SECONDARY SCHOOL PROGRAMMES. 61 



ascertain that on the part of certain endowed home fitting schools 

 established on recent foundations, direct efforts are being made to 

 counteract these deficiencies of earlier years by a systematic reg- 

 ulation of pupils' time — both as regards study and recreation. 

 The result, as could be anticipated, is a marked broadening of the 

 school course, as well as a decided decrease in the ages of the 

 senior class pupils. It is because of the possibilities in this direc- 

 tion, as well as to respond to the rapidly increasing demand in 

 the United States for them, that thoroughly good preparatory 

 home schools, which shall fit boys for college and scientific school 

 in a rational manner, are now especially in request. The average 

 home school that fits for everything or anything, and that is a 

 fraud from its glossy catalogue to its ornate diploma, is suffi- 

 ciently well known to the average parent, and is not here alluded to. 

 The home schools now needed to meet our modern requirements 

 can have an existence only by virtue of some man or men willing 

 to liberally endow them. It would seem, too, that the ideal pre- 

 paratory home school should embrace at least six years of instruc- 

 tion. It should be fully equipped and prepared in all respects to 

 respond thoroughly to the three distinct demands that are now 

 made upon the modern fitting school, viz. : (1) preparation for 

 college with all the maximum requirements in the classics ; (2) 

 preparation for college without Greek, but with adequate modern 

 language and science-study substitutions ; (3) preparation for the 

 scientific school without Latin or Greek, but with equivalent and 

 honest substitutions of somewhat increased mathematical instruc- 

 tion (as compared with the classical branches), together with 

 modern languages and science studies, so taught that in all re- 

 spects of severity of course they shall equal in disciplinary results 

 the drill given in the classical courses. 



To the response that may be made, to the effect that we already 

 have preparatory schools doing precisely this work, and doing it 

 well, it is claimed that the few facts presented in connection with 

 this paper are in themselves a sufficient refutation. There is 

 another point. The writer would be among the last to impugn 

 the ability, the conscientious devotion, the peculiar fitness, even, 

 of the heads, and, generally speaking, of the staffs of these classical 

 schools, for he has the highest appreciation of them. But the fact 

 remains that, with hardly an exception, the faculties of the old clas- 

 sical preparatory schools that have been erected on the old endow- 

 ments seem to be incapable of giving absolutely fair and honest 

 treatment to their so-called preparatory scientific or English ad- 

 juncts. They are bound hand and foot in the old traditional 

 bonds. By reason of their educational bias they are precluded 

 from yielding a hearty, enthusiastic response to any demand that 

 a classical curriculum does not meet. In point of fact, why should 



