SECONDARY SCHOOL PROGRAMMES. 51 



exhibit, with, equal precision, some facts as to comparative courses 

 in vogue in typical preparatory schools of the United States. 

 Following the suggestion of Dr. Eliot, particular reference will be 

 made to the Public Grammar and Public Latin School of the city 

 of Boston. To obtain the requisite data the writer has first tabu- 

 lated the hours of recitation per week entering into the enseigne- 

 ment secondaire classique and the enseignement secondaire spe- 

 cial of France. These tables have then been brought into com- 

 parison with similar tables, prepared on precisely the same plan, 

 of the courses of study in both the classical and scientific depart- 

 ments of certain typical fitting schools in the United States. The 

 hours of recitation having been made the unit of the tabulation, 

 the tables thus exhibit the total number of recitations in every 

 subject taught, each year, and for the entire course of every school 

 subjected to this examination. From the resultant figures the 

 percentage of each study to the whole course has been also de- 

 rived. The data as to the French courses were collated from the 

 latest official programmes of the schools, as prescribed by the order 

 of January 22, 1885, for the classical lycdes,* and by the order of 

 August 10, 1886, for the secondary special schools, f The data 

 as to American schools were derived from information supplied 

 by the head masters of the schools in question. The result of this 

 tabulation has been to exhibit in full relief the curricula of both 

 countries, and to bring into graphic view some very striking 

 points of difference in the courses of study as carried out in the 

 French and American schools, as well as to expose many singular 

 differences of practice obtaining in our own schools. The large 

 space that these tables would occupy precludes their publication 

 in connection with this paper, but the methods of compilation are 

 here mentioned, in order that such statements as may be made by 

 the writer as to the details of the courses of instruction in both 

 countries may be depended on as being as absolutely correct as a 

 careful and conscientious tabulation can make them. 



The programmes thus compared, at once exhibit two most im- 

 portant facts to which President Eh'ot has made no reference 

 whatsoever, viz. : that if a boy in France is prepared for matricu- 

 lation at seventeen years of age, instead of nineteen, as with us, it 

 is due (1) to the fact that, between the ages of eight and seven- 

 teen, the French boy devotes more time to study than the Ameri- 

 can boy; and (2) to the further fact that, with his increased 

 amount of reading, the French lad has had eliminated from his 

 preparatory course the serious study of subjects considered by the 



* Plan d'Etudes des Lycees — Programmes de l'Enseignement classique. Paris: Mai- 

 son Delalain Freres. 



f Plan d'Etudes et Programmes de l'Enseignement secondaire special dans les Lycees 

 et Colleges present par Arete du 10 Aout, 1886. Paris : Maison Delalain Freres. 



