage. A good deal has yet to be done before all the small schools of the state disappear or even all that clearly ought not to continue, but no compulsion has yet been used and the movement is a purely popular one.

The movement has spread to other states. Maine entered upon it in 1897; New Hampshire a year or two earlier; Vermont followed; Connecticut authorizes transportation; New York, in 1896, provided by law for local taxation for the same purpose; New Jersey, Nebraska and Wisconsin have followed suit. The plan has even spread to Australia, where the minister of public instruction of Victoria says: "Under the system of conveyance two

hundred and forty-one schools have been closed. The saving in closed schools amounts to about £14,170 per annum. The attendance is so regular and the system so popular that applications are constantly made for its extension."

This report summarizes nearly two hundred replies to circulars of inquiry addressed to school officials of towns and cities. It appears from these that more than fifty per cent. of the towns report changes in population and property valuation that have affected school conditions. More than sixty-five of the towns reporting have found it necessary or advantageous to close and consolidate some schools. Consolidation is generally partial, in a few towns complete; most frequently it has been accomplished gradually; in some instances at one stroke. "More than fifty per cent. of the towns report that they 'convey all the way from the home to the school.' Other towns say that, unless the conveyance, carriage, or car passes their homes, the children walk to the main street, or to designated points, or to the closed schoolhouse, or to the streets through which the electric cars run, etc. a few towns the carriage goes to every home in stormy weather, to take and leave the children. In some towns conveyance is furnished only in winter or in stormy weather. In some cases children are conveyed to school, but not from it unless the weather is stormy or the traveling bad."

In

The conveyance extends to four, six, or eight miles as the case may be. Arrangements for transportation are sometimes made by the school committee, sometimes by a subcommittee, and sometimes by an individual. Of course amounts paid for service vary in localities. No inconvenience as to health of children, exposure to weather, or parental dissatisfaction. In fact the evils apprehended have not been realized in practice.

It is obvious, therefore, that an experience of thirty years has fully confirmed the feasibility, freedom from special dangers and educational and social advantages of the plan of conveyance. This experience justifies a more rapid expansion of the plan in other states which are just beginning to adopt it. What is necessary is dissemination of information regarding the experience had and the financial and educational advantages of the plan. perintendents and teachers are the natural means for disseminating such information. It seems not unreasonable to assume that with a little intelligent and concerted effort Wisconsin might in a decade by this means alone do much to overcome the deplorable condition of her rural education.

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THE MONTH.

WISCONSIN NEWS AND NOTES.

-The Columbian Catholic Summer School will hold its fifth annual session in Madison, July 12th to August 3d.

-The summer school in connection with the Oshkosh normal school, will open July 3d, and hold its sessions to August 4th.

-The report of Supt. Flavin, of Dodge county, shows that during the past year eighty-seven graduated from the rural schools of that county.

-The summer school at the Oshkosh normal school, July 3d-Aug. 4th, this year employs eleven teachers, nine of whom have college training.

-At Evansville, the entire corps of teachers was recently re-elected for another year. Here is an instance of a school without a change in the board of education, corps of teachers, or janitor for two years.

-Attendance at the University of Paris has increased in a way that rivals the growth of our American institutions since 1885. In letters, 928 students at that date have become 1,989; in medicine, 3,696 have become 4,494; and in law, 3,786 have grown to 4,494.

-The program of the N. E. A. at Los Angeles, this summer, appears in a long brochure of twenty pages, with purple covers, and gives a strong impression of the number of topics, the opportunities of travel, and the various attractions of this great organization.

-Miss Elizabeth F. Simpson, librarian of the Stevens Point normal school, issues a neat little twelve page manual, "Days we Celebrate-Arbor Day, Bird Day, Memorial Day,” with reference lists for readings and music suitable for such festivals. It will certainly be very useful to such teachers as may possess it.

-The institute list for the coming season provides for sixty-four institutes, one in each county of the state except Florence, Pierce, Forest, Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Vernon, and Portage. In only one county, Shawano, are there two appointments. The sessions are longer than in last year's list, four lasting four weeks each, nine lasting three weeks, thirtyone lasting two weeks each, and twenty of one week. None shorter than a week appear on the list.

-The Chippewa Falls high school has secured, by competitive examination, the cadetship for both West Point and Annapolis from

this congressional district. Elam J. Raymond goes to West Point and Nathaniel L. Hurd to Annapolis. Both are graduates of this high school. It is an unusual thing for one school to get both appointments at the same time. In the examination for the naval cadet this school had three competitors-one stood first, one third, and the other fourth.

-Of the short periods of service of country teachers Supt. Keats, of Fond du Lac county,

says:

"I maintain that the practice of hiring teachers term by term largely nullifies the value of their services, and subjects competent teachers to the indignity of appearing at frequent intervals as supplicants for positions, to the permanent holding of which they are entitled, in all equity and fairness. I submit that the best interests of our schools demand the establishment of the custom of guaranteeing to those teachers who have proved themselves worthy of such recognition, permanent tenure of position, but so qualified as to prevent incompetent persons from taking advantage of this protection."

-The following changes of school principals for the coming year have come to our knowledge: G. H. Landgraf goes from Waterloo to Menasha; O. E. Rice, who has had charge of the grammar grade at Washburn, becomes principal of the high school at Necedah; from Necedah C. H. Maxson goes to Tomah; Walton H. Pyre takes the high school at New Lisbon; S. E. Pearson that at Viroqua; J. A. Hagemann that at Ft. Atkinson; F. F. Showers goes from Sheboygan Falls to Antigo; F. A. Leverenz becomes superintendent at Sheboygan; H. A. Simonds leaves Stevens Point to assume the superintendency at Oshkosh; H. A. Whipple, of Whitewater, becomes supervising principal at Baraboo; Ezra T. Towne takes charge of the Sharon schools; C. H. Dietz goes to Waterloo; H. L. Van Deusen goes to Centralia.

-The list of institute conductors approved by the institute committee contains 125 names. They are all citizens of Wisconsin, and for the most part-indeed with few exceptions are teachers in the normal schools or in the high schools of this state. We note in the list twenty-one names of women. Superintendents are expected from this list to secure such aid as may be necessary beyond the conductors appointed by the committee and to pay them from the county institute fund. The state superintendent suggests for an enrollment between fifty and a hundred two conductors are needed, between that and one hundred and fifty three, and above the latter

four should be employed.

He also expresses

the hope that each superintendent will prepare for and conduct at least one or two exercises daily in his own institute.

-The Orange Judd Co., of the American Agriculturist, addressed a circular of inquiry to 360 universities and colleges in this country, asking the total enrollment of students, and the enrollment of persons belonging to the "agricultural classes" as shown by the residence or occupation of their parents. Replies were received from 178 institutions, with a total enrollment of 62,012, of whom 21,060, or almost 34 per cent., are from the agricultural classes. In the central west 40 per cent. of the students come from the farms. In making the figures "a few city colleges, like Harvard, Pratt Institute, University of Rochester, Detroit College, Fisk University, etc.," were excluded.

-The Rock county teachers' association was held at Evansville on Saturday, May 6th. There were more than 100 teachers in attendance and much interest was manifested. Mr. Levi Leonard gave an account of the school he taught in Evansville in 1841. His comparison between the old and the new school aroused much enthusiasm. In the afternoon all the grades were in session for an hour and later each teacher's work was commented on by some one previously appointed for that purpose. Reports were made by Grace Potter, of Madison; Maggie Woodruff, of Janesville; Alice Gregory, of Stoughton; Jennie Kelly, of Edgerton; Lettie Janes, of Magnolia; Mr. C. Henningway, of Brodhead; Robert Rienow, of Whitewater; and Supt. David Throne. The school session proved to be a very profitable feature. State Supt. L. D. Harvey then delivered a very instructive address on practical school problems.

-Supt. Keats, of Fond du Lac county, says of schoolhouses: "In our cities and villages the school buildings and grounds are generally a credit to the good taste and the public spirit of the communities in which they are situated. But away from these centers many of the schoolhouses are a blot on the landscape. Built without reference to architectural effect, or to the health, comfort, and convenience of teachers and pupils, they bar the progress of school work. Some of our buildings are in a shameful state of dilapidation, and when new ones are built it is thought unnecessary, or too expensive, to employ professional help, and so the defects of the old school buildings are perpetuated in the new. All this is evidence that it is still needful to arouse and educate

public sentiment upon this subject; to tell the people that the comfort and health and eyesight of teachers and pupils are worth caring for; to insist again that neat and attractive buildings and grounds are important contributions to the mental, physical, and moral wellbeing of the children."

-The new list of books for township libraries, which is just issued from the state superintendent's office, is a pamphlet of 148 pages. It contains nearly three hundred new books, and a good many new and valuable features. The library law is given on the first pages, which was so amended by the last legislature as to extend the provisions to incorporated villages and cities of the fourth class, to make the purchasing time from May first to September first, and to make selection from the superintendent's list imperative. Reference lists are added to many of the titles indicating topics by pages to aid in using the books and following up subjects in which pupils may be interested.

The notes on books are so made

as to aid teachers in directing the reading of pupils. The educational and ethical values are pointed out and the things which will interest pupils. All these things add greatly to the value of this list. There accompany it for the use of officers labels for the books, an order blank for purchasing, and full directions how to do the library business.

-The requirements for admission to Harvard university, adopted by the faculty, have been approved by the board of overseers, except that they ask that history be added to the list. The overseers say: "It is not believed that an educated man can safely regard himself simply as a horizontal slice of the present, but rather should be taught to realize that he is deeply rooted in the past, and that nearly every opinion and prejudice that he is called upon to encounter to-day has had.at least its prototype in the past, and for a graduate of the college to properly discharge his duties of citizenship, some knowledge of history comes next in importance to a knowledge of how to write and speak English correctly and with force." If the faculty concurs in the last amendment of the overseers to the effect that history also be prescribed for admission to Harvard college, then the new requirements for admission may go into effect as soon as the faculty vote is passed. The new definitions are found in the catalogue of the present year. The most importance difference in principle between the new requirements for admission and the old, a difference which the board of overseers has approved, is that students who

enter Harvard college without Greek will no longer be forced to substitute for Greek only subjects in advanced mathematics, physics, or chemistry. But according to the new scheme Greek may be replaced by both advanced French and German or by an advanced modern language and advanced history.

POINTS OF INTEREST IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

No section of the United States in proportion to its size and population, has aroused so much interest all over the world during the past fifteen years as Southern California, and particularly the city and county of Los Angeles. The name of Los Angeles is probably more widely known throughout the United States than any other city of 100,000 population in the country.

This interest is partly due to the remarkable attractions of scenery and climate, which are characteristic of this section; partly to the marvelously rapid growth of Los Angeles, from an obscure Mexican pueblo to a metropolitan city, and partly to the energetic and persistent publicity given to those attractions through the efforts of the enterprising people of the section.

Variety is one of the most noteworthy features of Southern California. It is a succession of mesas and valleys, each possessing distinctive features of soil and climate, shut off from each other by rolling hills, dotted with oak and walnut trees and backed by the majestic Sierras, pine clad toward the summit and capped with snow in winter, when oranges are ripening and the heliotrope and lilies are blossoming in the gardens below.

Some of the most picturesque scenery in the world is found along the foothills of the Sierra Madre range. Higher up on the summits of these mountains are groves of magnificent pines which shade attractive camping grounds.

Making headquarters at Los Angeles, a dozen or more interesting mountain trips can be made with facility, each of them taking in an entirely new section of country.

A picturesque range of mountains is the Sierra Madre, the "Mother Mountains." It is the link which connects the Coast Range with the Sierra Nevada. Though only seventy miles long, some of its peaks raise their snow crests seven to ten thousand feet. Streams of pure sparkling water rush down its many cañons. The tourist who misses exploring this grand range of mountains has missed much that is interesting in Southern California.