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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. SUPPLEMENT. 



to plead that, being an Englishman, I was neces- 

 sarily conservative and phlegmatic. I spent an 

 hour or an hour and a half in this school, but 

 was so astonished and confounded by what I saw- 

 that I was unable to form any conception of the 

 peculiarities of method by which these very re- 

 markable results were produced. I arranged to 

 visit the school again, and to spend several hours 

 there in order to find out the secret. This visit 

 was reserved as a kind of bonne bouche for my 

 last day in America, and it was a great disap- 

 pointment to me to discover, when I rang the 

 bell, that, as the city elections were going on that 

 day, the school was closed. 



It may be said that this illustration of the kind 

 of work which is done by the assistant superin- 

 tendents is not very felicitous ; that to permit these 

 gentlemen to make experiments in the common 

 schools is to open a wide field for impracticable 

 or pernicious crotchets ; and that, in my own 

 judgment, the wisdom of the method developed 

 by one of these officers in this particular school 

 is extremely doubtful. But, as an illustration of 

 what may be done for a school by an assistant 

 superintendent, the case I have cited is as good 

 as any other. Within the rigid limits of the reg- 

 ulations of the board, omitting no lessons pro- 

 vided for in the ordinary scheme of studies, he 

 had produced a school of an exceptional type. He 

 had set his heart upon securing a rapidity and 

 precision of intellectual activity unusual in pri- 

 mary schools, and by the intelligent and zealous 

 cooperation of the mistress and her assistants 

 he had succeeded. 



In this particular instance my English habits 

 and traditions led me to regard the system and 

 its results with suspicion. But the " supervisors" 

 of Boston and the " assistant superintendents " 

 of New York are appointed on the ground of 

 their general ability and their practical knowl- 

 edge of education. It is their business to make 

 themselves acquainted with the educational meth- 

 ods which have proved successful in other parts 

 of the United States and in foreign countries. 

 They attend conferences of teachers, read school 

 board reports, discuss among themselves the dis- 

 cipline, the methods of teaching, and the organi- 

 zation of the schools of which they have charge. 

 They bring to bear upon the system which they 

 are working the free criticism of cultivated minds. 

 Whatever mistakes they may make occasionally, 

 it seems to me that, on the whole, their influence 

 must be of immense advantage. 



And yet I am bound to acknowledge that one 

 of the greatest cities in the United States, a city 



that has been conspicuous for its educational zeal 

 and for the success of its schools, has neither 

 assistant superintendents nor superintendent, nor 

 any officers who, under other names, discharge 

 the same duties. The organization of the school 

 system of Philadelphia is, in many respects, pe- 

 culiar. The board, consisting of thirty-one mem- 

 bers, is appointed by the judges of the Court of 

 Common Pleas and district court, the judges 

 themselves being appointed by popular election. 

 A member of the board is selected from each 

 ward in the city. They serve for three years, 

 and one-third of the members retire annually. 

 In each ward there is a board of fifteen directors 

 appointed by popular election ; five retire every 

 year. The relations of the " directors " to the 

 board in Philadelphia are very similar to the re- 

 lations of the "trustees" to the board in New 

 York; but the "directors" have larger powers — 

 they can appoint teachers ' in cases in which the 

 New York "trustees" can only nominate them to 

 the board for appointment. 



I have said that Philadelphia has no super- 

 intendent ; this statement ought, perhaps, to be 

 qualified. Some of the duties properly belong- 

 ing to a superintendent are performed by the sec- 

 retary to the board, Mr. Halliwell. Mr. Halliwell 

 is one of the most energetic men I have ever seen 

 in any part of the world. His strength, which 

 must be severely tasked, seems inexhaustible ; 

 his courtesy, it is pleasant to me to add, is equal 

 to his vigor. To him, and to the chairman of the 

 board, Mr. James Long, I am under great obliga- 

 tions ; no trouble seemed too great for them to 

 take in order to enable a stranger to carry away 

 a just impression of their schools. 



The system on which the schools are organ- 

 ized is very simple. The efficiency of every 

 school is tested, at regular intervals, by the num- 

 ber of pupils that are qualified for " promotion " 

 to a school of a higher grade ; and the efficiency 

 of every division of a school is tested by the 

 number of pupils that are qualified for " promo- 

 tion " to the division next above it. 



With us promotion from " standard " to 

 "standard," in a public elementary school, is 

 made upon the report of her Majesty's Inspector. 

 In Philadelphia, if I remember aright, 2 promotion 



1 The "directors" have to report their appoint- 

 ments to the board for approval ; but the approval is 

 granted as a matter of course if the teacher appointed 

 lias the qualifications required by the by-laws. It is 

 the business of a committee of the board to ascertain 

 whether the teacher is duly qualified. 



2 I speak with some hesitation, because in the brief 

 "notes" which I made, when in Philadelphia, I do 



