tration. A little planning will give to a serious lesson all the charm of the playground, and will develop that characteristic of play, the subordination of everyone's effort to a common purpose, thus preparing for the discipline of life, as Mr. Hughes so well knows how to demonstrate. Regarding rhythm, a word concerning music may be in place. Music is essentially a co-operation subject. A teacher may throw away its advantages. She may have the pupils sing a song just to keep them from disorder while she is giving out the pens, and may not notice that their singing is perfunctory and unenthusiastic. Many teachers do this. But many teachers have not yet heard of co-operation. But in part singing If all sing even in unison, all must at least sing. the highest pleasure is felt. There is a distinct sense of co-operation in part singing. You feel that your neighbor who is singing another part is essential to your singing. If he stops, you may as well stop, for the chord is broken and the pleasure is gone. To me co-operation is fundamental. It goes far down to the roots of things and relates to the conditions on which education must be founded, to the postulates of education. Before I studied German I knew a young lady, a member of a German singing society, known as the Eintracht. I asked her what the word Eintracht meant. She said she didn't know the English word for it, but it meant that they would "all stick together." That is my conception of school; and as to the teacher in his relation to this ideal, let us remember that Froebel did not say, as some teachers think, "Let us live in front of the children," but, “Let us live with the children." DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SECRETARY'S MINUTES FIRST SESSION. -FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 8, 1898 The department met in the Central High School assembly hall, with President George B. Aiton, of Minnesota, in the chair. In the absence of Secretary E. G. Cooley, Mr Ralph R. Upton, of Chillicothe, O., was elected assistant secretary. The following program was presented: I. English the Core of a Secondary Course," John C. Hanna, High School, Columbus, O. 2. The presentation and defense of three printed syllabi for literature and composition-rhetoric in secondary schools, with a statement of the principles of choice and arrangement followed in the preparation of each, by Samuel Thurber, master in Girls' High School, Boston, Mass.; Miss Charity Dye, department of literature, Central High School, Indianapolis, Ind.; W. F. Webster, principal of the East Side High School, Minneapolis, Minn. 3. General discussion. The president appointed the following nominating committee: A. F. Nightingale, Chicago, Ill. Fred W. Atkinson, Springfield, Mass. SECOND SESSION.- TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 12 The report of the nominating committee was given as follows: We, the undersigned, the Committee on Nominations, beg leave to submit and report the following names in nomination for the three offices of the department. Mr. Hermanns was not in attendance at this committee meeting. The nominations are as follows: For President - Edward F. Hermanns, Denver, Colo. For Vice-President - W. F. Webster, Minneapolis, Minn. Very respectfully, A. F. NIGHTINGALE, Committee. On motion, the report was accepted, and the secretary was directed to cast the vote of the department for the nominees. The vote was so cast, and the nominees declared elected. Mr. Plummer, Des Moines, Ia., offered the following resolutions, which were carried: WHEREAS, Three strong, carefully prepared, complete syllabi on the subject of "Literature and Composition-Rhetoric in Secondary Schools" were presented before the Section of Secondary Education Friday afternoon, July 8; and, WHEREAS, It is the sense of this department that the influence of these valuable papers should be extended as widely as possible among teachers of English; be it Resolved, That the chair appoint a committee of three, whose duties it shall be to devise means of securing the publication of these syllabi, and the papers which supported them, in full, in a neat pamphlet, and to secure their distribution, and to report action, if any, to the next annual session of this department, : The chair appointed : Frank E. Plummer, chairman, Des Moines, Ia. Charles C. Ramsay, Fall River, Mass. Ernest R. Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. Resolutions of thanks were tendered Colonel Henry F. Blount, Dr. F. R. Lane, Miss H. M. Reynolds, and others for the cordial welcome which the department had received. Mr. Edward F. Hermanns, president-elect, assumed the duties of his office. On motion of Mr. Aiton, the president was requested to set the example of opening next year's session with a brief résumé of the year's progress in secondary education. The department then adjourned, concluding its proceedings in round tables as follows: I. "Composition - Rhetoric" - Leader, Ernest R. Clark, instructor in English, Colorado Springs, Colo. 2. History"- Leader, J. J. Shepard, Boys' High School, New York. 3. "The High School as a Social Factor"- Leader, Charles H. Keyes, Principal of High School, Holyoke, Mass. RALPH R. UPTON, Assistant Secretary. PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS ENGLISH The core oF A SECONDARY COURSE BY JOHN CALVIN HANNA, EAST HIGH SCHOOL, COLUMBUS, O. The problem whether there is a place for secondary instruction is settled by the laws of nature. "The secondary epoch is due to the phenomena of adolescence." These are the words of Professor Nicholas Murray Butler in a valuable article in the June number of the Educational Review on "The Scope and Function of Secondary Education." The essential characteristics of secondary-school studies there enumerated are selected upon sound principles, and do much to clear the way in the problem of curriculum-making-the second of the two great problems 'connected with secondary schools. In the attempt to solve this problem, the strife between extremists has gone to such lengths that there is a reaction coming. The most thought ful and the broadest-minded workers in this field are coming to the conclusion that a sane and harmonious working basis can be established, and that in the establishment of such a basis these ideas must have a controlling force: 1. That many subjects must be omitted entirely; that, for example, the formal study of psychology and allied subjects, of the advanced mathematics, of technical arts and sciences, of astronomy, geology, etc., of mechanical trades, and of many other subjects, belongs not in the sccondary school, but in special schools of various kinds, or in the colleges and universities. 2. That there must be, even in the secondary school, a recognition of various needs in the establishment of different courses. 3. That there must be a considerable degree of flexibility and a large choice of electives allowed, and that the college-entrance requirements must be changed to harmonize with this idea - all within reasonable limits. 4. That not too many subjects-four or, at the most, five-must be pursued at one time, and that each subject must be pursued long enough to get some good out of it, preferably in no case less than a full school year. 5. That there must be an immovable center belonging to all courses and governing the whole matter of electives. Professor Butler says that there ought to be three general elements in this fixed center, viz.: (a) the study of language; (b) the study of deductive reasoning, as illustrated in mathematics; (c) the study of inductive method, as in experimental science and, in part, in history. Beyond these limitations the student should be free in selecting his course. In support of this position he points to the fact that too much uniformity in the German gymnasia has brought about what Bismarck himself calls "the educated proletariat." I will quote one sentence which applies to our own institutions most forcibly this thought: "Democracy needs intelligent and trained leadership - leadership in public policy, leadership in industry, in commerce, in finance; leadership in art and in letters. The basis of training for leadership is laid in the secondary schools, where the directive capacity of the nation is serving its apprenticeship." I accept all that he gives, and I believe the consensus of secondaryschool people will support it. In presenting for my thesis "English as the Core of a Secondary Course," I claim that there should be a systematic and thoro study of English during the entire four years of the ordinary secondary course, and, whatever is done in the way of foreign-language study-and I believe heartily in its educational value-that, even tho the required mathematics be limited to two years, which is enough, and altho the required science and required history be limited to one year each-all the rest of the work in both these departments being elective-neverthe less, the study of English should be required of all pupils for four years, and that it should be systematic and thoro. This will make English the "core of the secondary course,” and, in my judgment, it will furnish a common ground of agreement, of honorable compromise, and of harmonious co-operation on the part of the special advocates of all the different departments of study. Here we can all meet, the specialist in classics, in modern language, in natural science, in mathematics, in history and civics. The practical value of language study cannot be overestimated. The fixed laws of thought presented to us in the study of mathematics are But the prac absolutely necessary for our training to logical methods. tical problems of life are mainly of a different character. The human element is in nearly all of them. In law and legislation, in history and politics, in art and literature, in business, in society and religious matters, the problems which come to us for solution are solved better by him who is trained properly thru a study of language, for its rules are not, as those of mathematics are, fixed and iron-clad, but are full of exceptions, pro. duced by the great element of humanity which has grown into all language, as it has into law and art, and business and society. For its immediate helpfulness in relation to all other fields of study and activity the study of our own language is of paramount importance. The relation between clearness of thought and clearness of expression is often a reciprocal one, and this fact is overlooked, sometimes, by teachers in all departments of study. There is no field of study where "laboratory" work may be more helpfully carried on than in language study, and the material for such work in this department is as easily accessible as in any other, and, usually, much the easiest of access, and the most abundant. The May number of Education contains an “Address to Teachers of English," by Samuel Thurber, which is full of sensible and practical suggestions. He makes his deductions from two axioms, which are these: (1) the child acquires language only thru unconscious absorption, not at all thru efforts to commit linguistic principles to memory, and (2) he acquires it as a whole, as the entire expression of a thought, not piecemeal, and not by analysis. He then maintains that, in order to this absorption, two conditions are essential : 1. You must give the pupil an abundance of English to absorb. 2. You must bring him into a receptive frame of mind. To the statement of the latter condition he adds the following, which is full of truth, and yet is much neglected: "For the last (i. e., the receptive frame of mind) he must be interested, and that which interests him in language is by no means the form and structure of the language itself, but what the language says-its content." If this be true--and who will dispute it?-then the instructor in English who knows his business has a vast advantage over the instructors in some other portions of secondary education, because the "interest" may always be aroused. The field of selection is practically limitless, and it is always possible to find something for study whose subject-matter will command the interest of any sound mind. This, of course, means that a teacher of English need never be overwhelmed by the painful discovery that his pupils are not interested in the matter of the study. It also means that a subject of this sort ought never to be laid aside, or thrust aside, but ought to stand in the front and in the center and at the |