EDITOR'S TABLE. 



239 



City High-School. The account given 

 of it by the World is mainly as fol- 

 lows: 



" The course of study is of a high 

 grade, and is arranged in three divis- 

 ions a commercial, a modern English, 

 and a classical course. The English 

 course comprises algebra, natural phi- 

 losophy, geometry, trigonometry, physi- 

 ology, chemistry, geology, astronomy, 

 surveying, botany, languages, English 

 literature, civil government, history, 

 mental philosophy, and theory and 

 practice of teaching. The classical 

 course is made up of algebra, geometry, 

 Latin (Csesar, Cicero, and Virgil), Greek 

 (Anabasis, Homer)) Roman and Grecian 

 history, Latin composition, and outlines 

 of history. During each term the stu- 

 dents are required to study three of the 

 above subjects. The courses are other- 

 wise optional, and many of the students 

 study five subjects. The course extends 

 over three years, and, in order to com- 

 plete their studies in that period, the 

 young women who are in the higher 

 classes have to devote close attention 

 to their work. In 1876, at the close of 

 the first course of the institution, the 

 graduating class consisted of twenty- 

 two young women and two young men. 

 The excitement of the closing examina- 

 tion, which was very strict, and the fa- 

 tigue attending the prolonged course of 

 study, left many of the young women, 

 it is said, with impaired health, but ex- 

 cept in a few instances there were no 

 serious results. Fourteen of the young 

 women began to teach in the public 

 schools after graduation, and, in addi- 

 tion to this, they were compelled to 

 prepare for a second examination to 

 enable them to pass the Saturday Nor- 

 mal School, which they were obliged to 

 do before they could obtain a diploma 

 that would make them eligible as teach- 

 ers in the grammar and higher grade 

 schools. This necessitated close study, 

 and left them comparatively little time 

 for recreation. All, however, except 

 three, pulled through successfully, with- 

 out any material injury to their health. 



The additional study was not forced 

 upon them, but they were ambitious 

 and anxious to attain the highest pos- 

 sible position in their profession. 



" Of these female graduates, two 

 bright and promising young women 

 died in early womanhood, one is now 

 an inmate of an insane asylum, and two 

 or three others are said to be in deli- 

 cate health." 



When the principal of the high- 

 school was seen and questioned by the 

 reporter, he denied that the course of 

 studies was too severe for female stu- 

 dents, and remarked : " I have been 

 teaching for eighteen years, and my 

 experience is that girls are more studi- 

 ous and more ready to learn than boys. 

 They can master the higher branches of 

 education far more readily than boys." 

 From which the obvious inference is, 

 that they will be readier victims of a 

 forcing system, administered under the 

 competitions and rivalries of such insti- 

 tutions. All the pressures of our edu- 

 cational system are for conspicuous and 

 telling results which will make the best 

 show at examinations. The teacher 

 takes his rank and holds his position, 

 and calculates upon compensation and 

 promotion, by attaining these striking 

 results. His interest is therefore to 

 drive, to overload, and to stuff and 

 cram the memory of pupils with verbal 

 acquisitions that may be flaunted on 

 parade. School-work becomes a steady 

 pull in these directions, with no time 

 for reflection or observation or inde- 

 pendent exercise of thought upon the 

 subjects chosen. The system affords no 

 check against overdoing. The teachers 

 push on those who should be held back, 

 and, if they do not break down and die 

 outright, no harm is recognized. The 

 idea that pupils, girls especially, can be 

 sustained by excitement and carry off 

 the honors in apparent health, while 

 their constitutions are undermined, ill- 

 health entailed, and the power of vig- 

 orous accomplishment through life de- 

 stroyed, seems hardly to enter into the 

 minds of educators. It is one of the 



