IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA. 



215 



from " grade " to " grade," in the same school, is 

 worked upon a system which may be described 

 as a self-acting one. It requires the interference 

 of no independent examiner. Every six months 

 the children in the lowest grade are examined by 

 the teacher of the grade above it, and those who 

 " pass " are promoted. The examining teacher 

 has the strongest possible motive for making the 

 examination a rigorous one, for the children that 

 she " passes " will be in her own class till the 

 next examination, and if she admits any who are 

 unqualified her percentage of failures will be in- 

 creased. This system extends through the whole 

 school ; the teacher of each grade examining the 

 children of the grade below. The ultimate re- 

 sponsibility for the promotions lies, however, 

 with the principal ; if a teacher is too exacting, 

 he can override her decision ; and he is also em- 

 powered to promote the children from a lower to 

 a higher division, in the same school, whenever 

 he thinks that their progress requires it. 



Promotions from one school to another of a 

 higher rank are made in a different way. In 

 Philadelphia there are two groups of graded 

 schools. The lower group consists of the pri- 

 mary, secondary, and grammar schools ; the 

 higher group consists of two schools of equal 

 rank — the Central High School for boys, and the 

 Normal School for girls. The Central High 

 School confers degrees in arts — B. A. and M. A. ; 

 the Normal School grants diplomas of graduation. 

 Promotions from the primary schools to the sec- 

 ondary, and from the secondary to the grammar 

 schools, are regulated by examinations, conducted 

 twice a year by the principals of the grammar- 

 schools. Schools which do not obtain a fair num- 

 ber of promotions have to account to the board 

 for their failure. The examiners are certain not 

 to make promotion to the grammar-schools too 

 easy ; for they, in their turn, have to submit to a 

 similar test of efficiency, and if they promoted to 

 their own schools scholars who had been badly 

 taught, their credit would infallibly suffer. 



Every year the president of the Central High 

 School makes what is called a " requisition" upon 

 the grammar-schools for boys. Each school is 

 required to send up a certain number of scholars 

 to an examination conducted by the faculty of 

 the High School. The papers must be such as 

 can be answered from the text-books used in the 



not find any record of the particular method in which 

 promotions are made from grade to grade, in the same 

 school. If the system does not exist in Philadelphia— 

 though I am nearly certain that it does — I was assured 

 elsewhere that it answers perfectly. 



senior classes of the grammar-schools, and no 

 pupil is admitted to the High School who does 

 not obtain a general average of sixty marks out 

 of a hundred. Every year the board sends a 

 similar requisition, on behalf of the Girls' Normal 

 School, to the principals of the girls' grammar- 

 schools. The entrance examination is conducted 

 by a committee of principals of the girls' gram- 

 mar-schools, under the same regulations as gov- 

 ern the examination for admission into the Cen- 

 tral High School. Why the principals of girls' 

 grammar-schools should conduct this examina- 

 tion instead of the faculty of the Normal School, 

 which is a very strong one, does not appear. If 

 any grammar-school fails to supplv its properly 

 qualified " quota" to these two high-schools, this 

 is prima-facie evidence of inefficiency. 



The system is ingenious, but not quite satis- 

 factory. The examinations of the Central High 

 School, and the Girls' Normal School, fail to sup- 

 ply an adequate test of the general efficiency of 

 the grammar-schools. The "quota" sent up 

 from a school may pass brilliantly, while its gen- 

 eral condition may be miserably poor. If all the 

 scholars that belong to the senior class of each 

 grammar-school had to be sent in for these ex- 

 aminations, those being admitted who obtained 

 the highest average of marks, the system would 

 be more complete. 



The examinations for teachers' certificates are 

 conducted by the " Committee on Qualification of 

 Teachers," " with the assistance of such members 

 of the Faculties of the Boys' Central High School 

 and the Girls' Normal School, and of such princi- 

 pals of grammar-schools for boys, as they may 

 deem necessary to conduct such examinations." l 

 The whole organization of the Philadelphia board 

 imposes an exceptional measure of responsibility 

 on the " principals " of the schools. Whether 

 this is a safe policy is a question which can be 

 solved only by experience. 



From these illustrations it will be seen that 

 the organization of the local school boards, and 

 their methods of administration, vary very greatly 

 in different parts of the country. Everywhere 

 they are appointed directly or indirectly by the 

 people ; but the machinery through which the 

 popular will is expressed is not uniform. In Bos- 

 ton the board is elected by a popular vote ; in 

 New York it is appointed by the mayor, and the 

 board appoints the ward " trustees," who have 

 the management of the schools within the limits 

 of each ward ; in Philadelphia the board is ap- 



i "Annual Report," 1877, p. 308. 



